Cultural Districts

Supporting the City's Unique Communities

The designation and cultivation of cultural heritage districts in San Francisco is an important tool to protect the broad array of tangible and intangible elements that define a community’s cultural character — buildings, plazas, parks, murals, festivals, and other traditions, groups, and institutions. Supported by hotel tax revenue and guided by tailored strategies to address the needs of each community, ten cultural districts across the city have been designated since 2014.

Japantown Cultural District

Western Addition, est. 2013. Japantown Cultural District works to preserve a culturally-regenerative, economically-vibrant, and authentic neighborhood who welcomes all, and aims to serve Japanese and Japanese American communities for many future generations to come.

Calle 24 (Veinticuatro) Latino Cultural District

Mission District, est. 2014. Calle 24 is in the center of San Francisco’s Historic Mission District. It runs along a tree-lined street known as “El Corazón de la Misión”, or “The Heart of the Mission.” The stretch of 24th Street running from Mission Street to Potrero Avenue boasts a vast number of colorful and unique specialty stores, restaurants, taquerias, Mexican bakeries, fresh produce grocers, butchers, cafes, and art galleries, as well as the greatest concentration of murals and Latino Businesses in the city.

SoMa Pilipinas – Filipino Cultural District

South of Market, est. 2016. The SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Heritage District is a celebration of the love, pride and people power of generations of Filipinos in San Francisco and beyond.

Transgender Cultural District

Tenderloin, est. 2017. The mission of the Transgender District is to create an urban environment that fosters the rich history, culture, legacy, and empowerment of transgender people and its deep roots in the southeastern Tenderloin neighborhood. The Transgender District aims to stabilize and economically empower the transgender community through ownership of homes, businesses, historic and cultural sites, and safe community spaces.

Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District

South of Market, est. 2018. The world’s first city-recognized LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District. The South of Market neighborhood has served as an LGBTQ+ enclave since the 1950s with a long legacy of bars, restaurants, bathhouses, and other businesses associated with Leather subculture.

African American Arts and Cultural District (SFAAACD)

Bayview Hunters Point, est. 2018. The vision of the San Francisco African American Arts & Cultural District (SFAAACD) is a robust, economically vibrant Black community that adds to the rich cultural tapestry of San Francisco. Their mission is to advance, cultivate, enrich and advocate for African-American equity, cultural stability, vibrancy, and economic vitality in San Francisco’s African-American Arts & Cultural District.

Castro LGBTQ Cultural District

Castro District, est. 2019. The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District (CQCD) is committed to preserving, sustaining, and promoting the rich cultural legacy of the Castro and its significance to San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community and beyond. Their goals are to highlight the structures and sites important to our history; foster racial, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity among residents and businesses; and create a safe, beautiful, and inclusive space for LGBTQ+ and allied communities, to visit from around the world and call the Castro home.

American Indian Cultural District

Mission District, est. 2020. The American Indian Cultural District (AICD) is the first established Cultural District of its size in the United States dedicated to recognizing, honoring, and celebrating the American Indian legacy, culture, people, and contributions.

Sunset Chinese Cultural District

Sunset District, est. 2021. The SCCD preserves the authenticity and cultural richness of the Chinese and Chinese American community in the Sunset neighborhood by elevating their voices and socioeconomic needs. Visit the SCCD’s website.

Pacific Islander Cultural District

Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale, est. 2022. The PI Cultural District celebrates Pacific Islander culture in the Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale neighborhoods, and will help address historical inequities by providing the PI community with community resources.

Learn more about cultural districts

Since 2021, we have engaged in focused partnerships with two cultural districts: The American Indian Cultural District and the Sunset Chinese Cultural District. These efforts put Heritage in touch and on the radar of many other groups, government agencies, and local constituencies, broadening our impact and community while furthering our preservation mission.

Learn more