How safe is living in Downtown Riverside? (San Bernardino, Pasadena: crime rate, motels)

[Count David]

Originally Posted by tickyul

Kinda weird seeing as the downtowns of each area are about 13 miles apart from each other.

I wonder why 2 cities so close, can be seen in such a different light by so many people. Is the leadership in Riverside that much better than SB, or is it just dumb luck??????

Riverside is closer to major employment centers, and has marginally more expensive housing.

San Bernardino attracted more of the Lancaster/Palmdale & Moreno Valley type element that escaped South Central back in the day.

[tickyul]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Riverside is closer to major employment centers, and has marginally more expensive housing.

San Bernardino attracted more of the Lancaster/Palmdale & Moreno Valley type element that escaped South Central back in the day.

Oh my, I was considering moving to the Lancaster/Palmdale area.....until I did some reading about it....YIKES. SB mentioned in the same breath as those areas might explain it!

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Carlite

The Mission Inn is a beautiful building--no doubt about that. Worth a detour for a drink or a meal.

Taking the tour is worth it too. You get to see areas like the chappel and chinese garden that you don't normally if you walk around the hotel. This would be on my list of things to do again in Riverside if I get a chance to go out and visit. That part of Riverside, with the library and walking area are a part I miss.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Riverside is closer to major employment centers, and has marginally more expensive housing.

San Bernardino attracted more of the Lancaster/Palmdale & Moreno Valley type element that escaped South Central back in the day.

Riverside aslo made an effort to improve itself. It won All American city one year in the 90's. If you drive from Riverside to Corona its very evident, since Riverside encourage trees, with the road margins planted with them and even homeowners encouraged by getting free trees. Corona looks like a new development in comparison.

They were hard hit by the forclosure crisis but were ground zero for the funky loans too, and the default crisis hit there first. I hated to take a bus ride before I moved, since you could see SO many of my favorite business closed and could tell how many neighborhoods had empties. I lived in Riverside for thirty years, but couldn't in the end take crowding and traffic and health wise had to get away from the smog.

But Riverside, alone among 'cities' in socal I've lived in, really has its own identity, and is more than a change in street name as the road passes into a different town.

[sgvkev]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Crime, poverty, etc, shall I go on? (SB routinely in the top 30 in the nation for crime rate, 2nd only to Detroit when it comes to poverty).

Riverside's truly bad areas *might* reach 10% of the city.
San Bernardino's might be close to 65% in general opinion (92407 near CSUSB is the only area *most* people would touch with a ten-foot pole, and many won't even touch there, do to the "stigma").

Riverside's bad areas are Casa Blanca, Eastside, and Arlanza (which isn't THAT bad IMO, but I can see ninnies being scared of it). Most of the rest of Riverside is fine and unscary.

There's Hillside (southwest of the wood streets) and La Sierra in Riverside that count as part of the bad areas too, as well as the areas north of downtown (even parts of downtown).

[Count David]

Originally Posted by sgvkev

and La Sierra in Riverside that count as part of the bad areas too

orly?

cross-streets?

[mrsltd]

San Bernardino, from what I understand and have read (my visits there have either involved getting turned around on the way to the mountains or a few random drives; nothing seemed TOO bad, in the section I was in; kind of like a shabby-chic Pasadena eastside with a little Rossmoor thrown in (the walls, mostly), oh ok, and a little of the Vegas Strip because of the trash)), it has been a place "on the edge" for decades. It's pretty much "end-of-the-line" for both people and smog, because of the mountains looming above it (no offense meant to Redlands or Highland). It started life back in the 1850's as a Mormon colony, but that faded out and eventually a town came to be on that same site. It is the original home of both McDonald's (before it became a chain) and the Hell's Angels. Talk about a weird mix.

San Bernardino was also always more blue collar than Riverside, with its emphasis on manufacturing, trucking and warehousing generally. When those good blue-collar jobs started going away, the city started taking a dive.

[Asheville1]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

My girlfriend and I are going to rent in Downtown Riverside on Brockton near University Ave. How safe is this area in terms of assaults, break ins, and theft? I love the historic feel of the neighborhood and I love how charming Downtown Riverside is. I'm looking forward to living here but I want to get a better idea about how safe we'd be.

Your target area is fine. I love the "Wood Street's" area just south of there (streets have wood names in them). Stray a bit too far out this way or that, and you'll find yourself in a Hispanic ghetto. Suggest you make a personal visit to Riverside PD or Sheriff Office and inquire about particulars. Also, Zillow.com and Trulia.com provide crime statistics for specific urban areas (as do many online sites). Good luck on your move. Check out Simple Simon's Cafe & Bistro next door to the Mission Inn. Great sandwiches.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

It is the original home of both McDonald's (before it became a chain) and the Hell's Angels.

Fontana/Bloomington have that dubious honor.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Fontana/Bloomington have that dubious honor.

Yep! Began with the PBOBs!