Meet the New 'Neighborhood Stereotyping Tool'

Alissa Walker writes:

No pastime is more fun for Los Angeles residents than debating what your neighborhood says about you or if you even know the correct name for your neighborhood at all. A new site named Hoodmaps offers a new way to debate and define LA’s neighborhoods—often by resorting to the most stereotypical descriptions of what lies therein.

As Walker notes, the idea behind Hoodmaps isn't necessarily new. "A few years ago, a site named Judgmental Maps caused a social media stir for publishing 75 barely legible maps of cities with neighborhoods clearly labeled with stereotypes ranging from innocently offensive to blatantly racist," writes Walker. But as neighborhoods and cities changes, the Judgmental Maps quickly became out of date.

By contrast, Hoodmaps could actually be useful, argues Walker, especially if you are visiting a city for the first time and want to avoid neighborhoods with a lot of tourists.

Walker is the most recent to cover Hoodmaps as the "neighborhood stereotyping tool for the modern age. Joey Haar reported on the maps for Trendhunter in July, as did Devin Gannon for 6sqft and Amy Plitt for Curbed New York.