curio maps

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.”  

Italo Calvino

Curio Maps on display

Living in the city means negotiating space with other people and constantly maneuvering our way as we try to get to one destination to another. We strive for convenience, expediency. Serendipity, curiosity and chance is harder to find in a dynamic, transient city.

How might we open the channel to things we would not have ordinarily seen?  How can we invite the intangible energy, the spirit, the secrets each block holds that can take us on a journey that transcends us from our daily routine?  

What’s curio map?

Open the channel to things you would not have ordinarily seen. See the secrets each block holds and go on a journey through history.

Curio is a map that shows local lore and history of selected San Francisco neighborhoods. Download the mobile application to see stories and documented histories as told by the residents, and merchants in this dynamic and changing city.

Coming soon:
North Beach & The Broadway Corridor 1970s Punk Scene

Curio - Hayes Valley

Little Bohemia along Hayes Creek
The current map covers the territory between  Van Ness street to Market Street to Webster to  McAllister Street.

History of Hayes Valley 

This land was home to the Ohlone Tribe until 1776. Hayes Valley transformed from a sleepy farm community of the 1840s to a bustling commerce area up until the 1910s.  Structures in hayes valley survived the fires that followed the 1906 Earthquake and serve as one of San Francisco’s best examples of early Victorian architecture.

The 1920s-1930s were a prosperous time in this neighborhood with single family homes and a thriving African American community.

The construction of the Central Freeway cut through this neighborhood and Urban redevelopment of the late 1940s 1970s decimated the community.  The earthquake of 1989 and damage of the freeway offered a chance for renewal.

information about the map

Map center