Who here can honestly say that they have never seen a gang or had an encounter with a gang in LA? (San Diego: high crime, neighborhoods)

[RockhetHD]

Who here can honestly say that they have never seen a gang or had an encounter with a gang in LA?
If you had a encounter with a gang tell your story.



I am in San Diego, and I have really never seen a single gang here. Even walking the streets of the gaslamp districts at night, it has been pretty safe but I am just curious if LA is the same way.

[Lovehound]

I live in Northridge. I spend 99.9% of my time in the Valley. I've never knowingly seen a gang member. I don't generally hang out on the streets after 10 p.m., not because I'm afraid but because I'm not interested in anything at that hour that I can't do earlier. Maybe they come out at 3 a.m.

[drunk on kool aid]

Originally Posted by RockhetHD

I am in San Diego, and I have really never seen a single gang here. Even walking the streets of the gaslamp districts at night, it has been pretty safe but I am just curious if LA is the same way.

How do you know for certain whether someone is or is not in a gang? You've never seen a dude with a denim or leather jacket on a Harley? Maybe they're in a biker gang.

Are you assuming that someone with a certain look is a banger?

Even if someone has gang tats, they might be out of the life.

[nighthouse66]

los angeles has gangs?

oh, heavens!

[steel7]

I have seen gangs in nasty, dirty san bernardino.

[Twinkle Toes]

I used to live in LA (on the west side) and I can honestly say I've never had any encounters with gangs.

[disgruntled la native]

I'm sure I've seen or even met gang members before, but I have only lived in parts of LA (actually, LA county technically, I only lived in the city of LA 5 years) where no gangs exist

[lalife]

While on vacation in LA, I went to East LA and stopped at the Alamada (spelling ?) Swap meet. Awesome food over there etc. Anyway, I think I was naive for stopping there cause there were a few Mexican hard-looking guys glaring at me. Apparently that is the 38 street gang territory or something? They left me alone, but I bet they were gang members. At the time, it didn't occur to me that people like that don't really need a reason to shoot you. I am female tho, so maybe that helped. Probably also helped that I have black hair and a dark complexion. Blended in with everyone else.

[BRinSM]

nothing serious, but i've encountered gangs a few times in LA. The first time was a huge barbeque at a park in playa del rey. anyone who is familiar with that part of town knows its a sleepy beach hamlet. anyways, they have a park down by the beach and it was filled with dozens of people of which 90% were wearing red. that and the smell of marijuana tipped me off that this was a gang gathering of some sort, not to mention there was a LAPD officer on motorbike keeping a close eye on things. Another time I was at happy hour in venice and a couple of drunk dudes with quite large V13 tattoos on their arms and neck struck up a conversation with us. they were cool though and seemed to be elder statesmen in the gang. on numerous occasions, i've also seen get togethers at dockweiler state beach that resemble gangs. i can't be 100% certain, but i do know people have been shot and stabbed at that beach, so at least some of these groups have probably been gangs.

however, i've never been confronted by a gang member looking for trouble. i've also never seen any type of crime being committed by a gang (minus tagging here and there). it's pretty easy to avoid gangs, don't go looking for them and they won't go looking for you. most gang crime occurs in certain neighborhoods and violence tends to be between rival gangs. i don't live in a high crime neighborhood and am not in a gang, so i have had no problems.

[Vascodagama]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFrVP2SXYcE