A rare screening of 5 Blocks, which explores the complex questions of income disparity, changing demographics, and the very nature of place.
On Tuesday, October 15, resident magician and raconteur Christian Cagigal will share his favorite supernatural stories of a forgotten San Francisco. Recognized as Best Magician of the Bay of 2018 by the Bay Guardian, Cagigal uses his unique blend of theatrics, storytelling, and magic to transport audiences into the mythical—and macabre—world of old San Francisco.
Drag Queen Bingo is back with Grand Duchess Olivia Hart!
On Friday, October 4th from 6 to 9 p.m., come play double or nothing and visit the Tenderloin Museum for our latest installment of the wildly successful Drag Queen Bingo! Hosted by drag pioneer Olivia Hart, this fabulous fundraiser is inspired by the neighborhood’s long and storied history of gambling, and supports our ongoing diverse and dynamic programming.
Whether you’re a natural or a newbie, the Tenderloin Museum welcomes all to go bank or go home and win the following prizes:
Tickets to the Roxie Theater
Tickets to the San Francisco Jazz Center
Tickets to Great American Music Hall
Tickets to The Warfield
Gift Card to City Lights
Gift Card to the San Francisco Bike Coalition
In this exhibition, Marissa Leitman’s vibrant photographic work focuses on High Fantasy at Aunt Charlie's, and it pays homage to a bygone era of quirky, rowdy, experimental drag that rebels against glam and redefines drag for a new generation.
The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival believes that everyone has a story to tell that is as vital and important as Shakespeare’s. In this storytelling workshop, we’ll use Shakespeare’s great comedy, As You Like It, as a springboard to talk about the issues that matter most to us as individuals and as a community. This workshop is taught by professional artist-educators from the Festival. Activities include role play, and immersive storytelling. Be prepared to laugh, share, and have fun.
As You Like It is a play about class privilege and gender fluidity. In this play, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival explores what it means to be exiled to the margins. Who is in and who is out? What freedoms does the “wilderness” grant? What does it take away? We ask how a play about exile and reunion can remind us about our prejudices and our common humanity.
Workshop facilitator, Jade Blackthorne, is a Community Consultant for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. She calls the Tenderloin home. Jade joined the Festival after attending a previous Shakespeare for All Neighbors Workshop. Since then, she has generously devoted her technical expertise in sound engineering and her passion for community engagement to the mission of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.
Free
Dinner 6-6:30pm
Workshop 6:30-9pm
Join us for a deep dive into San Francisco film, this time looking at the cinematic mythology surrounding a complicated San Francisco landmark, Alcatraz Island.
Shortly after Alcatraz opened as a federal prison in 1934, its career as a setting for movies began. From Alcatraz Island (1937) through Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Hollywood depicted life on the isolated island. After the prison closed in 1963, a new era began. Point Blank (1967) was the first to film there, followed by such memorable titles as The Enforcer (1974) Escape from Alcatraz (1979), The Rock (1996) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Jim Van Buskirk, author of Celluloid San Francisco (and former SFPL librarian), offers a clip-filled program of how the Bay Area’s beloved prison/sightseeing destination has been portrayed on screen.
Jim is an accomplished public speaker, author, and historian who offers unique and entertaining perspectives on California gay and lesbian history, Jewish identity, and Bay Area-related movies. Jim’s had numerous speaking engagements this summer, most recently presenting at SFMOMA, the Tenderloin Museum, and SFPL.
Door at 6:30, Program at 7.
Recently named “Best Street Photographer” by SF Weekly, Darwin Bell has captures the queens of the Hot Boxx Girls befriending and befamilying adoring crowds every weekend at Aunt Charlie’s.
Join the Tenderloin Museum for a screening of a new documentary film on one of the city’s most preeminent LGBTQ activist Hank Wilsom. “Thanks to Hank” is Bob Ostertag’s first feature film, for which he is the producer, director, writer, and editor. The film tells the story of the life and work of Hank Wilson, an extraordinary gay leader with whom Bob was very close.
Doors at 6:30, Screening at 7pm. Q&A with Bob immediately following the film.
$10 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds
The Tenderloin Museum brings back Robert Zagone’s Drugs in the Tenderloin to the Roxie Theater for a one night only special engagement. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to view Robert Zagone’s guerilla-style documentary that captures the Tenderloin transforming into a center for young queers and drug users. Premiered on KQED in 1966, this visceral flick wasn’t shown again in public until 2015 at the Tenderloin Museum, followed by a series of sold-out screenings at the Roxie Theater. This film is not available to see any other way, so don’t miss out on your chance to catch this historic gem.
Come watch the incredible true story of Rev. Raymond Broshears in this short-documentary about his life and the founding of the Lavender Panthers, a gay vigilante group in the 1970's in San Francisco.
Forming the Lavender Panthers, an armed self-defense group, Ray took to the streets to do the job the police wouldn't. Ray was met with criticism, curiosity and fear as he roamed the streets wearing his cleric's collar and brandishing a shotgun.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers, along with Susan Stryker (director of the award-winning documentary "Screaming Queens"), Jim Van Buskirk (co-author of "Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area"), and community historian Paul Gabriel.
Directors Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman’s award winning documentary, The Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, tells the forgotten story of the first collective act of militant resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States–a 1966 riot by transgender prostitutes at a late night cafeteria in San Francisco. The Screaming Queens was awarded an Emmy during The 35th Annual Northern California Area EMMY® Awards For Outstanding Achievement in the Historical/Cultural category.
The Screaming Queens will be held on August 8th; reception at 6:30pm, screening at 7pm with director Susan Stryker (professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies).
James Hosking, an award-winning photographer and filmmaker, developed an ongoing series focusing on performers from Aunt Charlie's, particularly Donna Personna, Olivia Hart, and Collette LeGrande. In this exhibition, Hosking documents performers' ritualistic transformations onstage, behind the scenes, and at home, offering a candid exploration of aging and labor in drag.
A recent wave of strikes, rallies and wildcat actions led by teachers across the country have drawn attention to the most urgent issues faced by students and educators - school closures, budget cuts, understaffing, and the reappropriation of public school funding for charter schools. This panel seeks to tell the stories of local teachers and parent activists, many of which have been underreported or ignored by the mainstream media.
Our panelists include a journalist who has given educators a national voice in this struggle, along with the teachers, organizers, and parents leading the way for radical change within their classrooms, union halls, and communities. These everyday labor leaders will discuss their distinct visions for building working class power, including fighting for dignity and respect through fair contracts, taking militant demands to the streets, and forging solidarity among educators and support staff. We look forward to you leaving this panel with renewed hope in workers’ power to create radical change in education.
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RSVP HERE https://www.eventbrite.com/e/where-well-go-and-where-weve-been-a-fundraiser-celebration-tickets-65016024680
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A free fundraiser celebrating how far we've come and how far we will go. Help us send our delegates to the National Convention. Special keynote speakers: Richard Walker, Dean Preston and Rose Kleiner. Appetizers served!
Great for first-time attendees! A facilitator will be available 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to orient new members.
Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight' chronicles the remarkable experiences of Vicki Marlane, a drag performer still strutting it onstage in her seventies. Vicki takes us on the ride of her life — from rollerskating crossdressed in her youth, to hoochie-coochie girl carnival sideshows and romantic road trips. We hitchhike through the adventures that led to her being San Francisco’s “Toast of the Town” in the early ’70s, and Vicki even shares her tips of the trade acquired from decades of drag experience at hot-spot venues including Aunt Charlie’s in the Tenderloin District. Directed by Michelle Lawler, and produced by archivist and historian Kim Klausner (It’s Elementary:Talking About Gay Issues In School, Frameline20) and Emmy Award-winning Susan Stryker (Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, Frameline30), this film is a loving tribute to a legend.
In Aunt Charlie's Angels, visual artist Tim Snyder captures the glittery greatness of the Grand Ducal Council of San Francisco, a charitable organization that provides grants to communities and individuals who are often marginalized by civic fundraising structures.
An official SF Design Week event!
Join the Tenderloin Museum for an exploration of the typography used on the matchbooks featured in our recent publication The Match Book: Vintage Matchbooks from San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Randall Homan and Al Barna from San Francisco Neon and Stephen Coles from Letterform Archive will present and discuss the unique letter forms and design of Tenderloin matchbooks associated with legacy businesses and neon signs. Just like matchbooks, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of the small businesses they represent, and a window to the past explored through material culture.
Come down to the Tenderloin Museum Friday, June 21st for our fourth installment of the wildly successful Drag Queen Bingo! This fabulous fundraiser is inspired by the neighborhood’s long and storied history of gambling, and supports our ongoing diverse and dynamic programming. Come for the drag, stay for the party, and hopefully leave lucky! If luck be your lady, you will be going home with some fabulous prizes ranging from the experiential to the material!
On June 20th, architectural historian and preservation activist Shayne Watson will lead a walking tour through the TL focused on LGBTQ-sites and the discussion of how best to honor a crucial, intangible legacy in physical (but often altered) locations. This special walking tour is a rare opportunity to explore one of the earliest and most historic LGBTQ enclaves in San Francisco with an expert in the field.
Using photography and portraiture as sites for exploring transgender and gender nonconforming identity, this project aims to bring wider visibility and validation to trans lives, and to showcase the wide spectrum of the transgender experience.
Join us for an evening with award-winning scholar and filmmaker Susan Stryker as she presents on the newest edition of her book, Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution (Seal Press 2008, 2017), with particular emphasis on San Francisco's rich transgender history, from the 19th century to the present.
Join us as be bid farewell to the neon art exhibition "Neon Family by Roxy Rose"
Artist Roxy will be on-site this evening for a tube bending demonstration!
June 6
6p-9p
FREE
The event on May 23rd is an educational presentation by Chris Carlsson about San Francisco’s 1934 General Strike, the single more important even in California labor history.
7p-9p
$5-$10 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds
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This event is part of a larger month-long project dedicated to the History of the US Labor Movement. The Tenderloin Museum and Democratic Socialists of America - San Francisco (DSA-SF) are proud to contribute to the oral history of the US labor movement with an exciting new program focused on the past, present, and future of working people.
The Tenderloin has long been a home for the working class. The neighborhood's small, affordable apartments have drawn blue collar workers for generations -- from bartenders and waitresses, to sex workers and union organizers.
The event on May 16th is a presentation on the labor history being made today by the workers and organizers fighting for it. We'll be joined at this "Future of Labor" panel by workers from Anchor Brewing, joined by organizers from TWU and TWC -- all everyday workers and activists engaging in what local labor historian Fred Glass calls the "oral culture of unionism...[the culture of] workers journeying from isolation and powerlessness to community, strength, and hope."
7-9p
$5-$10 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds
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This event is part of a larger month-long project dedicated to the History of the US Labor Movement. The Tenderloin Museum and Democratic Socialists of America - San Francisco (DSA-SF) are proud to contribute to the oral history of the US labor movement with an exciting new program focused on the past, present, and future of working people.
The Tenderloin has long been a home for the working class. The neighborhood's small, affordable apartments have drawn blue collar workers for generations -- from bartenders and waitresses, to sex workers and union organizers.
Don’t miss our 4th Annual Community Day Celebration with a full day of free events featuring performances and exhibitions by Larkin Street Youth Services, Skywatchers, Singers of the Street, Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center, 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center, and the San Francisco Rock Project!
The Tenderloin Museum would love to toast YOU at our 4th Anniversary Fundraiser!
Join us for a celebration of the Tenderloin Museum, and its years of empowering, supporting, and engaging the Tenderloin community. You’re invited on May 7th to the the iconic mid-century Phoenix Hotel for a swanky evening of nibbles, libations, and mingling. Join the Tenderloin Museum staff and our board members for poolside hors d'oeuvres and frivolity in the most beautiful mid-century hotel in town.
The Tenderloin Museum and SFAI invite you on May 3rd at 3pm to witness an outdoor performance by renowned dance and movement artist Maya Stovall.
Maya Stovall makes art through small encounters in everyday life. Theorem, no.1, her new performance commission, unfolds in the streets and sidewalks — spaces fraught and celebrated — where that life takes place. Spinning a score that the artist refers to as “The Anti-Pop Up” or “The Anti-Flash Mob,” Theorem, no.1 gathers artists and collaborators to weigh the distances between neighbors, public spaces, and art worlds. Led by the movement of Seycon-Nadia Chea, Bana Kabalan, and Mohamed Soumah and the soundscapes of Todd Stovall, a group of 15 interconnected souls take actions from reading, eating, crying, sucking, thinking, kissing, writing, and praying. Together, they weave us into a procession of urban research, wonder, grit, and feeling.
Join us at TLM on May 2nd to catch Roxy Rose's neon art exhibition, "Neon Family." We are holding these special evening hours (6pm-9pm) so you can bask in the glow of this special neon art!
Be sure to make us a stop on your SF First Thursday Art Walk.
Part art exhibit, part science fair. Drop in to see amazing neon artifacts presented by a roomful of experts. Satisfy your neon curiosity!
The Neon Curiosity Lounge is part of the 2nd Annual Neon Speaks Festival and Symposium (April 26, 27 and 28). Neon Speaks, founded and produced by Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon (fiscally sponsored by Tenderloin Museum), brings together a wide array of people who celebrate vintage neon signs and want to save them as community landmarks. Local designers, architects, historians, preservationists, tube benders, urbanists, photographers, authors, and their contemporaries from across the United States will gather to share case studies and how-to knowledge on preservation efforts from coast to coast.
Tix to Neon Curiosity Lounge here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neon-curiosity-lounge-tickets-56603449441
The event on April 23rd is a presentation that explores the history of May Day, the original workers' holiday. Fred Glass, author of From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Movement, will examine the events which led up to May Day, including the struggle for the 8-hour day, general strikes, and the socialist politics which shaped these actions.
7-9p
$5-$10 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds
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This event is part of a larger month-long project dedicated to the History of the US Labor Movement. The Tenderloin Museum and Democratic Socialists of America - San Francisco (DSA-SF) are proud to contribute to the oral history of the US labor movement with an exciting new program focused on the past, present, and future of working people.
The Tenderloin has long been a home for the working class. The neighborhood's small, affordable apartments have drawn blue collar workers for generations -- from bartenders and waitresses, to sex workers and union organizers.
Opening Reception for the art exhibition "Neon Family: A Tribute by Roxy Rose"
April 4, 6-9pm
FREE
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The pieces in Neon Family: A Tribute by Roxy Rose have each been created as expressions of loving memory of Roxy’s father, Rio Score II, who passed away in February 2019, and in tribute to their four-generation family neon business, Alert-Lite Neon, which closed in November 2018. Each work was completely created by Roxy—from cutting and shaping the metal, to painting it, to bending and pumping the neon tubing—to reflect on Rio Score II’s life, revealing also a piece of Roxy’s own biography, all through the glow of neon.
On display in the Tenderloin Museum art gallery April 4th - 28th
Join us on March 28th 6-9pm to celebrate the magic that is ephemera with our closing of the Tenderloin Historic Ephemera Project! This event is your last chance to see our temporary ephemera exhibit and the matchbook art exhibition, Close Cover Before Striking: Alexander von Wolff. Artist von Wolff and ephemera collector and enthusiast, Glenn Koch, will be on hand to happily discuss their work and research.
As we bid adieu to the ephemera project, we invite neighboring institutions and individuals to showcase their own ephemera collections for this one night only closing event. Bring your own ephemera from San Francisco's past, especially the Tenderloin! We are so excited to explore the neighborhood’s collective memory as told through your mementos.
Email info@tenderloinmuseum.org to let us know what you plan to bring (we're welcoming any ephemera from San Francisco, Tenderloin preferred). These small, seemingly ordinary objects beautifully encapsulate the city and the neighborhood's colorful, vibrant past. Join us and travel back in time through the neighborhood's material culture.
As San Francisco’s roaring vice district, the Tenderloin of the early 20th century figures greatly into the development of cocktail culture. Many of the bars, restaurants, and hotels represented in The Match Book: Tenderloin Historical Ephemera Project played a role in San Francisco cocktail history. Join us for a survey of the neighborhood's historic bar culture and recipes from the innovators who shaped the modern cocktail landscape through a historical discussion, guided tasting, and hands-on class led by Shana Farrell, author of Bay Area Cocktails: A History of Culture, Community and Craft. In collaboration with the California Historical Society.
Doors at 6:30pm, Program 7pm
The visual language of the matchbooks broadcasts a rich local dialect, which took root in the Tenderloin’s many restaurants, bars, hotels, and social clubs. Aesthetically evocative examples of this lingo abound, conjuring a rich, nuanced vision of Tenderloins past. As physical artifacts, they provide a historical record of a business or particular address. But what’s more, these mass produced and widely distributed tokens touched myriad individual narratives, belonging to people who walked the same streets and lived in the same buildings as the present Tenderloin community. On March 14th walk these same streets with a Tenderloin Museum Historian, Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon, and typography expert Shelley Gruendler, and see the present day sites of the historic businesses featured in The Match Book: Vintage Matchbooks from San Francisco’s Tenderloin and The Matchbook Map Exhibit. You’ll be mesmerized both by how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. Let your historical imagination run wild!
Doors at 6pm, Tour leaves promptly at 6:30pm
Tickets can be purchased here
Become a member of the Tenderloin Museum before March 7th and receive an invitation to our exclusive Member Appreciation Party at the historic UC Hastings’ Sky Room, an art deco-style lounge with breathtaking views of the San Francisco skyline.
Doors at 6:30pm
Screening at 7pm
Followed by a panel discussion
*Director Robert Zagone will be in attendance and available for Q&A*
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Join GLIDE and the Tenderloin Museum for a film screening of the “Reach Out and Touch,” a documentary about the legendary Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church. A post-film discussion, facilitated by Paul Harkin, will talk about best practices in harm reduction and how Cecil’s philosophy of radical inclusion and love still permeates and informs Glide’s present-day programs.
San Francisco History Association leads you through this city's colorful history with talks and slide shows given by guest speakers selected from the Bay Area's diverse arts and literary community. For this event, TLM Executive Director Katie Conry has been invited to speak about the Tenderloin!
Doors open at 7 p.m. with refreshments and a historical book sale; presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. sharp. There is a $10 admission for nonmembers.
Tickets available at the door, or purchase in advance here
Join the Tenderloin Museum for an exploration of the typography used on the matchbooks featured in our new book The Match Book: Vintage Matchbooks from San Francisco’s Tenderloin and The Matchbook Map Exhibit, with typography expert Shelley Gruendler. Randall Homan and Al Barna from San Francisco Neon will discuss neon signs associated with the historic businesses represented by the matchbooks. Just like matchbooks, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of the small businesses they represent, and a window to the past explored through material culture.
6:30pm Doors, 7pm Program
Join author Peter Field for a public presentation at the release party for the book, The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time, which is a brief history of a neighborhood known to early San Franciscans as St. Ann's Valley. The story of this once-placid piece of real estate provides us with a fascinating microcosm of urban history as we follow its turbulent passage from an outlying village of Gold Rush pioneers to prosperous but quiet residential respectability; its development into a hotel, entertainment, and vice district; its gradual decay into decades of mean and homeless streets; and its on-going efforts towards economic rehabilitation. Numerous photographs and images offer glimpses of its successive worlds of early settlers in the sand dunes; houses, churches, schools and mansions in a respectable middle- and upper-class neighborhood; fancy and not-so-fancy hotels and restaurants and saloons and theaters; ward politicians and political bosses, labor unions, gamblers, entertainers, high-class brothels, and petty criminals; bars, strip clubs, burlesque, and poker joints; and the politics of a decaying central city neighborhood trying to save itself.
The Tenderloin neighborhood is a virtual museum of historic neon signs. These one-of-kind works of sign art are waiting to be illuminated. Join us for a journey into the behind-the-scenes neon renaissance movement in San Francisco to give neon signs their due as hand-made works of art. The Tenderloin Museum and San Francisco Neon co-founders present treasures of lost neon landscapes in rare film footage and photographs. You’ll learn the history of neon through historic images from the San Francisco History Center and the American Sign Museum that show the before and after glow of the America’s neon landscape. Take home a copy of “Neon Icons” a photographic study in past and present neon signs that represent the artistic and spirit and the history of small businesses of San Francisco.
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This event is part of the 2019 California Association of Museums (CAM) conference "Changing the Narrative"
About the Theme:
People and communities use narrative–stories built around core values–to understand the world and their place in it. As narratives become more inclusive and encompass a broader range of perspectives, museums are looking for ways to deliver these new stories to provide a narrative that represents as many voices as possible. Museums are working to change the narrative around their collections in order to fulfill their responsibility to better serve the public.
Photo by Ava Porter
Alexander Von Wolff creates artwork from vintage matchbooks representing a variety of local institutions past and present. Join us for an opening of his art show at the Tenderloin Museum, which includes a few pieces inspired by matchbooks from our book The Match Book: Vintage Matchbooks from San Francisco’s Tenderloin. For Wolff, matchbooks are “more than mere advertising campaigns...the matchbook symbolizes a collective consciousness of leisure, served as keepsakes for a wealth of anonymous design creativity, and were enjoyed by individuals who attached meaning to them through experience and memories.”
Wolff has captured this historical memory with his art, recreating artistic relics of the past and giving them new life in the form of large scale printed images. “Now this form is not just a miniature memory in a box, or a remnant left on the mantle; it is a piece of art that will allure and transport you to a time gone by,” says Wolff. On display at the Tenderloin Museum until March 31st.
The Tenderloin Museum is pleased to announce its 4th annual Volunteer Fair. This gathering is intended for first time volunteers and seasoned civil servants to meet and connect with representatives from several of the Tenderloin’s vital service nonprofits. Come learn about the many ways one can serve those in need and build meaningful community in the heart of San Francisco.
The Volunteer Fair begins with an opening reception at 6:30 pm, followed by short presentations at 7 pm from over a half dozen local organizations.
102 Years Since America's First Sex Worker Rights Protest
Prostitution has always been a hot-button issue in San Francisco, but how often do we hear from sex workers themselves? On Thursday, January 24th, join the Tenderloin Museum and St. James Infirmary to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of San Francisco's 1917 sex worker march.
Help us set the tone for the new year in celebrating this vital piece of Bay Area history. Authors Ivy Anderson and Devon Angus, co-editors of Alice: Memoirs of a Barbary Coast Prostitute, will give a talk examining the history of sex work in San Francisco from 1849-1917. Afterwards, representatives from St. James Infirmary will address where we are at 100 years later in the continuing fight for sex workers’ rights.
$10 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds. Half of door proceeds will go directly to support St. James Infirmary.
Historic neon signs represent small businesses and neighborhood gathering places where generations have met to watch movies, drink martinis, buy groceries, and park cars. The surviving neon signs that glow brightly throughout the California landscape permeate almost all cultures and lifestyles. They are not disposable advertising, but a bridge between the past and present. They have become iconic community landmarks. But what are the best practices to protect and restore these neighborhood icons? Join Randall Ann Woman and Al Barna of San Francisco Neon to take a look at some iconic neon signs in California, learn the fascinating stories behind them, explore the struggles and the payoffs in saving them, and the neon best practices that may, or may not, be part of the plan. The Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco has more than 100 surviving neon signs, and a recent initiative called Tenderloin Neon A-Z (a collaboration between the Tenderloin Museum, SF Neon, and San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development [OEWD]), aims to restore a cluster of neon signs every year in an effort to illuminate this historic neighborhood.
Katie Conry, Executive Director of the Tenderloin Museum, will profile the Tenderloin and the positive impacts of restoring the neon glow to the streets. The talk will close with a screening of Lost Neon Landscapes, neon-focused footage from the Prelinger Archive. This 15-minute film includes clips of home movies and short films that reveal San Francisco’s lost neon landscape from Market Street to Playland.
Join the Tenderloin Museum for the opening reception of The Matchbook Map Exhibit, featuring a searchable, interactive touchscreen map that connects matchbook imagery to historical info on the associated business and address. Th is new permanent exhibit will be presented in conjunction with a new temporary exhibit, The Tenderloin Ephemera Exhibition, featuring historical Tenderloin ephemera from the 1920’s-1950’s including glassware, postcards, menus, matchbooks et al. The Tenderloin Ephemera Exhibition would not be possible without Glenn Koch, who lent his collection to the Tenderloin Museum. Koch is one of the Bay Area's preeminent collectors of San Francisco historic ephemera and author of San Francisco Golden Age Postcards & Memorabilia, 1900-1940. Koch will be in attendance at the opening (January 10th 6-9pm) to speak about his collection and answer any questions.
To celebrate the magic that is ephemera we’re inviting neighboring institutions and individuals to showcase their ephemera collections for one night only at our opening event. Bring your own ephemera from San Francisco's past, especially the Tenderloin! We are so excited to explore the neighborhood’s collective memory as told through your mementos. Email info@tenderloinmuseum.org to let us know what you plan to bring (we're welcoming any ephemera from San Francisco, Tenderloin preferred). These small, seemingly ordinary objects beautifully encapsulate the city and the neighborhood's colorful, vibrant past. Join us and travel back in time through the neighborhood's material culture.
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