This seems simple, but maybe it is not? I want to export a street map of San Francisco with NO labels of any kind, just the streets. I would like to retain colors (green for parks, etc.) if possible, but really looking to create a simple vector file of only the street grid to output to a laser cutter. Any help appreciated, thanks
Unfortunately, it’s not easy. You have to render desired area yourself, which means setting up your own tile server. If you need vector file, you need some vector style probably, not default one (which is raster only).
You can do a search on https://help.openstreetmap.org for the keyword “without labels” … there are a few hits about that aim.
Thanks everyone! Had so hoped it would be easy, but I’ll accept the challenge. Thanks again
Vector maps with themes are quite flexible. I’d look at Cruiser (desktop app) with a California map from openandromaps.org (EDIT: or the smaller MapsForge download if you don’t need topo contours), then tinker with themes.
I’m not familiar with Cruiser, but in Locus (Android app) with those maps/themes, many of the themes available have detailed on/off options for various components. Maybe they do on Cruiser as well, dunno. Worst case, you may need to manually edit a theme file (they’re XML), and remove the labels code by brute force.
This sounds much easier than setting up a tile server. Good luck. 
(Oh… You need a vector file as output. Hmm…)