Former editors and reporters for The Tenderloin Times discuss the collective power of the publication and its lasting impact on our city. The Tenderloin Times was a free monthly newspaper serving the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, from 1977 to 1994. One of the core missions of the paper was to distribute information about medical, housing, financial, and employment services for people who lived in the neighborhood. Published in four languages—English, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese—its pages were filled with the words and faces of senior citizens, sex workers, parolees, recovering addicts, people experiencing homelessness and newly arrived war refugees. Known by denizens as a neighborhood of last resort and first opportunity, the Tenderloin remains an important haven in the heart of our city.
Our panelists include Sara Colm, Rob Waters, Chanthanom Ounkeo and Dennis Conkin. The moderator is Joe Wilson, Executive Director of Hospitality House.
The discussion took place during the opening of the exhibition People, Paper, Power: Building Community Through The Tenderloin Times at the Katz Snyder Gallery at the Jewish Community Center in 2019.