US no-go zones
- Thread starter ska invita
- Start date
1927
Funnier than he thinks he is.
I was expecting alsorts of near death experiences from urbanites in US no-go areas on this thread!
Once when in Chicago, at 3am and after a night in a blues bar well north of the Loop I decided to walk back to my hotel. Walking due south I realised I was well to the west of where I needed to be. Coming across a road at 45 degrees I decided to change direction, on the basis that walking the hypotenuse has to be quicker that walking the other two sides. Normally of course this would have been excellent logic and made my walk home quicker and more pleasant. Unfortunately after a few minutes the footpaths ran out on my new route, and shortly afterwards the street lighting. I then had probably the most frightening half hour of my life as I walked, jogged and at one point sprinted faster than Linford Christie from the homeless, puimps and drug dealers who tried to befriend me in the heart of Cabrini Green!
Since that night I have spoken to various people who have said I was lucky to get thru that. Even Chicago policemen have told me they are not allowed to patrol there without some serious back up.
Once when in Chicago, at 3am and after a night in a blues bar well north of the Loop I decided to walk back to my hotel. Walking due south I realised I was well to the west of where I needed to be. Coming across a road at 45 degrees I decided to change direction, on the basis that walking the hypotenuse has to be quicker that walking the other two sides. Normally of course this would have been excellent logic and made my walk home quicker and more pleasant. Unfortunately after a few minutes the footpaths ran out on my new route, and shortly afterwards the street lighting. I then had probably the most frightening half hour of my life as I walked, jogged and at one point sprinted faster than Linford Christie from the homeless, puimps and drug dealers who tried to befriend me in the heart of Cabrini Green!
Since that night I have spoken to various people who have said I was lucky to get thru that. Even Chicago policemen have told me they are not allowed to patrol there without some serious back up.
D
Well-Known Member
Stanley Edwards said:I think this is a culturally alienated type of sensation. That part of Berlin is typically European IMO even with the unsettling 'old East' still lingering close by. It's an area of Berlin I love. Fully understand why you feel a bit edgy, but I don't think it's relevant to the opening post of this thread.
Have you explored Planterwald yet?
Very, very, very unsettling
I don't know that it comes down principally to cultural alienation...I used to have the same sensation when I was walking through the Outer Sunset at night in San Francisco. If someone was going to jump/rob/rape me, that was a great place for them to do it...not a soul around at night.
D said:
But, you grew up in the culture of NY.
D said:
Many European cities traditionally have quiet areas and central parkland that are used late at night. Admittedly, crime levels have risen and more people probably feel nervous in areas with less people around today. Pretty sure crossing Central Park at 3am back in the 70's and 80's would have been even more unsettling? Or, has Manhattan always been relatively wealthy and free from muggings in Central Park?
Perhaps not cultural alienation (afterall, we're all turning into one ugly mono-culture), perhaps just a cultural difference. Taking your own NY conditioning into a different environment.
D
Well-Known Member
Stanley Edwards said:
Ah, yes, I understand what you mean. It is a cultural difference. And, no I certainly wouldn't have gone for a stroll through Central Park in the middle of the night in the 80s, but I also wouldn't do it today...Riding through the park, though, I'd have no problem...and at present in Berlin, it's primarily the fact of having to get off my bike and carry it on my back that makes me question my safety. Having said that, there is absolutely no one around and Neukölln is not a well off neighborhood with a large Turkish and immigrant population (and, apparently, it's evidently a "slum" to some people I've met...which goes to show that my context for/perception of urban poverty is vastly different), but I doubt that there's much actual risk. The feeling is a kind of fleeting recognition of the circumstances more than a serious sense of fear...for example, I often thought the same while I was standing in my alleyway entrance in SF, bag full of stuff, bike over one shoulder, angling my keys into the gate. Lots of unsavory characters around...again, a great moment for someone to rob me if they were so inclined, and though I can't substantiate this claim, I suspect that I was at greater, actual, empirical risk of violent incident there than I am where I live now. Or moments very early in the morning walking through the Tenderloin in SF on my way to the airport with a huge bag...but in part because it was where I lived for years without any problem, I rarely felt concerned...just an acknowledgment of the circumstances, I suppose.
Manhattan has most certainly not been free of muggings or other violence...in fact, Central Park was the site of some very well known and horrific incidents of rape...there was a famous incident with a 5 am jogger (perhaps more than one) in the 80s or 90s...I can't recall all the details at the moment...
D said:
A bunch of black kids were stitched up for that. It became a cause celebre, the kids had supposedly said they were out 'wilding' (it was a reporter's mishearing of 'wild thing,' which means 'sex'), and it was one of the main cases that led to the election of Giuliani and the disasters that ensued. A few years later a homeless guy confessed to the rape and all the convicted kids were exonerated by DNA evidence.
Its funny about race in the US. I have no problem living in black neighborhoods, and in fact I usually do. But there are lots of neighborhoods where I wouldn't dream of going at night because they're black or Latino *and* drug-ridden. So being white I'd stand out in an area full of desperados looking for the next fix, which is plain daft. But I'd go to a drug-ridden white neighborhood any time, because I wouldn't stand out. And there you have it.
Hitman Tim
I come from the water
This is my roommates AK-47. He's a very paranoid person.
Hitman Tim said:
This is my roommates AK-47. He's a very paranoid person.
Very poor tast to be posting something like this on Urban75......Terrific another college student (who happens to live in Virgina) with an assualt rifle.....
(debating rather or not to report this post and maybe stop another university rampage????)
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
We can only hope that it's a replica. He does look like a headjob, though.
Maybe you should look into it.
Maybe you should look into it.
from the side he looks a bit like Tim McVeigh, aka Mr. Oklahoma CityJohnny Canuck2 said:
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Detroit City said:
Yeah, Tim McVeigh reincarnated as a meth addict.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Btw, Tim: that's not, er, you, by any chance?
hahahaha I didn't even notice his user name has Tim in itJohnny Canuck2 said:
Detroit City said:within 3 miles of the white house and capitol hill you can pick up a street-walking prostitues. literally in the shadow of the entire US govt.
you could probably buy an illegal handgun and some crack too
DC is a cool city. I lived in DC and right outside of DC in Arlington Virginia for 7years - 4 college and 3 working. I dated a girl close to Capitol Hill, and it was a scary experience at times walking or driving to her place. Adams Morgan And Dupont Square are cool spots in DC as is the area near Siver Spring MD like Tinley Town.
I have been to Baltimore a couple times and don't like it at all.
My experience is there aren't any no go zones, people in the US are just hysterically scared of everything.
Rainingstairs
Well-Known Member
I used to drive through Compton all the time. and I'd roll my window down just so people would see i was just a little Asian girl not out to make any trouble.
I can't speak for white people however, LA is very racially segregated. but for every person like me who didn't have any problems, there's someone else who did.
one of my friends sister's got chopped up and they never even found all of her. It was (korean) gang related.
