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The Tenderloin Museum

Established	July 16, 2015 (2015-07-16)
Location	398 Eddy St., San Francisco, US
Type	History museum
Founder	Randy Shaw
Website	www.tenderloinmuseum.org

The Tenderloin Museum is a museum located in the Tenderloin district in Downtown San Francisco. The museum houses historical highlights from the Tenderloin, ranging from the gay movement, the bar scene, its jazz legends, LGBT pioneers, film exchanges, rock recording studios, waves of immigrants, tea dances, geography and non-profits.

Plaque on the wall of the Cadillac Hotel, where the Tenderloin Museum is located.

The Building

The Tenderloin Museum is housed within the historic Cadillac Hotel.

The Museum itself houses a gift shop, welcoming area and several exhibits.

The gift shop sells the work of local artists on a rotating schedule.

History

The Tenderloin Museum was originally founded in 2009 as Uptown Tenderloin, Inc., a nonprofit focused on heightening the public's knowledge and appreciation of the Tenderloin's history.

The Tenderloin Museum, which grew from these efforts, opened on July 16, 2015.

Exhibition

The exhibits at The Tenderloin Museum follow the neighbourhood’s history from 1906 to “almost the present” according to Randy Shaw, a co-founder and board member of Uptown Tenderloin, Inc.

Exhibition centrepieces include recordings of music performed at The Blackhawk Jazz Club at Turk and Hyde, where Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk and others played from 1949 to 1963. There are also recordings done at Wally Heider Studios on Hyde Street in the 1970s by bands including the Grateful Dead, Santana and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Exhibits on gay and lesbian activities and activism, including the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, the first recorded militant uprising by the queer community against police harassment in US history, are included.

Each section contains cleanly framed photos and placards with summaries. There are also interactive pieces including a historic pinball machine, and several headsets and digital video screens.

Chess on the streets of the Tenderloin district

Entertainment

On some evenings The Tenderloin Museum is open as an event space for free, open to the public, concerts, for theatre performances, film screenings, lectures, local artist exhibitions, poetry nights, speakers, panels and other performers.