“Tenderloin Buzz” will be a recurring update on changes, tidbits and other news from the Tenderloin. Got news? Send us tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
The Christmas tree at the Tom and Jerry House in December 2016. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
Come out for the Tenderloin’s eighth annual Christmas tree lighting tonight at Boeddeker Park. Santa and his elves are rumored to be in attendance, and there will be music and dance performances from 5 to 6 p.m.
And what’s Christmas without some speeches from local politicians? Catch District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Assemblymember Matt Haney and State Senator Scott Wiener from 6 to 6:30 p.m. before the tree is lit.
BlackMaria Microcinema will open a second location at 570 Larkin St. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
BlackMaria Microcinema is a new tiny movie theatre coming to the Tenderloin and expected to open in January at 570 Larkin St. The space will host independent film screenings and offer classes in acting, screenwriting, fundraising.
Owner Maria Judice already runs the original BlackMaria Microcinema in the Mission District, and wanted to expand to a new, slightly larger — still micro at only 45-50 seats — location in the Tenderloin.
“A microcinema has always traditionally been a community space,” said Judice, who wants the theatre to be accessible and bring in a diverse audience. “Even though it’s focused on screenings and films and filmmakers, the idea is that it’s a place that rotates like the community needs.”
Judice got a grant for the cinema through the city’s Downtown ENRG program, but she also got separate funding through the Tenderloin vacancy filling grant program with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to open a tea shop just a stone’s throw from the cinema. She originally envisioned a joint cafe microcinema, but when Judice found two locations just a few steps apart, she jumped on them.
LibreTe will open at 585-587 Eddy St. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
Her new tea shop, LibreTe, will also open in January just around the corner from the cinema, at 587 Eddy St. LibreTe’s main event will be the Xoffee, Judice’s specialty brand of non-caffeinated, but energizing, coffee alternative that she’s been selling for years at pop-ups. It’s tea, in that it’s a blend of herbs and spices like dandelion and cardamom and mushrooms, but Judice said it also tastes like coffee, with chicory that is an homage to her family’s long-ago New Orleans roots.
“Our idea is a tea shop in the day and tea bar at night,” Judice said, “giving the Tenderloin a non-alcoholic alternative [for] just hanging out at night and having nice fun drinks.”
OEWD tells us that three other entrepreneurs have also found new storefronts in the Tenderloin and got $50,000 to get started after signing a lease — one is the bookstore, Niebla Librería, coming soon that we reported in the last Tenderloin Buzz. The Tenderloin is a focus, says the OEWD’s Kate Patterson, as the department seeks to build wealth in communities facing systemic barriers.
Falafelland opened earlier this week on Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
Another grantee is Falafelland, a Yemeni restaurant that opened on Tuesday at 265 Golden Gate Ave. The restaurant is only the latest venture for owner Billy Alabsi, who also operated the extremely successful Falafelland that once sat on Sixth Street in SoMa and closed in 2019.
“Everything was destiny,” Alabsi said, reflecting on the past few years. “I was destined to go to this place.”
As you might guess, they’ll serve Alabsi’s unique avocado-blend falafel, but will also have other Yemeni and Mediterranean fusion dishes. If the 4.8 stars on Yelp for the restaurant’s last iteration is any indication, it’s going to be good.
A Middle Eastern clothing and gift shop will open soon at 318 Turk St. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
And at 318 Turk St., Alabsi’s brother Jalal is opening Sheba, a Middle Eastern store that will sell Arabic clothing, gifts, and packaged Arabic treats like baklava, coffee, and tea.
Risa Fairbanks Pedzewick rubbed her fingers into red pastels, blending an image of paper lanterns in the window of Mini Mart gallery on Aug. 7, 2025. Photo by Jessica Blough.
Finally, this week kicked off the first of the Tenderloin’s “Second Wednesdays” event, a spinoff from the First Thursdays Art Walk. While there’s still art at some of the same locations on the art walk, the new Wednesday event will host “intimate” pop-up shops, workshops and performances — this month had a piano cabaret performance and a porcelain ceramics workshop. Stay tuned for what to expect next month.