New 10th Anniversary Edition Updated 2025

San Francisco has gone through a lot since the original edition of this book was published in 2015. So has the Tenderloin neighborhood. That’s why we are so excited about Randy Shaw’s update to his original Tenderloin book to 2025. Shaw’s depiction of the Tenderloin as an historic center of resistance perfectly fits the current moment. It’s the 10th Anniversary of the Tenderloin Museum and all net book proceeds go to the museum.

About the Book:

Named for a part of the city where bribes bought police the highest-grade beef, San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood remains an island of primarily low-income, ethnically diverse residents in a city of every increasing wealth. How has it survived? Randy Shaw searches for answers in this powerful account of the Tenderloin from its post-quake rebuilding in 1907 through today.

The Tenderloin fought back against the establishment time and time again. And often won. Shaw shows how those outside the mainstream—independent working women, gay men, “screaming queens,” activist SRO hotel tenants and many others—led these struggles. Once known for “girls, gambling and graft,” the Tenderloin was also fertile ground for the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, Dashiell Hammett and other cultural icons. The Tenderloin is the untold story of a neighborhood that persisted against all odds. It is a must read for everyone concerned about the future of urban neighborhoods.

Praise for the 2025 Edition:

“Written with the deep knowledge and admiration of an activist who has promoted the Tenderloin for over four decades, Randy Shaw gives us a rich and accessible history of America’s most maligned and misunderstood neighborhood. This book is full of insights and lessons for building a more just future for marginalized communities.” - FORREST STUART, Professor of Sociology, Faculty Director, Program on Urban Studies, Stanford University

“Randy Shaw’s wonderful book is a perfect companion for a visit to the Tenderloin Museum. Shaw uncovers the neighborhood’s lost history and describes the challenges facing the vibrant Tenderloin today.” - KATIE CONRY, Executive Director, Tenderloin Museum

About the Author:

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw's latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. Shaw is the founder of the Uptown Tenderloin Inc., which led the effort to create the national Uptown Tenderloin Historic District and later to create and open the Tenderloin Museum.