L.A.'s crime rate is down to 1950s levels

[esmith143]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Perhaps the most controversial explanation was put forward by economist Stephen Levitt: legalized abortion, became widely available in the U.S. in the early 1970's. Encouraged the bad seeds in society to be weeded out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/ma...mqYqqX/fw3A7Iw

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

The reasons for the fall in crime remain in dispute (see this link to the Economist when William Bratton stepped down as Chief of Police).

Cops and crime in Los Angeles: Exit Bratton | The Economist


Some of the reasons given include:
1. Better policing techniques (community policing, deploying more staff where crime is high, etc).

LAPD deserves a ton of credit for this one.

When I lived in Van Nuys a few years ago, you could not go out on Van Nuys or Sepulveda BL on a Friday or Saturday afternoon/evening from 3pm-9am without seeing cops EVERYWHERE. LAPD saturated the area during that time and there was a very noticible effect. For such a blue collar community with a bad reputation, violent crimes were remarkably low. Like I said earlier, you did not really want to walk down the street at 11pm, but I never felt threatened or in danger while conducting daily business.

[rack of lamb]

Originally Posted by dmode

Sounds to me that it was a dirty hellhole in 1950s !!!

You know, in some ways it sure was a hellhole back then because of relative high crimes, traffic and those nasty smoggy days, worst than today. There weren't as many high-rises then. It was still a sprawling city. Hollywood can be boring because people were well dressed and conservative. You had to wait for Marilynn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield to be in the area to spruce things up or other celebrities and interesting people from the south and Midwest to keep you interested in this area. There were a lot of nightlife in the area, but during the day, it can be ho hum. People did complain that LA was boring and a hellhole at the time, but I like it better because people were friendly and no bum to be seen anywhere. It was relatively clean, even though they had a bad habit of littering. It's better than hispanic LA or third world LA!

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by rack of lamb

You know, in some ways it sure was a hellhole back then because of relative high crimes, traffic and those nasty smoggy days, worst than today. There weren't as many high-rises then. It was still a sprawling city. Hollywood can be boring because people were well dressed and conservative. You had to wait for Marilynn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield to be in the area to spruce things up or other celebrities and interesting people from the south and Midwest to keep you interested in this area. There were a lot of nightlife in the area, but during the day, it can be ho hum. People did complain that LA was boring and a hellhole at the time, but I like it better because people were friendly and no bum to be seen anywhere. It was relatively clean, even though they had a bad habit of littering. It's better than hispanic LA or third world LA!

There's a few cities in the Southern states that have the vibe you're craving. they're big on Confederate Flags and such.