The annual Neon Speaks Festival comes home to the Tenderloin Museum for a celebration of the historically inspired Tenderloin/Cadillac neon sign! Ft. a sign seminar with SF Neon, a DJ set by celebrated SF songwriters & neon aficionado Chuck Prophet, plus food & drink.  

Thursday September 12, 2024 | 5:30-7:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Hosted by Al and Randall of SF Neon, “Tenderloin Neon & Punk” highlights the crowning achievement of the long and rich collaboration between SF Neon & the Tenderloin Museum: a 25-foot neon sign proclaiming "The Tenderloin". The recently illuminated, historically informed Tenderloin/Cadillac neon sign proclaims our neighborhood’s rich neon lineage by re-instituting a lost landmark while acknowledging the solidarity of the Tenderloin community today. Learn all about this extraordinary sign and its journey into existence, the story of which is a masterclass in the history, craft, and culture of neon in SF. 

To celebrate the feat that is the Tenderloin/Cadillac sign, Al and Randall have invited their friend and neon aficionado Chuck Prophet. Chuck will be spinning LP’s and singles from the golden era of SF Punk and Proto-Punk. Many of which were recorded right here in the cool grey city of love, the greatest city in the union to live and dream. In addition to being a neon enthusiast, Chuck Prophet has long been an essential voice in the San Francisco music scene. Prophet is a prolific songwriter who records and performs with Stephanie Finch in their band Mission Express. Bona-fide Frisco-philes, Prophet and his band often celebrate our town in their music–Prophet’s 2012 album Temple Beautiful is “open love letter” to San Francisco. Those songs later formed the basis for an epic concert-film made at, in our opinion, SF’s most iconic venue: the Great American Music Hall located right here in the TL! 

Come celebrate the sign and San Francisco in the beating heart of the city! Tickets include food and drinks. This is both a “Sounds of the Tenderloin” live music program and an official event of the Neon Speaks Festival & Symposium, in proud partnership with the Tenderloin Museum. Check out the full schedule in September of events and in-person tours at neonspeaks.org

$20 | Register via SF Neon’s Eventbrite

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 | 6:00 - 7:30pm 

Join us at the Tenderloin Museum for an evening with renowned South African photographer Pieter Hugo. His new series, Californian Wildflowers, on view at the Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery from September 12 to November 9, explores the lives of Tenderloin residents, highlighting universal themes of dignity and connection.

Inspired by his wife’s observations of similarities between Cape Town and the Tenderloin during his 2014 residency at Headlands Center for the Arts, Hugo spent time in the Tenderloin and photographed a diverse range of residents and found a deep sense of community and resilience amidst their challenges. The series reveals the beauty and shared humanity found in all people, regardless of their circumstances.

This special event at the Tenderloin Museum offers a unique opportunity to dive deeper into the Californian Wildflowers series, and hear directly from both the artist, Pieter Hugo, and the curator, Jonathan Carver Moore.

Event Highlights:

Photo Lesson: Dive into the artistic world of Pieter Hugo and listen to him talk about intimacy of portrait photography and his practice and gain valuable insights into Hugo’s approach to portraiture and his creative process.

Exclusive Slideshow of Californian Wildflowers: Experience a curated slideshow of Hugo’s impactful work. This presentation will showcase his unique style and the stories behind his portraits, which are on display at the Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery.

Conversation with Pieter Hugo: Engage in a discussion on the themes of Californian Wildflowers, the Tenderloin community, and art’s role in social narratives. 

Learn about the Tenderloin Museum’s Gallery Program: Discover our approach to showcasing contemporary art and learn about our goals for expanding and enhancing the Tenderloin Museum's gallery. This is an opportunity to gain insights into our current and upcoming gallery shows, and understand how we aim to use art to foster community engagement, support emerging artists, and contribute to the cultural vibrancy of the neighborhood.

Don’t miss this exceptional event on Wednesday, September 11th, and be part of an evening that celebrates art, community, and the future of the Tenderloin Museum!

About Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery:

Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery is a premier contemporary art space known for its dedication to showcasing innovative and thought-provoking art. With a commitment to supporting emerging and established artists, the gallery serves as a dynamic platform for dialogue and creative expression. Under the direction of Jonathan Carver Moore, the gallery has become a vital hub for contemporary art in San Francisco, fostering a deeper connection between artists and the community.

About Pieter Hugo:

Pieter Hugo (b. 1976 Johannesburg) currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa. He has had museum solo exhibitions at Museu Coleção Berardo; the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; the Hague Museum of Photography, Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Fotografiska in Stockholm, MAXXI in Rome and the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, among others. Hugo has participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Barbican Art Gallery, Tate Modern, the Folkwang Museum, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the São Paulo Biennale.

His work is represented in prominent public and private collections such as, Centre Pompidou, Rijksmuesum, the Museum of Modern Art, V&A Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, J Paul Getty Museum, Walther Collection, Deutsche Börse Group, Folkwang Museum and Huis Marseille.

Hugo received the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d'Arles Festival and the KLM Paul Huf Award in 2008, the Seydou Keita Award at the Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennial in 2011, and was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2012. In 2015 he was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet and was chosen as the ‘In Focus’ artist for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Visit the Tenderloin Blackness exhibit, meet the curators, and share your experience of Tenderloin Blackness to be included in future versions of the show. TLM is open late (5-7pm) on 9/5 for September's SF FIrst Thursday Art Walk for an open house meets oral history session.

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Thursday September 5, 2024 | 5-7pm

In August, Del Seymour and friends opened an exhibition that celebrates Black culture and history in the Tenderloin. For the SF First Thursday Art Walk in September, TLM hosts an open house for Seymour’s dynamic exhibition with an open invitation for folks to share their experiences of “Tenderloin Blackness.” 

Tenderloin Blackness highlights the multitudes of the Black community by featuring Black individuals who comprise it and whose lives are intertwined with the neighborhood: a series of banner displays highlight some names who you may know–celebrated “fathers” of the TL like Rev. Cecil Williams and Leroy Looper–alongside present day activists, artists, leaders, workers, community members, residents etc. Tenderloin Blackness acknowledges Black folks in the Tenderloin for the remarkable individuals that we are, whoever we are. It’s an incomplete survey, but one that invites YOUR story, to shape the meaning of “Tenderloin Blackness,” and to contribute to the history of our city. Tenderloin Blackness begins at the Tenderloin Museum, but will move and grow throughout San Francisco’s places of arts, culture, history, and community. 

For the iteration currently on view at TLM, the community profiles are complemented by a selection of artworks, such as paintings by Charles Curtis Blackwell, Sylvester Guard Jr., Craig Lasha, Lord Frederick, an excerpt of the Tenderloin Community Quilt organized by Mattie Loyce, and Seymour’s personal collection of African artifacts, as well as archival material from GLIDE and the Looper family. 

Tenderloin Blackness is part of “Black History and Culture in the Tenderloin,” one of twenty-one projects created from the Tenderloin Community Action Planning (TCAP): a neighborhood-driven collaboration between residents, community organizations, businesses, non-profit partners, led by San Francisco Planning in close coordination with many other City agencies.The implementation of these projects is made possible by interagency and cross-sector collaboration that includes San Francisco Planning, Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, Office of Economic Workforce Development, Department of Public Health, Human Services Agency, United Way Bay Area, as well as community leaders and entrepreneurs in the TL. Learn more about TCAPvia this link or at sfplanning.org

Free | All are welcome!

Andrea Horne shares stories from her extraordinary life and histories of inspirational Black trans luminaries from the past, interwoven with performances of her favorite jazz standards. Organized in honor of the inaugural celebration of Transgender History Month at the state level, and co-presented by TLM & Transgender District.

August 15, 2024 | 6-8pm

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Andrea Horne is a repository of trans history and community knowledge. She is a writer, educator, social services worker, social justice advocate, historian, poet, and as the program title suggests, a person with a deep and energized connection to the past and to our ancestors: a “voodoo woman.” Horne channels her many talents and experiences into an evening of storytelling and song for a special Transgender History Month edition of TLM’s ongoing Sounds of the Tenderloin program series, presented in collaboration with the Transgender District.

Originally from Los Angeles, Andrea Horne moved to San Francisco at the suggestion of her fabulous friend Sylvester. Her colorful past includes stints as an actress, model, and singer, but importantly she has 40+ years of experience living and working in SF, supporting transgender women in the Bay Area, most recently in a role right here in the Tenderloin at Curry Senior Center. She is a member of the Trans Advisory Committee, part of San Francisco’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, and in 2022 she received SF Pride’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Bayard Rustin Award for her education work in LGBT history. Passionate about Black trans history, Horne is currently writing a book on the subject, with a focus on Black trans women who lived from 1836 to 1936. She possesses a singular, personal, and expansive perspective that illuminates Black trans history from the Tenderloin and beyond.

August is Transgender History Month, a month in which Transgender San Franciscans honor the rich history and contributions of transgender historymakers, pioneers, trailblazers, and affirms the ongoing presence of transgender people in San Francisco and around the world. First acknowledged in 2021 by Mayoral Proclamation in San Francisco, this year marks the inaugural celebration of Transgender History Month at the state level, the fruit of years of advocacy on the part of San Francisco’s trans community and allies. Tenderloin Museum is proud to partner again with our neighbors the Transgender District for a celebration of community at the intersection of art and history. This program and the current season of Sounds of the Tenderloin programs are supported by the Specified General Fund for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.

$10 | Register Here | NOTAFLOF: email info@tenderloinmuseum.org for assistance

Del Seymour explores what it means to be Black in the TL with a celebratory and dynamic exhibition, Tenderloin Blackness, intended to, in his words, “encourage people to feel proud to be in this neighborhood, and to say we've been here, we're here, and we're going to be here.”

Opening Reception & Program on Thursday August 1, 2024 | 5-7pm

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Tenderloin Blackness is an exhibition organized by Del Seymour--with Shavonne Allen, the Tenderloin Museum, and others–that highlights the Black community: people who are proud to be Black and proud of the Tenderloin. Guided by Seymour’s deep experience in the TL, this show witnesses and elevates the Black community in the Tenderloin–a community that is as significant and essential to the neighborhood as its individual members are varied in lived experience and social role. 

Tenderloin Blackness highlights the multitudes of the Black community by featuring the Black individuals whose comprise it and who lives are intertwined with the neighborhood. It features some names who you may know–celebrated “fathers” of the TL like Rev. Cecil Williams and Leroy Looper–but is meant to acknowledge the many Black folks for the remarkable individuals that they are, whoever they are. It’s an incomplete survey, but one that invites YOUR story, to shape the meaning of “Tenderloin Blackness,” and to contribute to the history of our city. Tenderloin Blackess begins at the Tenderloin Museum, but will move and grow throughout San Francisco’s places of arts, culture, history, and community. 

Tenderloin Blackness is part of “Black History and Culture in the Tenderloin,” one of twenty-one projects created from the Tenderloin Community Action Planning (TCAP): a neighborhood-driven collaboration between residents, community organizations, businesses, non-profit partners, led by San Francisco Planning in close coordination with many other City agencies.The implementation of these projects is made possible by interagency and cross-sector collaboration that includes San Francisco Planning, Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, Office of Economic Workforce Development, Department of Public Health, Human Services Agency, United Way Bay Area, as well as community leaders and entrepreneurs in the TL. Learn more about TCAP via this link or at sfplanning.org

Free to attend, no registration required

A Sociological Report Concerning Black on Black Anger in Poetic Form is a play written by Charles Blackwell and realized at the Tenderloin Museum as a collaborative production with the Tenderloin artist Sylvester Guard, Jr.

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA94102

Thursday July 25, 2024 | 5:30 - 7:30pm

Artist, poet, and playwright Charles Blackwell returns to the Tenderloin Museum for a performance of his play A Sociological Report Concerning Black on Black Anger in Poetic Form. Known for blurring the lines between mediums, Blackwell contends with this particular facet of systemic racism–Black on Black anger–through his unique vision of hybrid theater and an open-hearted, poetic spiritualism. While the script was written years ago, this current production is a collaboration with the artist Sylvester Guard Jr.--Blackwell’s impassioned, sensual, jazz-and-blues inflected verse is performed against a set of both artists’ large-scale paintings.

About the play, Blackwell says “The material reflects today, what’s out there, how the African American community has to deal with it, and the destructive nature of anger. At the same time, it’s trying to point the way toward a different approach: being courteous, polite, and kind hearted.”

Both Blackwell and Guard share a deep connection to the Hospitality House Community Arts Program, where they both have forged dynamic studio practices and community; plus, Guard performed in Blackwell’s When Struggle Gave Improvisation the Blues at the Tenderloin Museum in 2023. Blackwell originally presented Sociological Report back in February 2024, and after workshopping the play around the TL with communities at GLIDE, Code Tenderloin, and Faithful Fools, the play returns to the Tenderloin Museum for another performance.

$10 Register via Humanitix | NOTAFLOF email info@tenderloinmuseum.org

LaborFest returns to TLM for a program about San Francisco’s Musician Union, the historic integration of its Black and white locals in 1960, and the fight against segregation ft. the rare documentary “Commemoration of a Merger” ft. Earl Watkins, Vernon Alley, and other local legends.

Thursday July 18, 2024 | 6-8pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

In the early 20th century, the Tenderloin was densely packed with clubs, cabarets, theaters, and all sorts of venues that featured live music. Before electric instruments and the proliferation of jukeboxes, bands needed to be BIG to fill the air for the neighborhood’s robust nightlife. So, naturally, the Musician’s Union would build its stately Union Hall for its mighty workforce in the heart of San Francisco’s entertainment district: the Tenderloin. From 1925-1998, American Federation of Musicians AFM Local 6 was headquartered at 230 Jones in a beautiful 20,000 sq. ft. Sylvain Schnaittacher-designed brick building that featured a ballroom, rehearsal spaces, offices, a rec room, and even a cigar stand. Yet despite the glitz and glamor of these high times for the AFM 6, it had a dark side: the union practiced outright segregationist policies, barring African Americans from membership and the better paying gigs in downtown hotels and clubs. 

LaborFest, San Francisco’s annual month of grassroots labor programs, returns to the Tenderloin Museum for a look at the Musician’s Union history, in particular its fight against segregation and the historic integration of the Local 6 with the Black “subsidiary” Local 669 in 1960. Organized by LaborFest’s Steve Zeltzer and musician Jimmy Kelly, this public program is anchored by a rare documentary made by Zeltzer for the Labor Video Project in 2010, commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the merger of the Local 6 & Black Local 669. A panel discussion/presentation will follow, surveying other accounts and recent scholarship about this critical overture in the Musician’s Union’s history. All this, plus live music, because there must always be a song when musicians gather!

Presented in conjunction with LaborFest & AFM. This year, LaborFest is commemorating the 90th anniversary of the historic San Francisco General Strike and the West Coast Maritime Strike in 1934. This strike not only won a union hiring hall for the longshore workers but also led to hundreds of thousands of workers joining unions not just San Francisco but in Northern California. Visit laborfest.net to see the full schedule for this year’s offerings and to learn more/support this SF institution!

Register via Humanitix | $10 (NOTAFLOF / email info@tenderloinmuseum.org)

LaborFest brings a conversation about the future of work to the heart of San Francisco and its historically working class Tenderloin neighborhood.

Saturday July 13, 2024 | 1-3pm

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

The development of AI and robotics threatens millions of jobs. This  meeting will look at what AI is and what it means for the working class and the public. A study of Goldman Sachs said that 350 million workers will lose their jobs globally. Many workers are already being affected as AI is introduced in healthcare, education, construction, logistics and public services.

Speakers:
Hazar Yueksel – Research Scientist, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Semiconductors
Jim Araby – Strategic Campaigns Director at UFCW Local 5
Cheyn Anders – Member of No Tech For Apartheid, and a former member of Alphabet Workers Union (prior to being terminated)
Kemly Camacho – Professor at the University of Costa Rica and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, Cooperative Sulá Batsú

Sponsored by LaborNet

$10 Suggested Donation (price of museum admission) / NOTAFLOF

There’s a riot going on at City Hall! Attend SF Pride’s City Hall Party and experience an excerpt from The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot as well as drag performances by the play’s creative team. 

Sunday June 30, 2024 | 1-5pm

At San Francisco City Hall | 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Pl. SF, CA 94102

Don't miss this classic, only-in-San-Francisco experience. The San Francisco Pride City Hall Party returns with a hosted bar, delicious bites, and three rooms of non-stop entertainment!

Enjoy the glamorous and historic setting as you relax after the Parade, meet up with friends, flirt with fabulous queers, and recharge for the final Celebration. Celebrity Grand Marshal and Kaiser Main Stage Headliner Billy Porter will make a special appearance, and all of SF Pride's 2024 Grand Marshals will be in attendance. Sponsored by Tourism Ireland, the musical entertainment promises surprise performances from incredible LGBTQ artists on the marble staircase. La Crema will pour the wine, and Smirnoff will create special cocktails just for Pride.

A special highlight of the event is the cast of TLM's forthcoming play, The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, who will bring the 1960’s ambience and style to life. Their presence will add a unique historical touch, celebrating the Tenderloin's rich LGBTQ history and its pivotal role in the fight for equality. Don't miss this chance to experience a piece of history in action!

Tickets available via SF Pride / Eventbrite

The Sunday Streets Tenderloin Community Block Party transforms Golden Gate Ave. into a car-free community space featuring free recreational activities, health resources, music, dance, and family-friendly fun. Stop by the Tenderloin Museum’s table for local history highlights & a family friendly activity. 

Sunday June 23, 2024 | 12-5pm | TLM-organized performance by DOTCOM & THE NOISE | 4:20pm

Golden Gate Ave. between Hyde & Jones Streets 

The annual Sunday Streets event gathers a who’s who in the Tenderloin for a walkable, family-friendly street fair highlighting all of the good things happening in the neighborhood. Celebrate with us on June 23rd by coming out to the TL Community Block Party!  From 12-5pm, Golden Gate Ave. between Jones & Hyde will be transformed into a car-free community space featuring fun, free activities provided by local nonprofits, community groups, and small businesses. Along with many friends and neighbors, TLM will be tabling and sharing highlights of the neighborhood’s colorful history. Check out Sunday Streets SF’s website for more info about this particular event and the work of Livable City to  reclaim car-congested streets for community health, transforming them into car-free spaces for all to enjoy.

As part of its ongoing Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series, TLM presents a set by DOTCOM & the NOISE on the APICC Stage as the finale to a day full of live entertainment. Dotcom is a talented, Tenderloin based singer & songwriter who performs regularly with iconic TL groups like the GLIDE Ensemble & Skywatchers. Dotcom’s own musical project, DOTCOM & THE NOISE, couples his exuberant, soulful vocal stylings to the grooves and improvisations of a funky jazz ensemble. In collaboration with a four piece band featuring Lise Ramaley (bass), A.C. Lewis (drums), Ben Paul (keys), and Don Ferguson (strings), Dotcom summons a stirring repertoire of classic soul music, channeling the unbridled intensity of Screaming Jay Hawkins, the cool groove of Bill Withers, and the profound beauty of Nina Simone. This live musical performance is made possible by funding from the Specified General Fund for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.

Free! No registration required!

To mark the Juneeteenth holiday, 3.9 Art Collective members Jacqueline Francis, S. Reneé Jones, & Trina Michelle Robinson present creative work at TLM and reflect on the Tenderloin’s role and influence on their lives and artistic practices. 

Thursday June 20, 2024 | 6-8pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Organized for this year’s annual Juneteenth holiday, “The Beating Heart of San Francisco”  presents the creative work of the 3.9 Art Collective. Established in 2010, the 3.9 Art Collective is an association of San Francisco African American artists, curators, and writers who came together to draw attention to the city’s dwindling black population, and who have curated a concurrent exhibition in TLM’s gallery space called Home and Away.

In her presentation, Jacqueline Francis will read from “Look A Way,” an in-progress short story, informed by her first visit to San Francisco: a weeklong stay at a Tenderloin hotel in the fall of 1987. The irrepressible TL is the star of the story–a self-sustaining ecosystem of significance, dispensed in myriad ways.

Trina Michelle Robinson will discuss how her choice to live in the Tenderloin has shaped both her art practice and her experience in the Bay Area. Her photogravure prints and the handmade paper made from palm fronds she collected in Cameroon, explore migration, specifically, her West African lineage and the long forgotten time before her ancestors arrived in California, or even this country. Her projection features highlights from her video essays exploring her California roots.

S. Renée Jones will talk about the numerous times she’s worked in the TL as a photographer and volunteer (before choosing to live there). Her black and white photos tell the story of the TL through the relationships she formed in the Tenderloin National Forest. The eight-year project of photographing twice a week, during the day and at night, as a member of and teacher at the 6th Street Photography Workshop, produced a well-rounded body of work. The people from the TL neighborhood participated as subjects and models, and they got an introduction to photography from Workshop members. The images that the Worksop members printed in the darkroom were given out weekly to TL residents; they also were exhibited at  the 509 Gallery and  the 10’x10’ shack near the entrance to the Tenderloin National Forest.

Free or Suggested Donation ($10) | Register via Humanatix

San Francisco Pride & the Tenderloin Museum kickoff PRIDE SEASON with a festive party at the museum that celebrates the legacy of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and anticipates the upcoming production of the The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play in the TL. 

Friday June 7, 2024 | 6-9pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Optional walking tour 5-6pm | Walking tour begins at 835 Larkin (play venue) and ends at 398 Eddy St (Tenderloin Museum)

The Tenderloin Museum is honored to team up with San Francisco Pride to host a festive party to kick off Pride Season in San Francisco! Attendees will be supporting both the museum and SF Pride, one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the world in the city that was instrumental in galvanizing the modern LGBTQIA+ movement. The evening’s program centers on honoring one of the most important yet undersung overtures in San Francisco’s queer history: the 1966 riot at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, a seminal act of trans-led queer resistance that took place right here in the Tenderloin. 

The Compton’s riot is the inspiration for an immersive theater experience–The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play–that is produced by TLM and set to open as an ongoing production in a permanent, purpose-built venue at 835 Larkin St in the TL. The story of the riot is an essential and pivotal part of queer history, and it also teaches us a great deal about how history is made, collective memory, and why art is a powerful tool to bear witness to the past as well as carry our forbears’ resistance and resilience in the present and into the future. 

The program for this SF Pride Kickoff Party features the creative team behind The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot–Ezra Reaves (director/co-producer), Donna Personna (co-writer), & Collette LeGrande (co-writer)--in conversation with historian Joseph Plaster, author of Kids on the Street: Queer Kinship and Religion in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, plus remarks by SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford, SF Pride Board President Nguyen Pham, & Tenderloin Museum Executive Director Katie Conry. Additionally, the special exhibition Transition Times: Re-Membering Anti-Carceral Resistance in the Tenderloin will be on-view in TLM’s gallery space; the must-see show contextualizes the story of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot utilizing the archive of historian Susan Stryker. The evening culminates with a raffle featuring objects and experiences generously donated from supporters of SF Pride, the TL Museum, and the Compton’s play. 

Join us on June 7th to hear directly from the writers and director of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot about bearing witness to the TL’s historic act of queer resistance through theater, realizing this highly anticipated production of the play, and reflecting on the role and power of art to shape history. Your participation will raise funds for both SF Pride and TLM’s new production of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play. Support queer community and queer history; register to attend today! 

$25 | Register via Eventbrite | NOTAFLOF (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Celebrate disco-soul legend and San Francisco icon Sylvester with the Transgender District and the Tenderloin Museum. Join us for a screening of Unsung: the Sylvester Story (2010), live music by Sylvester collaborators Jeanie Tracy & LZ Love, plus a discussion with Andrea Horne, and Minister Marvin K. White (GLIDE), moderated by the District’s Co-Executive Director Breonna McCree.

Thursday May 30, 2024 | 6-9pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

In collaboration with the Transgender District, Tenderloin Museum presents Sylvester, the Queen of San Francisco, a public program celebrating the supreme diva of disco with an emphasis on Sylvester’s connections and legacy in the place and community both organizations call home, the city’s Tenderloin/Mid-Market area. We’ll be screening Unsung: Sylvester, a rare 2010 documentary that survey’s Sylvester’s remarkable life story, in conjunction with a live musical tribute by two of Sylvester’s musical collaborators Jeanie Tracy & LZ Love, plus a discussion with both performers, artist, activist, and local historian Andrea Horne, and GLIDE’s Minister Marvin K. White, moderated by the District’s Co-Executive Director Breonna McCree. In addition, Dark Entries Records, Sylvester’s TL-based indie label, and the GLBT Historical Society, home to much of Sylvester’s archival materials, will share rare photos, footage, and ephemera to this celebration. 

The program is part of the Transgender District’s Empowerment Month, a “time dedicated to fostering growth, resilience, and positive change within our community.” The District’s Empowerment Month is not only a series of events and initiatives but also a commitment to empower each other, lift up voices that may have been marginalized, and create an environment where everyone feels valued, supported, and capable of achieving their goals. The Queen of San Francisco is presented as part of the Tenderloin Museum’s ongoing “Sounds of the Tenderloin,” a series of public programs that seeks to animate the neighborhood’s undersung cultural history through live music. Sylvester’s music remains ubiquitous on dancefloors to this day, and both his personal and artistic legacies draw a line through the milieu of the Tenderloin, the city’s queer underground, its emergent LGBTQ movement, and into the mainstream. Click here to read the full program description.

Register via Eventbrite | Free or Suggested Donation ($10 or more!)

Psyched! Radio SF, an independent non-profit radio station & prolific promoter of local live music with roots in the TL, hosts its first ever “Tenderloin Music and Arts Festival'' over Memorial Day weekend. TLM is proud to host a Psyched!-curated performance that spans darkwave, goth, minimal synth, and other punk-inflected, genre-defying sounds ft. EX-HEIR, 55 Castles and Bat Noise.

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Saturday May 25, 2024 | 4-9pm

Founded by a diverse group of music lovers, Psyched! Radio SF is an independent 501c3 non profit DIY radio station that also produces live shows, DJ nights, films, music videos, live performances, and short films; Psyched! hums with a punk rock ethos and a hyper-local, community-forward zeitgeist that exemplifies the beauty and diversity of San Francisco’s underground. Many in the Psyched! crew live and maintain their artistic practice(s) right here in the Tenderloin, arguably the heart of SF’s underground, and over Memorial Day Weekend, this radical grassroots media outlet/community formation is producing its first ever “Tenderloin Music and Arts Festival,” a sprawling, neighborhood-wide counter-cultural happening that invites everyone to “unite through music, art, and community, celebrating resilience and advocating for change.” 

The Tenderloin Museum is honored to take part in the Psyched!’s TL Music and Arts Fest, hosting an evening of live music that bridges punk rock and performance art through a mingling of darkwave, goth, and minimal synth esthetics.  EX-HEIR, 55 Castles, Bat Noise, and Renee Black (DJ set) will perform at TLM for a special Saturday evening public program on the main floor of the museum. This show, like all of Psyched! TL Music & Arts Festival programming, is free and open to the public, supported by a mini-grant from the Tenderloin Community Benefit District by way of SF’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

Free! | Register via Eventbrite

TLM hosts a block party in Myrtle Alley–the outdoor space adjacent to The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot’s new venue at 835 Larkin–to gather our community, give friends & neighbors a chance to learn about play’s upcoming production, and request free/sliding community tickets, DJs, live music, and drag performances.

May 11, 2024 | 1-4pm

Myrtle Alley at Larkin St.

Perhaps you’ve heard that a new production of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play is in the works? Not only is the Tenderloin Museum bringing this immersive theater piece back to life, and we’ve been working to create a permanent home for the play in a long vacant commercial to create a dedicated venue and truly immersive environment for this powerful story. The space is located in the neighborhood where the eponymous riot went down, on a block of Larkin St. that’s having a resurgence of queer community and queer-owned business like Rosebud Gallery, Moth Belly Gallery, Dark Entries Records, and the Bob Mizer Foundation/The Magazine.

The Compton’s creative team has nearly completed the transformation of 835 Larkin St. into the Compton’s Cafeteria, and we’re ready to give people a sneak peek! Powered by a TLCBD Mini-Grant through the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Tenderloin Museum hosts an Open House & Block Party on the afternoon of May 11th, featuring live music and DJs, drag performances, info and artwork from our neighbors, as well as an opportunity to request free/sliding scale community tickets for when the play officially opens this fall. 

ft. drag performances by Donna Personna, Shane Zalidvar, Collette LeGrande, Coco Buttah, & Mary Vice + live music by Kippy Marks, Myles Cooper, & Steve Fabus

Free! All welcome!

TLM hosts the book release for a new biography about Marilyn Chambers, whose X-rated breakthrough Behind the Green Door was made in the TL and completely reconfigured the pornography industry as well as public sentiment for smut. In Pure, Jared Stearns chronicles the pioneering entertainer’s untold life story. This program features the author in-person and in-conversation with Chambers’ daughter, McKenna Taylor.

Thursday May 9, 2024 | Doors/Pre-Show at 6:30pm | Program 7-8:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Marilyn Chambers is a legend here in the Tenderloin. Her breakthrough to fame–the starring role in the groundbreaking X-rated film Behind the Green Door–was filmed in part and premiered at the Mitchell Brothers’ O’Farrell Theater. That flick’s followup, Resurrection of Eve, featured an orgy scene shot next door at the historic Great American Music Hall (itself a boundary pushing site during its time as burlesque pioneer Sally Rand’s Music Box). Chambers’ name practically lived on the marquee of the Mitchell Brothers’ infamous TL establishment (and others across the country) during the 1970s era of “porno-chic.” In 1985, she was booked by an SF vice-squad for committing a lewd act in a public place and soliciting prostitution, part of Mayor Feinstein’s anti-porn crusades.

With Pure: The Sexual Revolutions of Marilyn Chambers (Headpress, 2024), Jared Stearns has assembled the important and long-overdue account of Chambers’ life story, depicting a complex and hard working entertainer who navigated a new type of celebrity all while striving to find her true self. She was the embodiment of the free-spirited Seventies, the world’s most famous X-rated star, and an unappreciated talent whose work in adult films hindered her dreams of becoming a serious actress. Nevertheless, Marilyn was the first woman known primarily for her work in adult films to cross over to mainstream entertainment. She sustained a versatile three-decade career in entertainment, including roles in dramatic plays, a Broadway musical revue, her own television show, and the lead role in David Cronenberg’s film Rabid. But her success in adult films also proved to be her undoing. Marred by a violent relationship with her abusive husband-manager, Chuck Traynor, she developed the persona of a twenty-four-hour-a-day sex star. In the process, she lost her sense of self and spent much of her life searching for her true identity. With recollections from family and friends, many of whom have never spoken publicly, along with Marilyn’s own words, and never-before-published photos, Jared Stearns vividly captures the revolutionary career of one of the twentieth century’s most misunderstood icons. 

Free, Suggested Donation ($10), or with a signed copy ($25) | Register via Eventbrite

In celebration of the recent publication of Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s new book, Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco, Tenderloin Museum hosts the author for a double-header book talk with Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, fellow activist-artists and scholars of human sexuality, who will discuss their latest latest, Assuming the Ecosexual Position:The Earth as Lover. Program moderated by Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield

Saturday April 27, 2024 | 3-5pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA94102

A celebration of the erotic performance cultures that have shaped San Francisco, Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (UC Press, 2024) explores a milieu that is indelibly intertwined with the Tenderloin’s history: the city's bohemian past and its essential role in the development of American adult entertainment by highlighting the contributions of women of color, queer women, and trans women who were instrumental in the city's labor history, as well as its LGBT and sex workers' rights movements. Otálvaro-Hormillosa utilizes visual and performance analysis, historiography, and ethnographic research (including participant observation as both performer and spectator), and interviews with legendary burlesquers and strippers to share a remarkable history and to frame an intersection of art, activism, performance, and human sexuality. Otálvaro-Hormillosa explores how, in the 1960s, topless entertainment became legal in San Francisco for the first time in the US, even while cross-dressing continued to be criminalized, and how, in the 1990s, stripper-artist activists led the first successful class action lawsuits and efforts to unionize! She writes, says Annie Sprinkle, “courageously and eloquently from her perspective as a performance artist and scholar inspired by the tradition of sex-positive feminists since the 1960s who have resisted patriarchy by reclaiming and celebrating their sexuality.”

On Saturday April 27th, Otálvaro-Hormillosa will present her work and new book at a TLM public program in conjunction with her friends and fellow artist-activists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, who also work in the space where scholarship, sexuality, activism, and the arts intersect and have in fact helped shape the field and discipline of human sexuality studies. In 2008, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens married the Earth, which set them on the path to explore the realms of ecosexuality as they became lovers with the Earth and made their mutual pleasure an embodied expression of passion for the environment. Ever since, they have been not just pushing but obliterating the boundaries circumscribing biology and ecology, creating ecosexual art in their performance of an environmentalism that is feminist, queer, sensual, sexual, posthuman, materialist, exuberant, and steeped in humor. Their latest publication, Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth as Lover ((U. of Minnesota Press, 2021), describes how the two came together as lovers and collaborators, how they took a stand against homophobia and xenophobia, and how this union led to the miraculous conception of the Love Art Laboratory. 

Join us for these complementary book talks in a program moderated by professor at Rhodes College, media-maker, and Sprinkle/Stephens collaborator Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield. This program is one of many happenings for “I Love Tenderloin Week,” a celebration of the neighborhood and its people, businesses, and culture by a coalition of local individuals and organizations.

Free or Suggested Donation ($10) | Register via Eventbrite

Pianist James Washington performs a set of jazz standards and improvisations for a special Concert at the Cadillac, presented in collaboration with the Tenderloin Museum as a Sounds of the Tenderloin live music program.

Friday April 26, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:00pm

At the Cadillac Hotel | 380 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Sounds of the Tenderloin & the Concerts at the Cadillac series come together again to produce a performance by James Washington, a talented pianist influenced by classical music and jazz who wields a quiet virtuosity with both standards and improvisations. A lifelong musician, Washington started working at a young age as a ballet accompanist in New Jersey, Boston, New York, and eventually San Francisco. All the while, he was adjacent to the world of jazz, which increasingly informed his musical practice. He developed a playing style with a rich harmonic vocabulary and complex structure that is clear and soulful. His phrasings and touch are limber, as if learned from a dancer. Over the years, Washington has been heard by thousands in San Francisco in clubs, cafes, churches, and hospitals both as a solo performer and in combos. A longtime Tenderloin resident, Washington will share a set of solo music on the grand piano in the heart of the neighborhood–the lobby of the historic Cadillac Hotel on Friday, April 26th in concert with this year’s “I Love Tenderloin Week.” 

Free! All welcome! No registration required!

Trans Temporal Resistances is the closing public program for Transition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin, an archival exhibit contextualizing the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria. Program curators Emji Saint Spero and Leila Weefur invite writers and artists to engage with trans archives and architectures through performance. 

Thursday April 25, 2024 | 7-8:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

This performance series, in collaboration with the TurkxTaylor Initiative, mirrors an open assemblage model. Emji Saint Spero and Leila Weefur invite writers and artists to deconstruct trans archives and architectures through textual and movement-based approaches. Situated within a district in which desire has historically been boundaried and confined, these performances engage Queer Time as an embodied strategy of resistance.

The first event invites three local writers, Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, Mason J, and Rowan Powell, to take space at the Tenderloin Museum.

Click here to read bios of this program’s writers and co-curators; for more information on the exhibit Transition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin, click here.

All Welcome! | Free! | Register via Eventbrite

The SF Urban Film Festival returns to TLM for a program called “Trans World-Building” that asks, “how do gender-expansive people shape the worlds they occupy, even as they are restricted within them?” Screening & panel discussion, curated by Kaiya Gordon & LB Byrd.

Thursday April 18, 2024 | 6-8pm (Doors 5:30pm)

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Ten years after the “Transgender Tipping Point,” it’s clear that the only thing that has “tipped” forward is the proliferation of laws and discourses which aim to limit trans life-building. Predominant conservative arguments from writers published in mainstream outlets who identify as “gender critical” (neé “TERF”) abound, “transvestigations” of celebrities and athletes multiply online, and more and more legislation targeting trans people seems to be introduced each day. In the mainstream imagination, trans adults are groomers, pedophiles, and deviants who should be limited in how and when they take up public space; and trans youth are confused, damaged, and should be restricted from making decisions about how to be and build a new world.

Within this trans-antagonistic atmosphere, this program asks: how do gender-expansive people shape the spaces they occupy, even as they are restricted within them?

Featured films include: The Neighbour (Turkey, 2021, 20 min, Directed by Cedoy) | KILL YOUR LANDLORD (USA, 2023, 10 min, Directed by Jill Hill) | A Bird Called Memory (Brazil/UK, 2023, 15 min, Directed by Leonardo Martinelli) | Passing: Profiling the Lives of Young Transmen of Color (USA, 2015, 22 min, Directed by J. Mitchel Reed & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee). Click through to learn more about each work!

Panelists include: Jill Hill, Writer/Editor/Director/Producer, Kill Your Landlord | Lalu Ozban, Producer, The Neighbour | Wriply Bennet, Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project Visual Communications Specialist | Kazani Finao, Founder of – Shine Wit Purpose & Student at CCSF major in Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies | & moderator Kaiya Gordon, Trans Studies Doctoral Student, Department of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Free or Sliding Scale Admission | Register via the SFUFF website

Tenderloin Museum has teamed up with our neighbors to offer an evening-length experience of our block at its best! The “Leavenworth Passport” starts at TLM for a historical mini-tour of the 300 block of Leavenworth St., stops at Azalina’s for a tasting menu of Mamak Malaysian cuisine, and lands at the Black Cat for an evening of live jazz by the Joel Wenhardt Quintet Feat. Vocalist Georgia Heers!

Wednesday April 10, 2024 | 5pm & 6:30pm start times

Meet at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

The “Leavenworth Passport” is a collaboration between the Tenderloin Museum, Azalina’s, and the Black Cat to offer a hyper-local experience of the Tenderloin and our shared block of Leavenworth St. between Eddy & Ellis. Join us for an evening of arts, history, and innovative cuisine.

Each “Leavenworth Passport” will begin at the Tenderloin Museum, where staff will do something we’ve never done before–share the history of the Tenderloin through a tightly focused walking tour of our immediate block! Topics will include the history of residential hotels like the Cadillac, Verona, and Aarti; the block’s extensive neon signage; the storied Newman’s Boxing Gym; the Eichler-designed Mosser Towers; The Tenderloin National Forest and the epic, Luggage Store organized Tauba Auerbach mural; and more!

The tour will take attendees up the block to Azalina’s, where they will enjoy a tasting menu of Malaysian Cuisine. Winner of the Eater Chef of the Year award and a James Beard semi-finalist, Azalina’s Eusope takes diners on a trip through the night markets and home kitchens of her native Malaysia, with a focus on the cuisine of the Mamak ethnic group. Eusope has been cheffing in the TL and around SF–locals may remember her pop-ups at the Heart of the City Farmer’s Market–for the better part of a decade, and her new restaurant manifests these specific, complex Mamak flavors with virtuosity, innovation, and mastery of traditions that for her stretch back five generations.

The Leavenworth Passport concludes at the Black Cat Supper Club, where guests will enjoy a set of live jazz music and a drink to conclude the night on the block. Since 2016, the Black Cat has consistently programmed some of the most exciting jazz in the city in a setting that harkens back to the Tenderloin in its heyday as the city’s entertainment district. The talent on Wednesday April 10th is the Joel Wenhardt Quintet Feat. Vocalist Georgia Heers!

A TLCBD Mini-Grant via SF’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development will support SF residents in need of financial assistance to enjoy the Leavenworth Passport! Fill out this Google form to request a completely free passport experience! Requests open 2 weeks in advance at 12 noon & are also available in-person at TLM. 

General Admission tickets are available for purchase via Azalina’s Resy!

$10 tickets to TLM tour of the 300 Leavenworth only | Register via Eventbrite

Survey the design and activist history of United Nations Plaza, the high-concept public space at the foot of the TL, with presentations by Dr. Linda Day (emeritus professor of city planning), LisaRuth Elliott (co-director, Shaping San Francisco) and Emily Smith Beitiks (Interim Director, SFSU’s Longmore Institute). 

Thursday March 7, 2024 | 5:30 - 7:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Dedicated in 1975 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, United Nations Plaza was designed as a gateway to the city’s grand Beaux-Arts Civic Center, a Modernist-inspired promenade connecting Market Street to City Hall. Its design stirred controversy since before it was ever built, and its actual use often conflicted with its lofty vision; however, nearly 50 years into its existence, UN Plaza has accumulated a rich but complicated history. For being dedicated to an institutionalized global purview, this prominent public space has hosted remarkable home-grown, grassroots activism that has shaped life in San Francisco (and beyond!) in both revolutionary and everyday ways. Join us for a public program that surveys some of these significant moments in the history of UN Plaza, along with its design, pre-plaza history, and more!

UN Plaza literally and figuratively represents how a well-intentioned built environment can function as a strange attractor for human activity that defies its social engineering. Yet, UN Plaza endures as the site of many significant happenings that testify to the resilience of the people and the importance of having their voices heard in the proverbial town square. It was home to the 1977 occupation of the Federal Building by disability rights advocates and a decade-long AIDS/ARC Vigil amongst other popular demonstrations. Join us as we consider the design of UN Plaza’s built environment, explore its activist history, witness its specific legacy, and reflect on what it teaches us about life in the city!

Free or Suggested Donation ($10) | Register via Eventbrite

Tenderloin Museum is honored to participate in the 2024 Night of Ideas at the SF Public Library, presenting a survey of museum highlights and an excerpt of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play in Koret Auditorium, as well as a drag show featuring Tenderloin queens in the main atrium. 

At the SFPL Main Library!

100 Larkin St. SF, CA 94102 | full event runs from 4-11:45pm

TLM & the Living Legacy of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot | 10:30-11:30pm

TLM organized “Tenderloin Queens Drag Show” | 9-9:30pm

Night of Ideas is a global event organized by Villa Albertine across 20 US cities that invites thought leaders, activists, performers, authors, and academics to engage the public in late-night discussions addressing major global issues. This year’s unifying theme, “Fault Lines,” centers urban life and development, raising questions about the impact of climate change, new technologies, gentrification, and social activism, by way of  diversity and inclusion, access to education and nature, the future  of  cultural institutions, and the shapes of artistic communities in built environments. 

Locally, this means an evening (and family friendly afternoon) of programming organized by Villa Albertine and local partners SFPL, KQED, and Circuit Network. TLM is one of many local contributors to the marathon programming that comprises Night of Ideas. Responding to the theme of “Fault Lines,” Tenderloin Museum will focus on the living legacy of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot–the seminal uprising for transgender rights that occurred mere blocks from SFPL’s Main Branch that also represents a seismic rupture of both the social order and public memory.

From 10:30-11:30pm in Koret Auditorium, we’ll be presenting an introduction to the Tenderloin Museum and its programming, an overview of overview of the Compton’s riot and the ongoing historicization of the event, concluding with a performance excerpt of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an immersive, interactive play co-written by Collette LeGrande, Mark Nassar, and Donna Personna. The play–which premiered in 2018, sold-out an extended run, and earned rave reviews from critics and audiences clamoring for more–returns this summer as an on-going production, directed and co-produced by Ezra Reaves, in the Tenderloin Museum’s new venue on Larkin St. This preview at Night of Ideas features a full cast, many of whom originated their  respective parts: 

Donna Personna - Older Vicki

Lavale Davis - Nicki

Shane Zaldivar - Rusty

Maurice André San-Chez - Dixie

Mandela Msanii - Adrian

Jaylyn Abergas - Suki

Jupiter Peraza - Vicki

Barbara Pond - Shirley/action notes

Steven Menasche - Gus

Mary Vice - Collette

Adam Simpson - Frankie

Adam KuveNiemann - Officer Johnson

Earlier in the evening (9-9:30pm) in the library’s main atrium, catch a Tenderloin Queens Drag Show curated by the Tenderloin Museum! Featuring performances by Donna Personna, Shane Zaldivar, Mary Vice, and PerSia, this show celebrates the deep legacy of drag performance in the neighborhood, as well as the vibrant present-day scene centered around Aunt Charlie’s Lounge.

Free! See the full schedule and register to attend here

The volunteer-led tenant advocacy organization SF Tenants Union brings its monthly tenants’ rights workshop to TLM.

Thursday February 22, 2024 | 6:00 - 7:30pm

at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

A volunteer-led tenant advocacy organization, SF Tenants Union hosts monthly bootcamps all over the city. This iteration at the Tenderloin Museum will include an educational "know-your-rights" presentation by D5 Supervisor Dean Preston, a history of tenant organizing in the TL by TLM staff, followed by opportunities to ask trained tenant counselors for advice for those facing eviction, unfair rent increases, and landlord negligence. Email bootcamps@sftu.org with any questions!

FREE | No registration required

Get into the Valentine’s spirit over a round of drag queen bingo with the incomparable Grand Duchess Olivia Hart presiding as Mistress of Ceremonies. Play for a chance to win fabulous prizes, and you’ll be supporting free/sliding-scale community tickets to TLM’s upcoming production of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play.

Thursday February 8, 2024 | 6-9pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

The Tenderloin Museum is opening a new production of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play in June of 2024! Planned as an ongoing production, the play will take place at TLM’s new space on Larkin St., which is currently being transformed into an immersive set reminiscent of a 60s diner, and will feature a cast and crew of 15. The CCR creative team is hard at work actualizing this expansive vision for the play and building on the magic of the show’s much-feted and completely sold out 2018 premiere run. In short, this upcoming production of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is an exciting and substantial undertaking! 

TLM is committed to making The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot affordable for all through the provision of sliding scale and needs-based ticket options, as well as free tickets to Tenderloin and trans-centric organizations. To muster resources for a “no one turned away for lack of funds” option to experience the play, the museum is hosting an evening of drag queen bingo to raise funds for these community tickets. 

Combining two time-honored Tenderloin traditions–drag and games of chance–drag queen bingo is a fun and convivial way to support a good cause and have a chance to win fabulous prizes from local businesses and organizations in TLM’s community. Legendary Tenderloin queen, Aunt Charlie’s Angel, and your favorite redhead Olivia Hart will preside over the bingo balls and play mistress of ceremonies; whether you win or lose, your numbers will be called with wit, grit, and a saucy sense of humor. Join us!  

image by Harry James Hanson/Devin Antheus; "Olivia Hart," 2018-2022; Archival pigment print; Courtesy of the artists and CLAMP, New York

Free to Attend | Pay to Play: $10 per 3-game bingo card | Register via Eventbrite

Join us for the opening of Transition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin, an exhibit that contextualizes the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot presenting a curated selection from historian Susan Stryker’s archival collection. The opening reception will be followed by a public meeting of the coalition advocating for the decarceration of the site of the historic, queer, grassroots uprising against police brutality.

February 1, 2024 at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Opening Reception 5:30 pm | Coalition Informational Meeting 6-7:30pm

Transition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin contextualizes the story of the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, a queer grassroots uprising against police brutality in August 1966, as recovered by historian Susan Stryker. This exhibition presents selected material from the archival collection that Stryker has painstakingly compiled since the 1990s, a physical model identifying historical queer sites in the Tenderloin’s urban landscape, and a selection of art pieces that demonstrate the riot’s ripple effect in the present. The exhibition highlights the historical significance of the site that today GEO Group, a private prison company, operates as a “halfway house.” It serves as a call to action to join a coalition aiming to liberate the building where the riot took place, designated a local historical landmark.

Join us for the opening reception at 5:30pm on February 1, 2024, followed by an informational coalition meeting from 6-7:30pm. The TurkxTaylor Initiative has been working towards the site’s decarceration by building a coalition to push toward different ways to make this happen. In this first Coalition Informational Meeting, we invited key panelists to share information on the past, present, and future of the building at Turk and Taylor. The goal is for those interested in the project to understand the layers of complexity regarding Tenderloin politics so that together we can strategize about any possible steps forward. 

Panelists:

Dr. Susan Stryker, historian and filmmaker who recovered the history of Compton’s riot

Ms. Janetta Johnson, co-founder of the Transgender District and CEO of TGI Justice Project

Toshio Meronek, host of the Sad Francisco podcast and co-author of Miss Major Speaks

Moses Corrette, city planner and historian 

Dean Preston, Supervisor of District 5, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Moderated by Chandra Laborde and Stathis G. Yeros, of the TurkxTaylor Initiative

Click here to learn more about Transition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin

COVID 19 Protocols: 

*All audience members are strongly advised to wear a mask at this program. TLM will provide a mask for free to all attendees. Panelists may be unmasked while speaking.*

All Welcome! | Free! | Register via Eventbrite

Two artist-made documentaries, Chuck Hudina’s “Tenderloin Blues” and Jeffrey Skoller’s “Moving In,” explore the Tenderloin of the 1980s while raising ever-important questions of representation. Join us for a screening followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Hudina & Skoller, moderated by Craig Baldwin.

Thursday January 18, 2024 | Doors 6pm / Program 6:30-8:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102 

Chuck Hudina’s soulful 1987 documentary “Tenderloin Blues” looks at San Francisco’s Tenderloin during a transformative moment by lyrically assembled video portraits of the neighborhood, its denizens, and their multitudes. The film’s street-level, vérité aesthetic “breathes life and lets these people from the streets express themselves fully.” Their stories weave into a moving and nuanced historical snapshot of the Tenderloin and how the neighborhood was perceived and experienced by its residents. 

“Tenderloin Blues” is screened alongside filmmaker and writer Jeffrey Skoller’s early work “Moving In,” presented in its original 16mm format. Set in the TL-adjacent SOMA neighborhood in 1982, the short “begins as a documentary on the growing problem of homelessness in San Francisco in the wake of Reagan-era budget cuts and ends as a meditation on the filmmaker's own relationship to the situation.” 

Both films serve as powerful records of a place in its time, communicate life on the margins of the system, and invoke important reflection about representation and belonging in one of our city’s most liminal spaces. Join us for a special screening of these rare films–followed by a panel discussion that features both filmmakers in-person and moderated by Craig Baldwin!

Free or Suggested Donation ($10) | Registration via Eventbrite

Writers Carolyn Terry & Todd Pickering share a fully cast, staged reading of a television pilot based on longtime resident Terry’s diaristic observations of life in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. 

January 11, 2024 | 7:00-8:30pm

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

Set in the 1990s, The Tenderloin Diaries explores the people and relationships of the TL that straddle both respectable society and its underworld, the everyday and the extraordinary. Conceived to be a serialized television show, The Tenderloin Diaries features an ensemble cast whose archetypal characters–the hustler, the pusher, the cabbie, the clerk etc.--outline the distinctive social fabric indicative of the Tenderloin’s dense, cacophonous, urban environment of SRO hotels, dive bars, and back alleys.The source material for this TV series is drawn from writer Carolyn Terry’s 30+ years of living in the Tenderloin and keeping journals of all the fantastically kooky denizens of this vibrant, albeit sometimes tragic neighborhood. The cast includes Brian Conway, Trixxie Carr, Jake Eastman, Barbara Godinez, Smelley Kelley, Raya Light, Sue Lyon, Mary Samson and Audra Wolfmann!

Free or Suggested Donation ($10) | Register via Eventbrite