As part SFAC’s “Shaping Legacy: San Francisco Monuments & Memorials” project, the TL-based community arts collaboration Skywatchers shares a screening of their film, Reimagining the City as Our Own: Towards an Architecture of Inclusion, followed by a  panel discussion and community dialogue / response facilitated by Preethi Ramaprasad.

Thursday April 17, 2025 | 6-7:30pm

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

$10 suggested donation | Register via Humanitix 

TLM celebrates the life and legacy of Lady Harriet Sebastian–a prolific artist, natural performer, and generous educator who lived in the Tenderloin for 25 years–with an exhibition that takes a focused look at her magnum opus. 

Thursday April 3, 2025 | 5-7pm

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

“The Bridgemen” depicts a vision of civic greatness that centers makers, witnesses their fortitude, and honors their sacrifices. The painting is an epic homage to the city Sebastian loved the most, imbued with heart, soul, and worldly wisdom accumulated over her adventurous, freewheeling life. When Sebastian passed away in 2022 at the age of 90, she hoped “The Bridgemen” would find a permanent home in San Francisco; TLM is honored to host this monumental work for the public to see in Sebastian’s own neighborhood. Learn more about Lady Harriet Sebastian on her website. Opening presented in conjunction with SF First Thursday Art Walk. 

Free to attend, all welcome, no registration required.

Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to partner with Unspeakable Vice, “a volunteer history initiative making queer belonging accessible to everyone,” to offer a new walking tour focused on the LGBTQIA+ history in the Tenderloin and Polk Street neighborhoods.

Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 2-4 PM

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

Register to attend via Humanitix | Admission to the Tenderloin Museum included with ticket

Created by downtown San Francisco resident and professor at California College of the Arts Shawn Sprockett, Unspeakable Vice began as a close look at the queer origins of San Francisco, traversing the city’s North Beach and Barbary Coast areas to trace the history through from 1770-1960. This new tour extends Sprockett’s richly detailed and craftily delivered approach to the TL and Polk Street to offer a deep dive into the emergence of LGBTQIA+ icons and movements that shaped the area from the 1960s to the 1990s. 

Tenderloin Museum is proud to co-present a filmmaker screening of Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria at the Roxie Theater, part of the Roxie’s 40 Years of Queer series and TLM’s 10th Anniversary programming. Post screening discussion with filmmakers Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman!

Wednesday March 19, 2025 | 6:30-8:00pm

At the Roxie Theater | 3125 16th Street SF, CA 94103

Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman’s 2005 documentary is an essential piece of cinema that has indelibly shaped both Tenderloin and Transgender history. Since day one, Screaming Queens has been central to how the Tenderloin Museum tells of our neighborhood’s story. Now, as part of our 10th Anniversary programming, TLM is co-presenting a screening of this crucial piece of documentary in its entirety with longtime collaborators and friends at the Roxie Theater, which is in the midst of showcasing 40 Years of Queercinema in a series co-curated by Lex Sloan and Jenni Olson. 

Whether you’re seeing Screaming Queens for the first time or revisiting this watershed entry into LGBTQ history, this program is an epic opportunity to experience this documentary masterpiece on the big screen with the communities keeping the Compton’s riot legacy alive. TLM’s Executive Director Katie Conry will introduce the film, and both Stryker and Silverman will be present for a post-screening discussion!

Tickets $5-15 via roxie.com

Tenderloin Museum turns 10 this year, and founder Randy Shaw’s seminal neighborhood history— The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco—has been updated through 2025. Join us in celebrating the publication of a new, updated edition of this foundational book at a public program featuring Shaw in conversation with TLM’s Executive Director Katie Conry.

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

And online via zoom (link will be sent to registered attendees)

Originally published in 2015, Randy Shaw’s The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco offered readers a dedicated, comprehensive history of SF’s Tenderloin for the first time. Shaw’s Tenderloin considered our city’s most misunderstood and maligned neighborhood with a richly detailed and nuanced perspective that tells a powerful story of over 100 years of resistance and resilience. The book weaves together narratives of anti-establishment social movements, working class culture, and vibrant ethnic diversity–as well as the vice that earned the neighborhood its name.

The research and writing of that book dovetailed with the creation and opening of the permanent exhibit at the Tenderloin Museum, itself a culmination of Shaw and others’ decades of advocacy for the neighborhood. Now, both the book and museum are celebrating an important milestone: a 10th anniversary. San Francisco has gone through a lot since the original edition; so has the Tenderloin neighborhood. That’s why we are so excited about Randy Shaw’s new edition of his Tenderloin book that brings this vital history into the present. Shaw’s depiction of the Tenderloin as an historic center of resistance perfectly fits the current moment. 

Join us on February 27th to celebrate the launch of Shaw’s 10th Anniversary Edition of The Tenderloin book for a public program featuring the author & museum founder Randy Shaw in conversation with TLM Executive Director Katie Conry. 

Free or Suggested Donation | Register to attend via Humanitix

Click here learn more about the book and purchase directly– all net proceeds support TLM.

Tenderloin Museum is honored to celebrate Black trans history with master storyteller, local luminary, advocate, artist, and  “Black transgender oracle” Andrea Horne. Join us for a special Saturday afternoon program to learn about and honor a multitude of trans trailblazers, their inspiring stories, and rich contributions across time. 

Saturday February 22, 2025 | 3 - 4:30pm 

At the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. 

Step into a space where memory shimmers, truth reigns, and legacy refuses to be forgotten. This Black History Month, join us for an electrifying afternoon with Andrea Horne—a Black transgender oracle, artist, historian, and advocate—who embodies the brilliance, resilience, and undeniable glamor of Black transgender women's storytelling.

Through riveting conversation and masterful storytelling, Andrea will unveil lessons from her groundbreaking book series, “How Black Transgender Women Changed the World,” while offering a dazzling sneak peek at LipGloss-ary —a living, breathing archive devoted to uplifting Black Trans voices.

From defying erasure to reclaiming power, Andrea will illuminate the stories of Black transgender women who have shaped culture, fought for justice, and infused the world with unapologetic beauty. Expect deep wisdom, sharp wit, and a celebration of identity, legacy, and radical joy.

Come for the history, stay for the vision. Let’s honor our past, empower our present, and dream forward—together.

This program is made possible by support from the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, SF Office of Economic & Workforce Development, and Transgender District.

Free or Suggested Donation | Register to attend via Humanitix

To mark Black History Month at the Tenderloin Museum, Charles Curtis Blackwell has organized an evening of poetry and jazz that features new, improvised work intertwined with a tribute to his friend and fellow poet Q.R. Hand. Presented as part of TLM’s Sounds of the TL series, Tender Musical Tapestries features Blackwell in concert with a trio of improvising musicians–Sandra Poindexter (violin), Kash Killion (cello/bass), and Donald Griggs (trumpet)--plus special guests.

Thursday February 20, 2025 | 6-7:30pm

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

Blackwell is a painter, playwright, and poet who is a pillar of the Tenderloin arts community–his visual art practice has long been centered at the Hospitality House Community Arts Program, and he has organized several “happenings” at the TL Museum that showcase his interdisciplinary approach and invite audiences into dialogue about the Black experience. Jazz often manifests in his work, whether as figurative gestures in his paintings, the rhythm of his verse, or the formal fluidity of his performances. 

Hand was a virtuoso poet whose verse was infused with the spirit of jazz and imbued with Black liberation politics–a positionality he termed the “Black Radical Stance.” Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Hand moved to San Francisco in 1970 and was a fixture in the poetry cafes and Bohemian enclaves of North Beach and later the Mission District, where he lived and worked as a community health worker. What is less known is that, for a time, Hand was a resident of the Cadillac Hotel, the building in which the Tenderloin Museum is located and the first SRO to convert into what is now known as permanent supportive housing.

Blackwell and Hand performed together many times over the years and share in a lineage of Black radical jazz-inflected poetry that extends into the present. Blackwell will be joined by special guests to pay homage to the life, verse, and legacy of their friend Q, as well as to celebrate his posthumous volume, Out of Nothing, published November 2023 on Black Freighter Press. The poet, activist, and educator Tongo Eisen-Martin who, as Co-founder and Editor of Black Freighter Press, shepherded Hand’s final book into existence, describes Out of Nothing as  “a Sistine Chapel of a book” and Hand as “a biographer of humanity, a really selfless genius.”

Performing poetry with live musicians has been a vital aspect to the creative practices of both Hand and Blackwell; Tender Musical Tapestries will feature three legends of the Bay Area jazz scene Sandra Poindexter (violin), Kash Killion (cello/bass), and Donald Griggs (trumpet). TLM is honored to host these superlative talents in the Tenderloin and to learn about the work and legacy of Q.R. Hand, one-time resident of the museum’s building and a titan of the SF poetry scene. 

This program is made possible by support from the Specified General Fund for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, with additional funding from the Tenderloin Community Benefit District & SF Office of Economic & Workforce Development.

$10 Suggested Donation | Register via Humanitix

Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to partner with Unspeakable Vice, “a volunteer history initiative making queer belonging accessible to everyone,” to offer a walking tour focused on the LGBTQIA+ history in the Tenderloin and Polk Street neighborhoods.

Saturday, February 15, 2024 | 2-4pm

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

Register to attend via Humanitix | Admission to the Tenderloin Museum included with ticket

Created by downtown San Francisco resident and professor at California College of the Arts Shawn Sprockett, Unspeakable Vice began as a close look at the queer origins of San Francisco, traversing the city’s North Beach and Barbary Coast areas to trace the history through from 1770-1960. This new tour extends Sprockett’s richly detailed and craftily delivered approach to the TL and Polk Street to offer a deep dive into the emergence of LGBTQIA+ icons and movements that shaped the area from the 1960s to the 1990s. 

Tenderloin community arts institution SF Recovery Theatre debuts the 2025 edition of its beloved, perennial production A Night at the Blackhawk for a joint “Concerts at the Cadillac” and “Sounds of the Tenderloin” program.

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

Friday, January 24, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:00pm

SF Recovery Theatre is a grassroots Tenderloin performing arts organization composed mainly of people in recovery that aims to provide a space where people of different cultures, races and religious backgrounds can feel valued and safe. Led by artistic director Geoffrey Grier, SFRT has regularly produced a show called “A Night at the Blackhawk,” a tribute to the music and culture at the Tenderloin’s famed jazz club that gives audiences a front row seat to the jam session. For the 2025 edition of the show, Grier leads a revue featuring vocals by Eric Ward, Vernon Medearis, Gayle Rosemond, and Sherrie Taylor, with music by Dave Austin and Trio d’Swing!

Free! All welcome & no registration required!

Readings and discussion exploring queer life on Polk St. from the gayborhood's 1970s heyday and celebrating William Martin's expansive book series San Francisco: the Luxury of Eccentricity. Featuring the author & friends David Nemoyten, Dirk Alphin and Juanita MORE!

Thursday January 23, 2025 | 6 - 7:30pm

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

Author William Martin has described Polk St. in the 1970s as the “epicenter of Gay Civilization.” With an emergent culture of queer liberation, San Francisco occupied a mythical place in queer consciousness, and Martin’s expansive novel series–San Francisco: the Luxury of Eccentricity–casts this mythical time and place in an epic light. The books chronicle the “adventures and misadventures of young, queer, gender-fluid Twink, Trevor Oliver Tadich III from 1970s until present day” as he finds himself and makes his home in SF. The tales form a coming out, a coming-of-age, and “coming-of-place” for both Trevor and the city itself. 

Within these fictions are richly detailed accounts of Polk St. during its “gayborhood” heyday and during a formative moment in the LGBTQ Movement. These books conjure a colorful and entertaining picture of these times and places from the perspective of someone who lived them. Martin is a raconteur with great panache, and his prose is effervescent and unfettered, matching the energy of its subjects. The Polk St. scene–the old Polkstrasse–is rendered in a sprawling, semi-fictionalized universe where memoir and memory transmute into a prolific creative opus.

Stage Struck, the 7th book in San Francisco: the Luxury of Eccentricity, was published in the final days of 2024 and follows Trevor Oliver Tadich III as he becomes enthralled with theater and film. Like his protagonist, Martin thrived in the theater and film scenes of San Francisco–in addition to being a longtime denizen of the Polkstrasse, Martin is a prolific playwright who was deeply involved with Theatre Rhinocerous and the San Francisco Playwright’s Center, as well as an actor and independent filmmaker in addition to his more recent novelistic pursuits.

To celebrate Martin’s series, the importance of Polk St. history, and the power of memoir and storytelling to shape that history, Tenderloin Museum hosts a reading by the author plus discussion with some of his longtime friends and compatriots from the Polkstrasse: David Nemoyten, Dirk Alphin and Juanita MORE! Join us for this special program exploring queer memoir and memory and “mythologizing the Polkstrasse” at the Tenderloin Museum! 

$10 Suggested Donation | Register via Humanitix

Tenderloin Museum is thrilled to partner with Unspeakable Vice, “a volunteer history initiative making queer belonging accessible to everyone,” to offer a walking tour focused on the LGBTQIA+ history in the Tenderloin and Polk Street neighborhoods.

Saturday, January 18, 2024 | 2-4pm

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

Register to attend via Humanitix | Admission to the Tenderloin Museum included with ticket

Created by downtown San Francisco resident and professor at California College of the Arts Shawn Sprockett, Unspeakable Vice began as a close look at the queer origins of San Francisco, traversing the city’s North Beach and Barbary Coast areas to trace the history through from 1770-1960. This new tour extends Sprockett’s richly detailed and craftily delivered approach to the TL and Polk Street to offer a deep dive into the emergence of LGBTQIA+ icons and movements that shaped the area from the 1960s to the 1990s.