Safe and Not So Safe Areas of San Francicso

[Northern-Mike]

Thanks Everyone for your replies! The area of Jones St. that I was at was near O'Farrell and Geary.

[Isebiel]

I don't know what it was like when you were last here, but nowadays that area seems very ordinary and unexciting during the daytime. Like, full of ordinary shops with lots of ordinary people walking around doing their stuff. Maybe take a look at Google street view and see how its changed? The images there look pretty up-to-date to me.

I assume it's a different story at night. I never go there at night -- no real reason, just nothing for me to do there.

[Ebrehm]

The Tenderloin is sort of like what NYC's Times Square was like in the '80s.

[santiago de pampanga]

stay away from visitacion valley / sunnydale... one of the depressing places in the city

[komez24]

Is Financial district safe? Particularly sansome and clark street? I'm a female living alone so is it safe to walk back from school around 7 pm in that area???? Please help! Thanks!

[dalparadise]

The FiDi is very safe, though mostly deserted after 8:30 at night. There are a few homeless people around, but they keep entirely to themselves. Hotels in the area are the only activity at night. You'll be fine.

To the OP - The Tenderloin is, in fact, a sketchy area surrounded by very nice hotels and an active theater district. I would equate it to 8th Ave. in the Times Sq. area of NY, about 20 years ago. It's very easy to accidentally wander into the TL as a tourist. The neighborhood can change in a single block and the change is accelerated as the sun goes down. That's the bad news. I have seen women walking alone down streets in the TL that I chose to avoid. It truly is all about how you carry yourself. They looked like they were from the neighborhood. I looked like an easy target and my city sense started tingling.

The good news is, as easy as it is to wander into the TL, it is equally easy to get out of it before things get bad. If you find yourself wandering into a sketchy block, turn around and go back. You can easily walk around 2-3 blocks over and avoid the bad areas of SF. That's the benefit of living in such a compact city.

The Mission can be rough and violent, but there's less of a constant threat there. Mission crimes are done by random crazies and gangs that prey more on each other than anyone else. Stay as far west as you can and it's okay, even at night.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

Mission crimes are done by random crazies and gangs that prey more on each other than anyone else. Stay as far west as you can and it's okay, even at night.

Valencia and west are fine. Mission to Valencia, not so great. East of Mission, you need local knowledge to stay safe; some blocks are beautiful, others run down with lots of tough characters around.

[rah]

Originally Posted by Isebiel

- iPhone muggings. Thugs grab someone's iPhone, and often beat up victims too.

It's not just for iPhones (though those are a very popular item to snatch), and sometime they do worse than beat up their victim.

Here's an example from the other day:

Man shot in chest in attempted robbery | Rob Nagle | Law and Disorder | San Francisco Examiner