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

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

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)

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!

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!

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!