What We Accomplished in Year 10

Our milestone decade was our most ambitious year yet. We broke ground on a $3.7 million expansion project that will triple our physical space by 2028, secured two new storefronts including a 6,850-square-foot historic property adjacent to our current location, and launched the most celebrated production in our history.

On April 11, 2025, we opened a new staging of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an original immersive production written by trans elders and artists reviving one of the first acts of queer resistance in American history. A dedicated venue was built at 835 Larkin Street, in the Tenderloin, recreating a 1960s diner experience. The show, now in its second season, has run for more than 100 performances, drawn over 6,400 attendees from across the Bay Area and beyond, and generated $222,432 in wages for 31 trans and LGBTQ+ cast and crew members. More than 300 free and sliding-scale tickets were distributed to low-income Tenderloin residents.

Our expansion was covered on KTVU (see video), KRON4, NBC News Bay Area, and the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot received widespread critical acclaim, with the SF Chronicle Datebook calling it one of 2025’s must-see theatrical productions.

We also continued our extraordinary range of public programs reflecting the full depth and diversity of the neighborhood’s history and community: rare film screenings at the Roxie Theater, including the 1966 cult phenomenon Drugs in the Tenderloin, and Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman’s 2005 documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria; and concerts at the storied Great American Music Hall, including a celebration of the neighborhood’s iconic Club 181 with Veronica Klaus; the launch of the monthly “Valley of the Queens” LGBTQIA+ history walking tour series with Unspeakable Vice; and live music on the streets through 2nd Thursdays at Dodge Alley, activations in Myrtle Alley, and Concerts at the Cadillac. We celebrated the 10th anniversary edition of founder Randy Shaw’s landmark neighborhood history, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco, mounted art exhibitions featuring Tenderloin artists Lord Frederick and Lady Harriet Sebastian, and partnered with the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Shaping Legacy project to examine monuments, memory, and civic identity.

From drag brunches and crochet jams to documentary screenings, architectural walking tours, and even a congratulatory video message from actor Michael Douglas, our programs drew together hundreds of residents, artists, historians, and visitors in shared exploration of a neighborhood that continues to surprise, inspire, and resist.

Contact the host of A Decade Plus One: Tenderloin Museum’s 11th Annual Gala