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What's the worst US city you've been to?

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A buddy of mine from Cleveland said that he would often see people on motorcycles hauling ass in the wrong direction on the freeway. Supposedly it's because they're transporting drugs, and the police can't follow them head-on into traffic if they're in a cruiser.

Damn.
 
In no particular order.

Cincinnati, OH
Erie, PA
Wheeling, WV
Antioch, CA
Gary, IN

and if counting US protectorates (and by far the winner)

Christiansted, St Croix USVI
 
Slappers Only said:
A buddy of mine from Cleveland said that he would often see people on motorcycles hauling ass in the wrong direction on the freeway. Supposedly it's because they're transporting drugs, and the police can't follow them head-on into traffic if they're in a cruiser.

Damn.
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Ha, I've lived here for 30+ and I've never seen nor heard of this.
 
moop2000 said:
It's okay. It's utter jealousy at such an amazing metropolis that has some seedy areas but is overall beautiful. Especially, when they compare it to their own meager shitholes.
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That's the edge of Los Angeles. That's Malibu or something. So far away from the center of the shit that it starts too look pretty. That's where the rich people live and dine like the gods of Olympus.

This is Los Angeles proper.

VanNuys.jpg


Los Angeles proper includes places like Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Burbank, Ventura, Granada Hills, Northridge, etc.

Almost any other city listed in this thread has it's rich-people zone and they all look glorious because rich people gentrified the area.

But Los Angeles is like a steaming tamale of incompatible flavors - mostly the smell of smoke and stale garbage. Walk down any street in LA proper and you'll the resigned faces of 20 million people, all resentfully eyeing one another with their hands buried in their pockets, wondering who will jump out from behind a corner and ask them for money, or who won't ask them so nicely. Los Angeles is a haze of bullshit. Too many people's failed hopes and dreams are floating around, rotting, contaminating the air. Last night some motherfucker saw fit to drive up under my window with his gangster music playing at full blast. I watched as he slowly exited his vehicle while still blasting his radio at 1am, slowly removing things from the back seat of his car and placing them in the trunk, all the while looking up at the face of the apartment building with what I can only imagine was a smug expression, wondering how many people he had woken with his bullshit.

This city is a shithole.
 
entrement said:
Anyone who says LA, NYC, Chicago, SF is crazy. Those cities have amazing diversity, culture, food, art, etc. Obviously they also have disadvantages. But y'all need to travel more if those are your definitions of worst cities. On entertainment value alone those cities are amazing.
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Agreed.
 
One time on a trip up I-95, my father's car broke down outside of Petersburg, VA. The tow truck driver pointed out the crack den hotels to avoid walking around while driving us to our hotel. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we walked to the nearest fried chicken place (the only place that seemed to be open late at night). When we got up to the front door, it appeared that the employees were throwing a party inside, and we weren't allowed in.

Maybe there are nice areas of Petersburg, but I'm guessing the Richmond metropolitan area isn't exactly glamorous in general.
 
Bombadil said:
That's the edge of Los Angeles. That's Malibu or something. So far away from the center of the shit that it starts too look pretty. That's where the rich people live and dine like the gods of Olympus.

This is Los Angeles proper.

VanNuys.jpg


Los Angeles proper includes places like Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Burbank, Ventura, Granada Hills, Northridge, etc.

Almost any other city listed in this thread has it's rich-people zone and they all look glorious because rich people gentrified the area.

But Los Angeles is like a steaming tamale of incompatible flavors - mostly the smell of smoke and stale garbage. Walk down any street in LA proper and you'll the resigned faces of 20 million people, all resentfully eyeing one another with their hands buried in their pockets, wondering who will jump out from behind a corner and ask them for money, or who won't ask them so nicely. Los Angeles is a haze of bullshit. Too many people's failed hopes and dreams are floating around, rotting, contaminating the air. Last night some motherfucker saw fit to drive up under my window with his gangster music playing at full blast. I watched as he slowly exited his vehicle while still blasting his radio at 1am, slowly removing things from the back seat of his car and placing them in the trunk, all the while looking up at the face of the apartment building with what I can only imagine was a smug expression, wondering how many people he had woken with his bullshit.

This city is a shithole.
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A lot of words that amount to a pile of bullshit. You should leave if you hate it so much. BTW, how do you imagine a smug expression when you are looking at the expression and can see what it is? See, bullshit... Also, you happen to live in a shithole that I mentioned. I get that life sucks for you but nothing is keeping you from moving on. Burbank is it's own city too so you need to work on that geography. Of course those dead eyed people you are apparently a part of don;t make up the areas and people I know. I'm thriving as well as everyone close to me. Sounds like you failed at your dream and are full of sour apples. Let me guess, your "amazing" student film was supposed to be the gateway to a feature and money and women? Or, the acting you did in high school stage productions of Death of a Salesman made you the cream of the crop in your class of 20 and the stars in your eyes lead you to a life of waiting tables and missed casting calls for one line roles that never panned out?
 
Bombadil said:
That's the edge of Los Angeles. That's Malibu or something. So far away from the center of the shit that it starts too look pretty. That's where the rich people live and dine like the gods of Olympus.

This is Los Angeles proper.

VanNuys.jpg


Los Angeles proper includes places like Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Burbank, Ventura, Granada Hills, Northridge, etc.

Almost any other city listed in this thread has it's rich-people zone and they all look glorious because rich people gentrified the area.

But Los Angeles is like a steaming tamale of incompatible flavors - mostly the smell of smoke and stale garbage. Walk down any street in LA proper and you'll the resigned faces of 20 million people, all resentfully eyeing one another with their hands buried in their pockets, wondering who will jump out from behind a corner and ask them for money, or who won't ask them so nicely. Los Angeles is a haze of bullshit. Too many people's failed hopes and dreams are floating around, rotting, contaminating the air. Last night some motherfucker saw fit to drive up under my window with his gangster music playing at full blast. I watched as he slowly exited his vehicle while still blasting his radio at 1am, slowly removing things from the back seat of his car and placing them in the trunk, all the while looking up at the face of the apartment building with what I can only imagine was a smug expression, wondering how many people he had woken with his bullshit.

This city is a shithole.
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I think the problem is that you're living in a crappy neighborhood. And no, not every nice neighborhood is expensive or exclusive. I used to live in Mid City West / Fairfax, between Beverly and Melrose Blvds. It was not a froo froo area (unless you count The Grove) but it was very nice, lots of normal people, etc. The worst I can say about it is that the street parking situation sucked.
 
moop2000 said:
A lot of words that amount to a pile of bullshit. You should leave if you hate it so much. BTW, how do you imagine a smug expression when you are looking at the expression and can see what it is? See, bullshit... Also, you happen to live in a shithole that I mentioned. I get that life sucks for you but nothing is keeping you from moving on. Burbank is it's own city too so you need to work on that geography. Of course those dead eyed people you are apparently a part of don;t make up the areas and people I know. I'm thriving as well as everyone close to me. Sounds like you failed at your dream and are full of sour apples.
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His post read like one of those detective novels from the 1970's-1980's. I think he would be miserable most places.
 
I kinda want to see Detroit now, see what the fuss is about, and also birthplace of techno and all that.
 
moop2000 said:
A lot of words that amount to a pile of bullshit. You should leave if you hate it so much. BTW, how do you imagine a smug expression when you are looking at the expression and can see what it is? See, bullshit... Also, you happen to live in a shithole that I mentioned. I get that life sucks for you but nothing is keeping you from moving on. Burbank is it's own city too so you need to work on that geography. Of course those dead eyed people you are apparently a part of don;t make up the areas and people I know. I'm thriving as well as everyone close to me. Sounds like you failed at your dream and are full of sour apples.
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Haha, I don't live in a "crappy neighborhood."

The neighborhood I live in purportedly a very nice neighborhood. The population density is too high. Too many people living in one place creates a very nasty atmosphere, both literally and figuratively.

You're thriving? Good for you. I don't care. Los Angeles is an inefficient oasis created out of thievery and dishonesty. Don't take it personally if I say that it's a bullshit place. If you happen to have "Los Angeles 4 Life" tattooed on your arm or walk around with a Dodgers cap then that's your problem.

I didn't fail at any of my dreams. I'm a 21 year old college student with a high GPA and pretty good job prospects. And I will leave this shithole.

Edit: It was dark out so I could see the direction the man was looking in but not see his facial expression.
 
Schattenjagger said:
And I mean worst as in most urban decay or scariest

I've been to a few

Philly
Baltimore

But I think the worst for me was parts of Paterson NJ

Has anyone been/lived in Gary Indiana
Or East St Louis ?
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I'm currently working on a campaign where we've been talking to a bunch of folks that live in East St. Louis and roundabouts: it's a pretty intense area. I've spent a lot of time in some incredibly rough, poverty-stricken areas, but ESL is on another level. Think roving packs of wild dogs, stoplights on the main drag that haven't worked for years, potholes the size of yugos, no industry except for strip clubs and handjob massage joints and entire streets reclaimed by nature. Gary seems like a paradise in comparison.

I want to add that some of the most infamous areas have great people beat down by the system. As a white male in my 20s I've been to some of the "worst"neighborhoods in the Midwest and have not once been messed with: projects in Chicago, East side of Cleveland, Over the Rhine in Cincinnati a couple years back, Gary, East Saint Louis, Rockford, IL.
 
moop2000 said:
That would require leaving the comfort of home and 90% of the world can't or won't contemplate it. Small minds never really expand.
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You're awfully judgmental about people when they disagree with you. It sounds like you could use a little mind expansion, too.
 
aceface said:
Which restaurant? I'll go there next time I'm in town.
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Bistro Europa. My sister in law is the pastry chef and her husband is the head chef. Everything on the menu is sourced from local farms, is homemade, and tastes amazing. My personal favorites are the pierogis, sticky toffee pudding, and if they do their Sunday brunch again in the summer, their version of a Grand Slam is out of this world.
 
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
Bistro Europa. My sister in law is the pastry chef and her husband is the head chef. Everything on the menu is sourced from local farms, is homemade, and tastes amazing. My personal favorites are the pierogis, sticky toffee pudding, and if they do their Sunday brunch again in the summer, their version of a Grand Slam is out of this world.
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You have me at sticky toffee pudding. I'm in Belfast right now and on an expedition to find the best in town.
 
Arjen said:
First US city i visited after we left Vegas.
The amount of underwhelming we experienced as Europeans thinking cities with a decent population would have some cool stuff can not be described
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Heh ... I feel your pain.

For me it was just a pit stop as part of an American Southwest tour me and my ex were doing (we were mostly touring Native American ruins, etc) ... but we were shocked at what a slum it was.
 
Camden, NJ. It's such a disaster that they trick you to go there-in Philadelphia you're just driving along and it never warns you that you're about to get on a bridge with no way back that takes you over the water to Camden, NJ. There's no toll to go there, but there sure as hell is one to get back. You'll pay anything to be let in there. I love how they built an Aquarium to try to bring tourists there. Those poor fish.
 
MDavis360 said:
Camden, NJ. It's such a disaster that they trick you to go there-in Philadelphia you're just driving along and it never warns you that you're about to get on a bridge with no way back that takes you over the water to Camden, NJ. There's no toll to go there, but there sure as hell is one to get back. You'll pay anything to be let in there. I love how they built an Aquarium to try to bring tourists there. Those poor fish.
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New Jersey is all just tricks so you'll pay tolls out the ass. God forbid you're not from there and get lost. Get ready to pay up, bitch!
 
Lancaster,SC my hometown. Combines urban decay with religious fanaticism,intolerance,rampant social conservatism and 19.2 percent unemployment rate.
 
Draxal said:
Newark sucks, (not as bad as Camden though) but Hoboken is pretty much a yuppie town, are you confusing it with some other city in Jersey?
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Ooops yeah you're right - I was thinking of North Bergen. The area around the park and ride. Its the first time in my life where I actually saw a hooker walking around on a street.
 
Savannah, GA (Excluding the waterfront area)

This is coming from a guy whose lived in Bridgeport, CT/ Yonkers, NY/ Bronx, NY.

Worked in the North End of Hartford, CT

Visited Detroit, Baltimore, Philly, Newark, Camden, DC.

No where was close to as bad as Savannah, GA.

The historic area near the water was nice and everything but the inner area you would have though it was some third world country.

North End of Hartford, CT is still the most dangerous though.
 
NYC.
And I live here!

I vacationed in New Orleans, before Hurricane Katrina, and it was just lovely. Don't know what it's like now because I never went back.
 
I've been to St. Louis and lived in Memphis, but they were both when I was a kid, so I can't remember them being that bad.
 
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