Collection: Beartropolis Fantasy Flyover Map Art

As gay neighborhoods become more gentrified, homogenized, and fully integrated into the mainstream, we often ask ourselves: where has the queer population gone? Are the treasured hangouts only existing in name only — reduced to savvy marketing slogans for bachelorette parties and retail death spirals?

After one comes out, where do you go? Why, the fictional city of the future — Beartropolis, of course!

Beartropolis is the LGBTQ+ megalopolis located in a secret Southern California valley just north of San Diego, accessible only via Interstate 169 or daily flights into RuPaul International Airport.

With its affordable (but not for long, because we make everything so darn gorgeous) welcoming cities, boroughs, hamlets, and darling suburbs, Beartropolis has it all. Its unimaginably perfect mass transit system — named after LGBTQ+ slang and community icons — will get you where you need to be. Founded by the Bear community after Cher’s actual last tour, Beartropolis is open to all.

For a brief time, experience Beartropolis’s queer fabulousness through these aerial flyover maps created by celebrated LGBTQ+ San Diego artist RD Riccoboni.

If you were to live in Beartropolis, where would it be? Perhaps a lovely home with a view of majestic Mt. Saint Freddie? A swank condo near the emerald tranquility of the Judy Garland National Forest? A high-rise in The Dragstrip? Or perhaps somewhere not yet on the map — there are still many unincorporated areas near good theater with ample free parking.