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 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!
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 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!
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, 2024 | 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.