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Market Street Movie Marquees: Neon Nirvana

  • Tenderloin Museum 398 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA, 94102 (map)

Tuesday May 2, 2023 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm

in-person at the Tenderloin Museum | 398 Eddy St. SF, CA 94102

$10 Registration via Eventbrite

Time travel with us to experience the elaborate neon movie marquees that once saturated Market Street near San Francisco's Tenderloin.

Between the 1930s–1960s, Market Street was home to a dense collection of cinemas between 5th and 10th Streets, with extravagant neon marquee and projecting signs. All but three of these movie theaters are now closed, and several of them were demolished; now it is a treasure hunt to discover these beautiful and mostly bygone neon signs where San Francisco's movie-lovers gathered from the near-by Tenderloin, Union Square shops, and beyond.

Enter neon nirvana and spend an evening with Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan, founders of San Francisco Neon, with co-presenter Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco, to learn about Market Street’s many neon movie marquees! This illustrated presentation is an in-person event at the Tenderloin Museum.

5:30 pm: Doors open for refreshments

6:00–7:30pm: Presentation followed by a Q&A

Earlier Event: April 22
Labor in the 'Loin
Later Event: May 4
Doris Fish Does Club 181