The Tenderloin Museum is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with some big moves — tripling its size, adding a vibrant neon gallery, and relaunching its immersive play, Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in April — all to celebrate the neighborhood’s legacy as a hub for nightlife, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, and a variety of social movements.
The expansion will take over an adjacent space in the museum's existing residence in the Cadillac Hotel building at Eddy and Leavenworth, once home to Newman’s Gym, where boxing legends like Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, and Sugar Ray Robinson trained. The new space will house an expanded permanent collection featuring exhibits on the California Labor School, Newman’s Gym, and the Tenderloin Times newspaper, while also creating room for youth and educational programs.
A key focus of the new space will be preserving the oral histories of the Tenderloin’s diverse residents, beginning with an upcoming exhibit celebrating the influence of Indian-American hotel owners in the Tenderloin over the past 50 years.
Another major highlight is the return of Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an immersive play that brings to life the 1966 trans uprising at 101 Taylor Street, which recently received two historic landmark designations.
With anti-trans legislation on the rise nationwide, museum director Katie Conry sees the play as more vital than ever. “The Tenderloin has always been a place of resistance,” she says.
For architect June Lee, a trans woman leading the renovation, the project is deeply personal. She first worked on the building 30 years ago as a teenage intern during a seismic retrofit—now, she’s shaping its future.
While the neon gallery is expected to be a major draw, the museum’s deeper mission remains clear: honoring the stories of a neighborhood that has long been a refuge for those who refused to be erased.
Image: Google Maps
Previously: Tenderloin Museum Opens In Former Sizzler Steakhouse Space
Update: A few clarifying details about the exhibits were added to this post after publishing
