The story of a quintessential TL nightclub comes to life with a one-off spectacle at the Great American Music Hall. Michael Flanagan surveys Club 181’s epic history live-on-stage via special guest interviews, performances, & rare archival material. SF jazz star Veronica Klaus headlines with a set in homage to her time under the 181’s lights.
Wednesday April 23, 2025 | Doors at 6pm Show at 7pm
at Great American Music Hall | 859 O'Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Of the myriad bars and clubs that lined the Tenderloin’s streets in its heyday, the Club 181 and its decades-long legacy of queer entertainment epitomized both the glamor and grit of the neighborhood’s post-War nightlife. Dudded out with red and black velvet, white tablecloths, dark corners, bright lights, and a cabaret stage, the 181 conjured a timeless grandeur that inspired several generations of maverick LGBTQ performers:
In 1954, famed “female impersonator” Lynne Carter not only performed at the bar but owned it, at a time when the queer community’s right to assemble in bars was being negotiated in the courts. In the early 1970s, legendary Tenderloin transgender performer Vicki Marlane did shows with Empress Pat Montclair, and by the 1980s, the Club 181 played host to Arturo Galster (as Patsy Cline) and Doris Fish with the madcap drag troupe Sluts-a-Go-Go.
Drag queens, go-go boys, hustlers, jazzers, and new-wavers mingled with TL denizens and outsiders alike. Across its multitudinous scenes, the nightclub’s edge was real: after-hours operation that skirted the law, criminal activity, and even murder! Nevertheless, those who patronized or performed at the 181 recall the place as having an allure of mythic proportions. Although Club 181’s sensational story tells us a great deal about the Tenderloin (and more broadly the city) and queer performance, its history has never been collected in full… until now.
On April 23, 2025, the Tenderloin Museum presents a special “Sounds of the TL” program at the Great American Music Hall that will bring the story of the Club 181 to life on stage, in the spirit of the club’s many eras of supper-club variety shows. Our Virgil for the evening will be Michael Flanagan, a historian and regular contributor at SF LGBTQ newspaper The Bay Area Reporter who penned a feature on the 181 that inspired this event! He’ll take us on a deep dive of the club’s chronology incorporating rare photos & videos, archival material, and a series of interviews and performances that pay tribute to various 181 highlights. Special guests include:
Ms. Bob Davis on Lynne Carter
Collette LeGrande on Vicki Marlane
Leigh Crow & Kitten on the Keys pay tribute to Arturo Galster
Phillip R. Ford on Doris Fish & the Sluts-a-Go-Go
Sun Ra's Space Is the Place (filmed at the club!)
& more!
The historical variety show will be followed by a headlining performance from one of the Bay Area’s finest jazz vocalists, Veronica Klaus, who has her own history performing at the storied Club 181! For this set, Klaus will be accompanied by another top talent in jazz with similarly deep experience performing in the TL: pianist Tammy L. Hall.
Don’t miss this one-off program (and unique gathering of folks that lived the history) animating one of the TL’s most colorful locales! Club 181 Live! (and TLM’s entire Sounds of the Tenderloin series) is made possible by support from the Specified General Fund for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.
Tickets $20/30/50 | Purchase via See Tickets (on sale 3/18/25 at 12pm!)
