• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Is San Francisco really that bad?

Yeah, depends of what part of town to a considerable extent. Here we have a bad side of the tracks, and a worse side of the tracks. RR tracks, or course. I don't know how that computes with cable car tracks. When in SF, we stick more toward the ocean side of it anyway, a lot less Darwinish than the Mission District, not to mention Hunter's Point.
 
If you leave anything that looks valuable (like a bag) inside your car after parking and it is detectable on plain sight, sometime you are going to loose it and some car windows will need a new glass. In SF and in any major city I know in Europe, even in my hometown Bilbao that has a very low criminal rate. Use the trunk! The sooner before parking the better.
 
Last edited:

 
If you're looking for trouble you will find it....

As a Septuagenarian I've lived in some big cities NY, Miami, philly, LA and visited many others including SF often.

For my whole life I've read stories of the danger of big cities - and they are. S#*T happens! I've also never experienced any of those dangers. I think I'm predisposed to caution, (infantry-vietnam!) but I've never lived or visited and felt worried or expected something to happen. That would be a really lousy way to visit , or live.

If I turned a corner, and saw something funny I'd walk down to the next block.

Some good advice here. Be attentive and have fun.

P.S. I always carry a camera bag with 2 camera's - never a hint of a problem. Then again maybe there all afraid of the vintage m16 I carry
 
Stabbings and shootings occur daily in certain parts of all these big Bay Areas cities. Anyone who reads the monthly police reports or works in an ER knows that all to well. Only a few incidents reach the evening news. Some neighborhoods are like war zones, controlled by rival drug gangs and pimps; and nobody in their right mind should even drive through those. Freeway drive-by and sniper-style rival gang assassinations are not uncommon by any means. Just don't drive a big black SUV looking tough, or hang around streets with gang graffiti everywhere and unfriendly looking unemployed young thugs standing around with nothing else to do. Applying common sense can greatly reduce the odds of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No different out in the boonies, and the common sense need to be aware of your surroundings. If people look like meth freaks, stay away; if the deer hunters are drunken, go somewhere else, etc, etc. Don't leave gear showing on your car seats when you walk into a market, and don't leave picnic boxes where the bears can see and smell them.
 
I’d love to visit SF again. I was there pre-pandemic with the family, we had a good time. My wife didn’t care for it enough to return as there’s definitely a gritty side to the place, but for me that’s fine. I realize a lot has changed since then, but it has changed everywhere.

I’ve been to Portland and Seattle post-pandemic and it’s disturbing to see the extent of the problem… but I’ll still go. Even buttoned-down Salt Lake has problems. Transient camps spring up overnight, outgrow the place, then move along. And it IS different than a decade ago when I used to ride by the thrift store with good-natured drunks sitting on benches outside the thrift store, which were the closest benches to the liquor store. Wish I’d gotten a picture, they were kind of fun, and regular characters in the area. It’s a darker sort of situation now. Last fall I had an encounter that made me feel a bit bad. I was at a small store and got a work call, so went outside. A group of campers by the shop must’ve thought I was reporting them because they broke camp and left, but apologized to me for being there as they passed by. They really didn’t want to bother anyone.

On topic though: Minolta Hi-Matic AF2. Get one. Cheap, reliable so far, AA batteries, light, discreet, and most of all it has a great lens and auto exposure. It even has a filter thread! How are they still $50 in the era of overhyped point and shoots?
 
If the rain and wind settles down enough for me to get out this afternoon, and I go to the local shoreline (which is very safe, even for the elderly), it always involves a slight detour of a few miles down the freeway and then a major street. I NEVER cross through the "bad side of the tracks" on secondary streets (the infamous "Iron Triangle" in our case). Besides, the safer route is faster due to far fewer stoplights. But as certain parts of the Iron Triangle itself get improved with bike trails, better infrastructure, and new investment, they've evolved from "never go there" to downright trendy. Certain other areas, if they're allowed to deteriorate, have done just that - deteriorated.

SF is very aware of how their post-pandemic economic restart is highly dependent upon their tourism safety reputation. But tourists should also do their part and actually obey parking lot signs stating, Don't leave valuables in your car! Bears won't keep coming once people stop leaving their picnic boxes out in the open. Otherwise, you're just training those bears to do more or the same.

In downtown SF, I've always got my camera with me, even during restaurant interludes, and never use a glitzy expensive-looking camera bag or shiny case. I've been chewed out a few times by local little old ladies for photographing storefronts they incorrectly thought I needed formal permission for first, but that's about the worst of it, so far. Over on beach trails, I've never worried even about having my head under a darkcloth using a view camera, except to be very conscious not to create any kind of tripod hazard to other hikers along the path doing so.
 
Last edited:
As far a fancy watches, do not wear them anywhere. I use a Mickey Mouse watch.
 

We still have police. Lots of them. Nobody has been defunded. You should stop watching fox news.
 

Yep. You hit the nail on the head. I am one of those tech workers who used to work in downtown Seattle. What you describe is exactly what I have seen. When I go into the office today, I : 1) carry a concealed weapon. 2) bring a Nikkormat rather than a Nikon or Leica 3) Am prepared to kill someone if I think my Nikkormat is worth a human life 4) Am prepared to lose my less expensive camera if I currently have compassion (I don't always) for human criminals.
On the plus, my Nikkormat FT-3 takes all of the fine lenses that Nikon produced and uses my favorite film.
 

You seem well adjusted.
 
From YOLO to TOLO (They Only Live Once), this thread might have run its course....
 

My FT3 meter works on and off. How's yours?
 
ymc226 said:
My FT3 meter works on and off. How's yours?
Click to expand...
Last time I used it the meter was consistent. Either way, I've been in the habit of bringing a handheld meter just in case. I understand that those FT3 meters will eventually fail their duty.
 
Don't bring up weapons. In certain neighborhoods, flashing a gun is the fastest way I can think of to get caught in a wild shootout melee; and most gangbangers don't know how to aim. Kids and innocent bystanders, along with vehicle passengers, are the most common victims. And it happens somewhere around here nearly every day, with 95% of the incidents being in the same very predictable areas, where lots of young thugs have guns, some fully automatic.
 

When I had my spot meter in a belt holster, a woman thought that I was carrying a gun.
 
I grew up in Richmond, across the Bay from SF. I knew kids in junior high school who lived in the Iron Triangle, and I learned a lot from them. Like, maintain situational awareness, don't dress or act like a target, stay out of places like the Iron Triangle, and don't suffer the illusion that having a weapon will save you.
Even so I learned a few things from the video. Laughed pretty hard too. Nobody likes fart spray.
 
The piece of photographic gear I do not recommend in these instances is the Zenit Photosniper. No upside, all downsides.
 

An interesting take on the origins of the “drug crisis” was presented by “World War Speed” a PBS Secrets of the Dead episode which implied that Nazi Germany's use of Perevitan and the Allies use of Benzedrine during WWII carried over into the civilian population after the war increasing the popularity of using drugs Amphetamines Widely Used On Both Sides In WW2, Doc Claims (allthatsinteresting.com) . “Speed” was very popular when I was growing-up in the 60's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register