A really cool neighborhood map of L.A.

A colleague just purchased this funky, stylized map of Los Angeles neighborhoods, and I thought it worthy of a post. For obvious reasons I can't reproduce the entire poster, but you can get a better idea of what it looks like by clicking at the bottom of this post.

The map is the work of Jenny Beorkrem, a 25-year-old graphic designer in Chicago. Her story is simple: she wanted a good neighborhood map of her city, Chicago, and couldn't find one she liked.

"I'd seen neighborhood maps before and I wanted one, but I didn't necessarily find one that was my style," she told L.A. Land this morning. "I looked for it all over, and couldn't find it. So I decided to make one for myself. It sat on my wall for about two months, and that's when I decided it might be something bigger than art for my wall."

She began selling the Chicago map online a year ago, and began work on neighborhood maps of other cities, including San Francisco, New York, Brooklyn, Boston and Los Angeles, which she began selling online in late June. She estimates her one-woman company, Ork Posters, has sold 8,000 maps. The posters sell for $22, and you can choose the ink color. You can learn more about her work, or purchase a neighborhood map, at OrkPosters.com

-- Peter Viles
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo: Ork Posters

Comments

[Tim K.]

Why does she include cities like West Hollywood, Brentwood and Santa Monica, but cuts a giant gaping hole to the south just to avoid other cities?

[Lynnette]

Umm... I just bought it in orange. Don't post anymore cool things to buy or I will be broke.

[John]

Brentwood isnt a city, but Beverly Hills, Culver City and San Fernando are. Considering they are all completely surrounded by the city of LA, or at least close to, it makes for a clearer map. A full LA county map would be even cooler tho, having the 'wood, the LBC and our favorite hub city.

[Patient_Vulture]

"Why does she include cities like West Hollywood, Brentwood and Santa Monica, but cuts a giant gaping hole to the south just to avoid other cities?"
----

Good point. I could almost excuse W. Hollywood since they only recently became an independent city--20 years ago? Ok, that's been a while. I could only imagine it's in the interest of art, and for art's sake, I can see why she included those non-LA cities. I like the map....I'll probably buy one :-)

[E. Dub]

My guess is that she included cities in the interior of the outline of Los Angeles and excluded cities on the borders. For example she included Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, but excluded Malibu, Vernon, and Burbank among others.

[Property in Brazil]

She has put some good effort to organize this map and to put it here. I think she has included cities in the interior of the outline of Los Angeles and excluded cities on the borders. Any how it was nice to visit the map.

[Julie]

I've lived in LA all my life, and for the FIRST time, I think I can finally understand the layout of the different neighborhoods.

Just bought one in blue. I'm with Lynnette - don't post other cool stuff, or I'll buy that, too.

It's going up on my office wall.

[Tim K.]

I can understand her leaving off cities if it makes the map unwieldy, but given that the shape is basically a large blob on top and a narrow stretch to the south, if she was trying for "balance" it would make sense to include some of the cities to the south-west bordering the ocean. It's not like there are a ton of them there.

[Ragnar]

I absolutely love the posters! Sure, she cold always add more stuff to the Los Angeles one. However, the Chicago one will make a perfect Christmas Present for my brother-in-law. Thanks for posting this. If you see any more Los Angeles neighborhood-themed stuff like this, please do post it. I'm always down.

[Pasadena'ed]

Nice idea, but cutting out certain places (Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank etc.) is "FAIL" in my world. For a piece that's meant to show the make up of a region but exclude parts so it fits on the page is half-assed. It's not a map of Los Angeles neighborhoods. It's a map of "some places" in Los Angeles. You can't call it a map of Europe and exclude Austria or Ireland. Too bad too. I had credit card in hand. Good thing I took a closer look.

[E]

These maps would have been great for insurance companies back in the days of "redlining".

[David]

hey Pasadena'ed, maybe you haven't noticed, but it's a map of the CITY OF LOS ANGELES. They probably only included cities which are confined behind LA's borders, so it wouldn't look like a slice of swiss cheese with holes all over it. It would certainly not be as aesthetically pleasing to look at. So, if you add pasadena, long beach and burbank, why stop there..how about glendale, inglewood and redondo beach. maybe it should be all of LA County ? then we could get Pomona and Alhambra on there...and hey, Duarte would look pretty cool in that fancy map font too, wouldn't it ?

[Pasadena'ed]

David -
Please explain to me how Santa Monica is part of the City of Los Angeles.

Thanks in advance,

[graciela]

Ok, for everyone complaining about how she missed this city and that city, if you look at the map of the CITY of Los Angeles (not county) on Wikipedia (along with other sources), that's pretty much what it looks like. A big blob with a string of cities going down. Glendale, Pasadena, and other neighboring cities are omitted because they are technically only part of the county.

Given that she's not from LA, I can't fault her for following a map of the City of Los Angeles as sourced in several places (Wikipedia, LA Almanac, etc.) I think it looks great.