398 Eddy Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
415-351-1912
San Francisco California
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Tenderloin Museum turns 10 on July 16, 2025! To celebrate, TLM invited composer, arranger, bandleader, and saxophone great Howard Wiley to organize a musical tribute to the neighborhood featuring an intergenerational revue of legendary Bay Area performers. This extraordinary gathering of musicians will highlight how the TL has shaped the Bay Area’s music scene and pay homage to iconic venues like Black Hawk Jazz Club to GLIDE Memorial Church to Hyde Street Studios and the Great American Music Hall itself. Special guests include the Bay Area’s queen of the blues and gospel Lady Bianca Thornton; multi-talented rapper, pianist, producer, and frequent Wiley collaborator Kev Choice; Fillmore jazz legend and saxophonist John Handy; poet, activist, educator, and SF’s 8th poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin; the poet, public theologian, and current Minister of Celebration at GLIDE Memorial Church Marvin K. White, the legendary GLIDE Ensemble choir featuring vocalist Ashling Cole; and vocalist Lavay Smith and pianist Chris Siebert, who have regularly featured Wiley in their swingin’ big band the Red Hot Skillet Lickers for over two decades.
Wednesday July 16, 2025 | Doors 7pm + Show 7:30pm
at the Great American Music Hall | 859 O’Farrell St. SF, CA 94109
Tickets $20 GA / $35 Reserved | Purchase via See Tickets
TLM Members get $10 off any ticket
A special Sounds of the Tenderloin program at the Great American Music Hall explores the silent film era in the neighborhood, featuring Richard Marriott’s Club Foot Quintet performing original scores to two short films by Buster Keaton: “One Week” and “Day Dreams” (a premiere!). This plus presentations on the Tenderloin’s film exchanges by Kathy Rose O’Regan of SF Film Preserve and on Market St. Movie Marquees by Jim Van Buskirk and SF Neon.
Club Foot Quintet is comprised of:
Chris Grady - Trumpet
Mark Yee - Baritone Sax
David James - Electric Guitar
Kjell Nordeson - Percussion
Richard Marriott - Euphonium, Trombone & Compositions
Saturday July 26, 2025 | Doors 7pm Show at 7:30pm
At the Great American Music Hall | 859 O’Farrell St. SF, CA 94109
$20 GA / $35 Reserved Seating | Purchase via See Tickets
TLM Members get $10 Off
Celebrate the publication of a new Arcadia Publishing book on San Francisco’s Transgender District by Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer. Featuring over 200 images, this volume renders the Transgender District’s story in an unprecedented focus and detail, and enacts vital place-making by situating the District in this iconic, accessible series of pictorial neighborhood histories. Join for a block party in Myrtle Alley ft. a presentation (& book signing) by Rev. Dr. Rohrer alongside performances by folx featured in the book! “Compton’s” will be open serving beverages and specials off the griddle! This event is part of a series of monthly activations in Myrtle Alley timed to the SF First Thursday Art Walk funded by SF Planning.
August 7, 2025 | 6-8pm
During the SF First Thursday Art Walk in the TL
At The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot venue | 835 Larkin St. SF, CA 94109
Free or suggested donation | 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, August 16, 2025 | 2:00-4:00 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.
The underground San Francisco cult sensation is back—and on the big screen!
Drugs in the Tenderloin (1967)
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 | 7:00 PM
At the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St, SF, CA 94103
Q&A to follow with director Robert Zagone and special guests
Co-presented by the Tenderloin Museum and the Roxie Theater
Runtime: 52 minutes | Not Rated | Filmed in 1966, Aired in 1967
TICKET LINK COMING SOON!
Tenderloin Museum and the Roxie Theater are proud to present a special rare screening of Drugs in the Tenderloin, Robert Zagone’s groundbreaking 1967 documentary that captures a pivotal era in the city’s history with unflinching honesty and street-level intimacy.
Drugs in the Tenderloin is not available to stream or purchase commercially. This screening is one of only a few public opportunities to view the film in its original form, in conversation with the filmmaker and local historians.
