Tenderloin Museum

08/27/2026

JUST ANNOUNCED! 🏛️

Join historian and architecture expert Linda Day for a new walking tour exploring the work of James Francis Dunn, the self-taught architect behind some of the Tenderloin’s most distinctive buildings.

Discover Dunn’s Art Nouveau flourishes, French-inspired designs, and Moorish architecture as you visit six of his Tenderloin buildings.

📅 Saturday, Sept. 5 | 1–2:30 PM
📍 Meet at Le Marais Bakery, 1138 Sutter St.
🎟️ TICKETS, $15: https://events.humanitix.com/james-francis-dunn-in-the-tl-architecture-walking-tour-with-linda-day

08/26/2026

SEPTEMBER IS SELLING FAST. 🏳️‍⚧️

Two September performances of The Compton's Cafeteria Riot are already SOLD OUT, and tickets are getting low for the remaining dates.

September dates:
• Friday, September 4: SOLD OUT
• Friday, September 11: SOLD OUT
• Friday, September 18: Limited tickets
• Saturday, September 19: Limited tickets
• Friday, September 25: Limited tickets
• Saturday, September 26 (Matinee, 3 PM): Limited tickets

If you’ve been meaning to see The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, now’s the time. 🎟️ Grab your tickets before September sells out at tickettailor.com/events/comptonscafeteriariotplay?ref=fb

The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, presented by Tenderloin Museum at 835 Larkin St, San Francisco. Shows at 7:00 PM unless otherwise noted.

08/26/2026

Join us this Saturday for “Valley of the Queens,” our monthly LGBTQIA+ history walking tour with Unspeakable Vice!

Explore the Tenderloin and Polk Street through stories of q***r resistance, community, and nightlife, including Compton’s Cafeteria, San Francisco’s first Pride parade, and more.

📅 Saturday, Aug. 29 | 2–3:30 PM
📍 Meet at the SW corner of Geary and Powell Street, Union Square
🎟️ TICKETS: https://events.humanitix.com/unspeakable-vice-valley-of-the-queens-lgbtqia-walking-tour/tickets

08/25/2026

Join us TONIGHT for The Black Rose Remembered.

Tenderloin Museum brings together historian Susan Stryker and former regulars of The Black Rose to remember one of the Tenderloin’s most storied dives and the transgender community that made it a gathering place throughout the 1980s and beyond.

📍 The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot venue, 835 Larkin St.
⏰ 6:30–7:30 PM
🎟️ FREE to attend. Donations welcome.
ℹ tenderloinmuseum.org/public-programs-2026-2/2026/8/25/black-rose-remembered

Come hear stories of The Black Rose, its legendary owner Francine Logandice, and the people who made this unforgettable Tenderloin institution what it was.

08/20/2026

Don’t forget to join us this Saturday at 4 PM for “Playing the Riot: Activism, Performance, and Compton’s at 60,” commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, featuring cast and crew from The Compton's Cafeteria Riot and historian Susan Stryker. (Thanks, SFist!)

👉

Performances and a roundtable discussion will take place at Turk and Taylor Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, with a screening and panel of the Emmy-winning documentary 'Screaming Queens' to follow August 27.

08/20/2026

🥰

Severe water damage has forced us to close. Help us cover uninsured recovery costs, operational losses, and long-term water-mitigation improvements so we can reopen and keep sharing this community’s history.

08/19/2026

We miss you! 💛 While the Tenderloin Museum is closed, come see us somewhere fancy. ✨

Join us Wednesday, September 23 for our 11th Annual Gala, “A Decade Plus One,” at The Green Room at San Francisco War Memorial.

Come hang out with us, enjoy food, drinks, live entertainment, and community...and finally have an excuse to wear the good stuff.

Cocktail attire suggested. We may be scrappy by nature, but we clean up beautifully.

🗓 Wednesday, September 23 | 5–8:30 PM
📍 The Green Room at San Francisco War Memorial | 401 Van Ness Ave., SF, CA 94102
🎟️ INFO & TICKETS: events.humanitix.com/tenderloin-museum-11th-annual-gala

08/19/2026

Step into the Black Rose.

For decades, The Black Rose was one of the Tenderloin’s most legendary and mysterious dive bars. Throughout the 1980s and beyond, it became home to a flourishing community of transgender people, predominantly Black, along with their friends, admirers, and paramours.

On Tuesday, August 25, the Tenderloin Museum brings the Black Rose back to life for “The Black Rose Remembered.”

👉 tenderloinmuseum.org/public-programs-2026-2/2026/8/25/black-rose-remembered

Historian Susan Stryker, who conducted an extensive oral history with Black Rose owner Francine Logandice in 1997, joins former regulars and Tenderloin denizens who frequented and worked at the bar to share memories and stories from this remarkable chapter of Tenderloin history.

Francine Logandice, a transgender Navy veteran, serial bar owner, and obsessive collector of transgender literature, helped make the Black Rose a place unlike any other. Its reputation and intrigue eventually carried its story into books, television, and San Francisco folklore.

Come hear from the people who knew it firsthand and remember a place that meant so much to so many.

📍 The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot venue, 835 Larkin St., San Francisco
📅 Tuesday, August 25, 2026
🕡 6:30–7:30 PM
🎟 FREE to attend. Donations welcome.

08/18/2026

60 years later, Compton’s still speaks! In August 1966, trans people, drag queens, hustlers, and other Tenderloin residents fought back against police harassment at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, an overlooked but pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history.

This Saturday, August 22, from 4–5 PM, join the Tenderloin Museum for “Playing the Riot: Activism, Performance, and Compton’s at 60.”

👉 tenderloinmuseum.org/public-programs-2026-2/2026/8/22/comptons-play-onthe60th

Historian Susan Stryker will lead a roundtable with the co-writers and long-time cast and crew of The Compton's Cafeteria Riot, exploring how theater can preserve radical history, bring overlooked stories to life, and connect the struggles of 1966 to the present.

The play has been running continuously for more than 100 performances at 835 Larkin St. since April 2025. It’s a living monument to a history that refuses to stay in the past. Come reflect, remember, and consider what it means to play the riot 60 years later.

📍 835 Larkin St., San Francisco
📅 Saturday, August 22, 2026
🕓 4–5 PM
🎟 FREE to attend. Donations welcome!

08/05/2026

The museum is closed. Its mission is not. 🏛️

On June 27, water damage originating in the residential floors of The Cadillac Hotel, above our space, forced Tenderloin Museum to close. The repairs needed have turned out to be more extensive than we first thought, and we’re remaining closed while this work is completed, with a goal of reopening this fall. How quickly we get there depends on the support of this community, and that includes you.

We’ve launched “Help Rebuild the Tenderloin Museum” to help fund what it takes to bring the Museum fully back, including lost operating revenue and long-term improvements to protect against future water damage. Every gift, however large or small, brings us closer to reopening.

💛 Give what you can: givebutter.com/rebuild-tenderloin-museum

Our public programming and events haven’t stopped. Please check our website for the latest updates, including venue changes. We also added September dates to our hit immersive show, “The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot,” which is still running at 835 Larkin Street.

📣 Can’t give right now? Share this post. That helps just as much.

Thank you for standing with this neighborhood and this museum. ❤️