Is San Francisco a safe city? (car, transit, phone)

[green papaya]

I remember chinatown use to have lots of gangster types roaming the area, lots of people used to get robbed late at night after a game of Majong or gambling.

the Chinatown gangs were much more visable and would bully or try to intimidate people, or ask for protection money

these days Im sure they still have gangs, but they dont show themselves the way it use to be back in the 1970's.

[modernist1]

It ain't Switzerland.

[chilbrensbrarbher]

From my experience SF is not paricularly dangerous relative to other major US cities (Detroit, LA, Chicago, NYC, St. Louis to name a few) unless you are clearly a tourist or are from a small town that doesn't require street smarts of any kind. The sketchy people here are hustlers, not killers (ime at least), you might get asked to play three card monte or called a nasty name but actual violence isn't something I, personally have encountered. Nobody I know here has ever been physically harmed by a random person except in a bar fight and those usually aren't one-sided. Someone did get shot in the Tendernob recently, but it was in a bar fight too...

The street people here are very confident and outgoing towards strangers but not at all likely to attack you. I think violent crimes are usually committed within social groups. In contrast, in LA I feel that the shady folks are more guarded and shy but also much more likely to packing heat and much more likely to be willing to use any heat they might be packing. Gang activity is not as evidently rampant in San Francisco as it is in SoCal, it's kept more on the DL. Crips and Bloods are everywhere LA and they're loud and proud.

Tenderloin and SOMA can get pretty sketchy, but if you think it's bad here you should check out South Central or Inglewood/Compton/Downey. San Francisco hoods always seemed goofier and less dangerous to me than LA, I've never felt like I was gonna get randomly murdered anywhere in San Fran, even walking around Turk Street at 4 AM. Conversely, I feel uncomfortable in South Central at almost any time of day and just forget about going there after dark. I got stuck walking home from South Central to Mid-Wiltshire at 10 PM one time and I'll just say that I'm glad it worked out okay. The hoods are no joke here in the bay, but I feel in more danger of getting depressed in the Tenderloin than getting mugged. Some of those people are really sad looking... Don't smoke meth guys! That's one thing that's really world-class scary here. The meth and crack problems in San Francisco are genuinely out of control so don't get wrapped up in that bs.

Also, for what it's worth I'm tall and male and in good shape which definitely affects how many people are willing to mess w me.

[rah]

Originally Posted by chilbrensbrarbher

From my experience SF is not paricularly dangerous relative to other major US cities (Detroit, LA, Chicago, NYC, St. Louis to name a few) unless you are clearly a tourist or are from a small town that doesn't require street smarts of any kind. The sketchy people here are hustlers, not killers (ime at least), you might get asked to play three card monte or called a nasty name but actual violence isn't something I, personally have encountered. Nobody I know here has ever been physically harmed by a random person except in a bar fight and those usually aren't one-sided. Someone did get shot in the Tendernob recently, but it was in a bar fight too...

The street people here are very confident and outgoing towards strangers but not at all likely to attack you. I think violent crimes are usually committed within social groups. In contrast, in LA I feel that the shady folks are more guarded and shy but also much more likely to packing heat and much more likely to be willing to use any heat they might be packing. Gang activity is not as evidently rampant in San Francisco as it is in SoCal, it's kept more on the DL. Crips and Bloods are everywhere LA and they're loud and proud.

Tenderloin and SOMA can get pretty sketchy, but if you think it's bad here you should check out South Central or Inglewood/Compton/Downey. San Francisco hoods always seemed goofier and less dangerous to me than LA, I've never felt like I was gonna get randomly murdered anywhere in San Fran, even walking around Turk Street at 4 AM. Conversely, I feel uncomfortable in South Central at almost any time of day and just forget about going there after dark. I got stuck walking home from South Central to Mid-Wiltshire at 10 PM one time and I'll just say that I'm glad it worked out okay. The hoods are no joke here in the bay, but I feel in more danger of getting depressed in the Tenderloin than getting mugged. Some of those people are really sad looking... Don't smoke meth guys! That's one thing that's really world-class scary here. The meth and crack problems in San Francisco are genuinely out of control so don't get wrapped up in that bs.

Also, for what it's worth I'm tall and male and in good shape which definitely affects how many people are willing to mess w me.

As someonee who has been to rough parts of LA and SF (and other cities, like Oakland and Philly) I'm gonna have to disagree. Parts of SF are just as sketchy and dangerous as parts of those cities. Also, SF has had a higher violent crime rate than both LA and NYC for a decade now, including a higher roberry rate...and the tenderloin has the worst robbery rate of any hood in the city. You may not have any personal anecdotes to back it up, and the TL is certainly not all bad, but that neighborhood is no joke either. And unfortunately, a few unlucky people get randomly murdered in SF on most years, whether it's from mistaken identity, a stray bullet, or some crazy bum assaulting them.

[DuctTapedToCokeMachine]

Originally Posted by chilbrensbrarbher

From my experience SF is not paricularly dangerous relative to other major US cities (Detroit, LA, Chicago, NYC, St. Louis to name a few) unless you are clearly a tourist or are from a small town that doesn't require street smarts of any kind. The sketchy people here are hustlers, not killers (ime at least), you might get asked to play three card monte or called a nasty name but actual violence isn't something I, personally have encountered. Nobody I know here has ever been physically harmed by a random person except in a bar fight and those usually aren't one-sided. Someone did get shot in the Tendernob recently, but it was in a bar fight too...

The street people here are very confident and outgoing towards strangers but not at all likely to attack you. I think violent crimes are usually committed within social groups. In contrast, in LA I feel that the shady folks are more guarded and shy but also much more likely to packing heat and much more likely to be willing to use any heat they might be packing. Gang activity is not as evidently rampant in San Francisco as it is in SoCal, it's kept more on the DL. Crips and Bloods are everywhere LA and they're loud and proud.

Tenderloin and SOMA can get pretty sketchy, but if you think it's bad here you should check out South Central or Inglewood/Compton/Downey. San Francisco hoods always seemed goofier and less dangerous to me than LA, I've never felt like I was gonna get randomly murdered anywhere in San Fran, even walking around Turk Street at 4 AM. Conversely, I feel uncomfortable in South Central at almost any time of day and just forget about going there after dark. I got stuck walking home from South Central to Mid-Wiltshire at 10 PM one time and I'll just say that I'm glad it worked out okay. The hoods are no joke here in the bay, but I feel in more danger of getting depressed in the Tenderloin than getting mugged. Some of those people are really sad looking... Don't smoke meth guys! That's one thing that's really world-class scary here. The meth and crack problems in San Francisco are genuinely out of control so don't get wrapped up in that bs.

Also, for what it's worth I'm tall and male and in good shape which definitely affects how many people are willing to mess w me.

LA's violent crime rate is 490.7, while SF's is 795.1, much higher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ime_rate_(2014)

[modernist1]

The problem is that 'beautiful' San Francisco isn't on the usual list of suspects - so can be deceptive.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by modernist1

The problem is that 'beautiful' San Francisco isn't on the usual list of suspects - so can be deceptive.

Tourists don't tend to wander south of the Tender Nob.

[alexc2000]

I remember accidentally walking through the Tenderloin one time during broad daylight. I just saw rundown buildings and homeless people hanging out with each other.

[04kL4nD]

Consider yourself lucky that's all you saw. The TL is no joke, even though some people swear up and down that it's fine.

[FC76-81]

Oh yeah, the only job I had in San Francisco back in 1991 I had to walk from the bus stop to work through the tenderloin. I'd walk through it around 6:30am on my way to work and about 5:30pm after work M-F only. Saw some really crazy stuff and I was never feeling that comfortable transiting through it at that time. I can only imagine how messed up it may have been throughout the night. And then maybe 7 years ago a friend and I were walking through a part of it maybe around 2 in the afternoon and it was really messed up. I about puked when I saw a filled urine bag laying on the ground with a bloody catheter still attached to it.