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Unseen Tenderloin: Presentation and Collection Viewing at CHS

  • California Historical Society 678 Mission Street San Francisco, CA, 94105 United States (map)

Join the California Historical Society and the Tenderloin Museum in exploring rare and unseen moments in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Randy Shaw, author of *The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco* and Tenderloin Museum Board Member, will present a slide show of images from the neighborhood from 1907 to 1971. Afterward join us for a book signing and viewing of Tenderloin materials in the CHS Collections.

About the Speaker:

Randy Shaw co-founded the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in 1980 and has been its Executive Director since 1982. Shaw has long prioritized reclaiming the Tenderloin’s lost history. He led the effort to create the national Uptown Tenderloin Historic District, as well as the efforts to install historic plaques on nearly 100 Tenderloin Buildings. Shaw also coordinated the installation of nine “Lost Landmark” plaques on sidewalks, commemorating such key parts of Tenderloin history as the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, the Blackhawk Jazz Club, and Wally Heider Studios. He also assisted in the restoration of several historic neon signs on Tenderloin SRO hotels. Shaw is a founder of Uptown Tenderloin, Inc., which spearheaded the Tenderloin Museum. He uncovers the Tenderloin’s history from 1907 to the present in his book, *The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco*.

About the Tenderloin Museum’s Exhibition, *The Unseen World of the Tenderloin: Rare Historic Photographs, 1907-71.*

The Tenderloin Museum’s first major temporary exhibition, *The Unseen World of the Tenderloin* highlights both historic neighborhood scenes and the intimate spaces familiar to its inhabitants. Rare photos of backstage dressing rooms, streetscapes, legendary clubs, and daily hangouts together form a kaleidoscopic view, showcasing the diversity and energy that the neighborhood is still known for today.

The Tenderloin is where San Francisco keeps its secrets – home to underground gay bars, illicit nightclubs, and the core of the vice industry. It’s also where everyday people have lived, worked, and made art for generations. Over the decades, these unlikely neighbors have created one of the city’s most tightly-knit communities, wrought by the Tenderloin’s dynamism, chaos, and unique beauty.

This event compliments the Tenderloin Museum's first major temporary exhibition, *The Unseen World of the Tenderloin: Rare Historic Photographs, 1907-1971*. Visit the Tenderloin Museum to see the exhibition, on display until January 16 2017.

In partnership with the California Historical Society.