This Map Of San Francisco Shows What Locals 'Really Think' Of Their City

The website Hoodmaps allows users to add a little local perspective on their home city. City locals can input labels on any neighborhood, down to any individual block. Once that label is submitted, other Hoodmaps users can vote it up or down, dependent on accuracy.

And we’ve found San Francisco’s Hoodmaps.
These labels can be witty, stereotypical, hard truths, and maybe even a little offensive. For example, users tagged the Outer Richmond District and upper part of the Sunset with “Chinatown #2” and “Chinatown #3.” The label that users gave to Noe Valley, “Stroller Valley,” pokes fun at the fact that many families inhabit the district. On the other hand, the Bay Bridge was only given “traffic,” surely by some of the more transportation-bitter Hoodmaps users.

The site, whether intentional or not, also gives a good idea on which neighborhoods locals frequently visit. Some districts have plenty of labels scattered throughout, including the Mission, as it’s a popular area and known by many. Other areas don’t have many labels at all.

Another possible unintentional insight that Hoodmaps happens to provide is a more unfortunate, albeit, subjectively honest and discriminatory one. For instance, Castro bears one label reading “Naked Gay People,” while the Tenderloin has the harsh “homeless junkies.” Although blatantly prejudice, the whole point of Hoodmaps is to encourage honest opinions when it comes to the city’s areas—opinions, not necessarily facts.

The Hoodmaps creator, Pieter Levels, claims this kind of honest and incisive thinking is the whole point of Hoodmaps. With the site’s setup system, it’s supposed to allow users to get the quickest and most accurate simplified overview of a city. Users should be able to quickly find that San Francisco’s Potrero District is one of the hotter “Up and Coming” areas and that the greater SoMa area, “More hipsters,” is where the hip crowd often hangs out.

Regardless, Hoodmaps is the place to go and see what locals, such as those in San Francisco, feel about their home city. Fellow Hoodmaps visitors do change the labels frequently; if a neighborhood’s latest title isn’t one that’s well liked or agreeable, users can change it and vote for it to stay. At the moment, it’s easy to assume that San Francisco’s locals find the city to be an expensive, hipster town with a plethora of different cultures, cuisines, and lifestyles.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.