What is the Worst Town in California?

[Manton]

Originally Posted by SField

What I do get a sense of, from this San Bernardino and others like it, is that moreso than other parts of the US, one can get a sense that you're almost in a different country, and not a nice one at that.

Do you miss California still? Do you regret moving?

I did not care at all about Calfornia for a long time. I developed a sort of historical/analytical interest in it in graduate school but still wasn't all that into it. About six years ago I became obsessed. I would go back if I could but I can't. I will some day, unfortunately that requires some deaths, which is not ideal.

SB, BTW, is totally American. There is nothing foreign about it. Well, there is now, but not foreign in the sense you mean. It's not that places like SB are foreign. It's that they are concentrated doses of the worst aspects of America.

 

[Canvas08]

I forgot to add, everything between Bakersfield and LA along the 5 is hell.

 

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by HRoi

It's hard to answer this question because there's always some special California shithole that you've never had experience with, no matter how long you've lived there.

Yeah, haha, the state is so big it's just got too many pretty bad cities, it's hard to choose.

I've been meaning to go to a Basque restaurant in Bakersfield, seeing that list, I'll have to go this fall sometime.

 

[Bradford]

I just spent two weeks in Bakersfield. It's not all that bad.

I'd say Richmond or Stockton.

Stockton is so bad that even people in Sacramento look down on it - and Sacramento doesn't have a lot going for it.

Then again eight California cities made the 2011 Forbes Magazine List of America's 20 Most Miserable Cities.

1. Stockton
3. Merced
4. Modesto
5. Sacramento
9. Vallejo
17. Fresno
18. Salinas
20. Bakersfield

http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/02/sto...le-cities.html

 

[ConcernedParent]

Originally Posted by SField

What I do get a sense of, from this San Bernardino and others like it, is that moreso than other parts of the US, one can get a sense that you're almost in a different country, and not a nice one at that.

Think white trash amongst poor Hispanic immigrants in a city with severe unemployment (something like 15%) and sweltering 100 degree weather.

 

[mordecai]

SField, I recommend you consult the California appreciation thread.

 

[ConcernedParent]

I love how the worst places we can come up with in California are the ones that are least like California (in the stereotypical sense), and most like the rest of the country.

 

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by whodini

Also, no one has mentioned East San Diego yet and Alpine deserves a mention.

Whaaaat? I'll give you the culture aspect (basically the same as IE and Bakersfield) but at least it's not a desert flat plain covered with smog that gets hemmed in by tall mountains that you can't even see even though they are 10 miles away (IE, Bakersfield, Fresno, etc.). Maybe it's just hometown pride/being used to it.... On the other hand, all these cities are pretty close to nice outdoor activities.

Originally Posted by whodini

I'll wait for your moving party evite and look for your new Ridgecrest or Inyokem address.

Haha, it's InyokeRN (get it, on the border between Inyo and Kern counties).

Originally Posted by Manton

Well, very different kinds of awful. There is nothing quite like Detroit in California that I know of. That combination of blight, depopulation, physical decay, and dense urbanity does not exist. You can find perhaps any two but not all four.
I don't know, I'm thinking of one particular neighborhood in San Bernardino just south of Highland and Arden where the Foothill Fwy crosses, where I spent an inordinate amount of time about 10-12 yrs ago (just looked on google maps and the whole thing has been bulldozed but some of the buildings were still up when they did the street view

)

I guess after seeing all the great choices in this thread, unless there is a size cutoff I'd go with Salton City. If there is a size cutoff, maybe Colton or Stockton?

 

[whodini]

Originally Posted by ConcernedParent

I love how the worst places we can come up with in California are the ones that are least like California (in the stereotypical sense), and most like the rest of the country.
There's some truth to that. What about Yreka or Weed? Why are we forgetting the northern part?

 

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by ConcernedParent

I love how the worst places we can come up with in California are the ones that are least like California (in the stereotypical sense), and most like the rest of the country.

Hollywood has done a good job of selling an image of the state - although that doesn't necessarily square with reality.

And the Okie / Grapes of Wrath influence is pretty prevalent in the Central Valley as I was explaining to a friend of mine in Georgia last week when I was in Bakersfield.

Then again, considering the Okie's came to California during the Great Depression, I'd say that culture is as much a part of California as the hippies who came during the 60's or the gays who flocked to SF in the 60's/70's.

 

[whodini]

Originally Posted by yerfdog

Whaaaat? I'll give you the culture aspect (basically the same as IE and Bakersfield) but at least it's not a desert flat plain covered with smog that gets hemmed in by tall mountains that you can't even see even though they are 10 miles away (IE, Bakersfield, Fresno, etc.). Maybe it's just hometown pride/being used to it.... On the other hand, all these cities are pretty close to nice outdoor activities.
I can't go near that stretch of SD (aka, Klantee) without donning a white hood. It's not just my bias as a tourist, it's also from friends who've lived in SD all their lives as well as knowing people from that specific area.

Originally Posted by yerfdog

Haha, it's InyokeRN (get it, on the border between Inyo and Kern counties).
I actually like Kern Co./Sequoia. Spent a number of summers camping, rafting, etc. in the mountains.

 

[BDC2823]

Because of travel for my previous job, I've been to just about every city in Southern California. I absolutely loathe most of the Inland Empire. But the biggest **** hole I ever had to go to has to be El Centro. Its in the desert near the Mexican border. Absolutely nothing to do and far enough from San Diego so that you can't just go there when you want to get away for a bit. Along their major roads, it seemed like every other retail building was vacant and boarded up. I couldn't wait to get out.

 

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by whodini

I can't go near that stretch of SD (aka, Klantee) without donning a white hood. It's not just my bias as a tourist, it's also from friends who've lived in SD all their lives as well as knowing people from that specific area.

Hah, yeah there is that. Lancaster was probably worse white-power-wise in the 90s, but now it's had such an influx of blacks and hispanics that it might not be bad at all.

 

[whodini]

Originally Posted by yerfdog

Hah, yeah there is that. Lancaster was probably worse white-power-wise in the 90s, but now it's had such an influx of blacks and hispanics that it might not be bad at all.
Don't worry, it still is. Just like the mountains.

 

[Manton]

There is much about Bakersfield that is dismal. But there are glimmers of life.

Stockton has gotten a lot worse over the years but it still has some virtues. Those more northerly CV towns have lots of trees and are very green.

The idea that Sacramento is in any way terrible is a joke. OK, it's not that exciting but this is not about the most boring place in California (which in any case Sac would not even be that) but the worst.

El Centro, I maintain, is the correct answer.

Oh, and the grapevine from B'Field to LA is not hell or even close. The Tejon Ranch has some beautiful parts and pyramid lake is spectacular.