Glide Memorial Church is a church in San Francisco, California, formerly a United Methodist Church congregation, which opened in 1930. Since the 1960s, it has served as a counter-culture rallying point, as one of the most prominently liberal churches in the United States. Located in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood, an area affected by drug addiction and homelessness, Glide is known for its social service programs, as well as the Glide Ensemble, its Gospel choir. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. History In 1929, Methodist philanthropist Lizzie Glide purchased a parcel of land at the intersection of Ellis and Taylor Streets in San Francisco and founded the Glide Foundation as a memorial to her millionaire cattleman husband, H.L. Glide of Sacramento. Construction of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church was completed two years later. Glide purchased the Hotel Californian two blocks away and it was operated as a temperance hotel for decades. The foundation also built a dormitory for Christian women at U.C. Berkeley and a home for young working Christian women. In the 1960s, Rev. Cecil Williams "took over a small congregation and opened it to the neighborhood’s poor and disenfranchised — including drug addicts, prostitutes and gay runaways" (as summarized later by the San Francisco Chronicle). In 1964, the Glide church helped form the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in an effort to close the gap between people of faith and the LGBTQ community. The church also replaced traditional hymns with jazz and blues music, and its message of "unconditional love and acceptance" would come to resonate with celebrities including Marvin Gaye, Bono, Maya Angelou and Warren Buffett. In the 1970s, church leaders and members protested the proposed demolition of the International Hotel. Williams was a prominent supporter of cult leader Jim Jones, and in January 1977 presented him with a humanitarian award. After Jones led his Peoples Temple followers into mass suicide in 1978, Williams expressed regret for having associated with Jones. In November 2020, Glide separated from the United Methodist Church. Glide Church remained committed to supporting LGBTQ faith leaders and congregants, while the Methodist church continues to limit their full participation. In 2022, the Glide Foundation submitted plans for a $200 million redevelopment to replace its former women’s dormitory at 300 Ellis Street with a new 10-story building, as well as renovate the actual church building right next