Night Moves: Tour the Tenderloin at Night

Experience unique Tenderloin nightlife.

Though its once-thriving hub of glittering gay dives, jazz clubs, and bathhouses have changed with time or disappeared entirely, the Tenderloin’s vibrant legacy and activist spirit continue to live on in San Francisco’s historic working class neighborhood.

Every first and third Wednesday, join us for an adult’s-only evening tour which celebrates the local landmarks that once made the Tenderloin a refuge for artists, activists, and iconoclasts. Learn about some of America’s oldest X-rated establishments; historic LGBT hangouts; the “screaming queens” who led to the development of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, and more.

We’ll experience Tenderloin nightlife and visit iconic local dives and burgeoning supper clubs: One stop includes a visit Aunt Charlie’s, the neighborhood’s last working class drag bar, which, according to scholar and filmmaker Susan Stryker, is almost heavenly. “For all its decrepitude, there’s something almost utopian about the place, inviting you to ask why more of the world can’t be just like this.”Along the way, patrons will visit Chambers, the Phoenix Hotel’s amber-lit whiskey lounge, as well as receive a free pass to see a jazz show of their choosing at the Black Cat. Patrons will not only experience neighborhood nightlife, but the eclectic character of the Tenderloin itself—which is unique to San Francisco and beyond.

Tours are the first and third Wednesday evening of every month.

Arrive at the Tenderloin Museum at 5:30pm to tour the Museum. Tours take off promptly at 6:15pm from the Museum. Ages 21+