Visiting Chicago or New York or San Francisco

[Jamie Pillers]

Hi Raid. I live in Oakland, across the bay from SF. I’ve lived in SF as well. I go into SF all the time for street photography, shopping and entertainment with my wife and daughter. I love SF. It’s a great place to visit. All the neighborhoods I’ve enjoyed over the past 50-plus years are still enjoyable: downtown, the Embarcadero, North Beach, the Castro and Mission districts, Ocean Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Bridge (and over it to Sausalito), etc.. And the ferry boats around the bay are fun. Come on out, you and the family will love it.

 

[raid]

Thank, Jamie. We have the flight tickets! San Francisco has always been a special place for visiting (for me). Cancelling an plans for an Italy trip can only be followed by a SF trip 🙂

 

[raid]

You can’t visit NYC and have a car so you are stuck with what the city has to offer. I haven’t been in Manhattan in two years but then I could spend two weeks easy. San Francisco to me is really about the access to the Bay Area and beyond. Do the PCH drive, historical Rt49 drive then onto Yosemite, Eastern Sierras, up north there’s Sonoma County, and my favorite Point Reyes. I wouldn’t risk street parking in SF unless you know the area in case your rental has out of state plates so keep that in mind. In tourist areas it’s worth it to use a parking garage. I have travelled through Asia in the worse slums with a Leica around my neck but won’t do that in my own country that’s for sure. I’ll have a Ricoh GR for that.

We will travel to SF.
I skipped renting a car. I want less stress for myself. We will do the old fashioned thing; we walk and take cabs, when needed.
Does any airline or tour (say) ask for the vaccination proof?

 

[raid]

I lived and worked in San Francisco for close to 40 years. Moved north, I won't go into The City now. A once beautiful place has been defaced.

We will take what we can get, Pete 🙂 😀

 

[raid]

I lived in SF back in the 90’s and will move back there at the end of the year. Just know where and when to avoid like everywhere else. I used to be walk around the Tenderloin daily but not these days.

I looked up Tenderloin District in SF:
The famously gritty Tenderloin has underground art spaces, classic concert venues such as the Great American Music Hall and historic theaters staging Broadway and indie shows. Its funky, colorful streets feature a mix of upscale, trendy and casual restaurants. Nightlife ranges from dark dives slinging beer and shots to speakeasy-style bars mixing craft cocktails. Little Saigon is known for its Vietnamese eateries.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Raid, you asked about safety in the big cities. As has been suggested, picking your urban areas counts. I think it's about being discreet, a small black box doesn't stand out very much, while a gold Rolex and flashy clothes do make you look like a good target. It's a shame to own nice cameras if you don't feel able to use them. An M8, for example and a couple of lenses shouldn't be too much of a risk?

 

[airfrogusmc]

I would avoid all three. Due to business I've been there through the Covid stuff. Homeless, trash, most stores closed and boarded up. There are still places o visit in those states but I would avoid downtown areas. was in Boston last week still pretty nice except for the Hamas / Israel protests.

You must have heard wrong because Chicago is just fine. Mich ave State Street, River Walk, the Lake front are all almost completely back to pre covid.

 

[andyturk]

I looked up Tenderloin District in SF:
The famously gritty Tenderloin has underground art spaces, classic concert venues such as the Great American Music Hall and historic theaters staging Broadway and indie shows. Its funky, colorful streets feature a mix of upscale, trendy and casual restaurants. Nightlife ranges from dark dives slinging beer and shots to speakeasy-style bars mixing craft cocktails. Little Saigon is known for its Vietnamese eateries.

Don't forget about Chinatown. It's touristy, but still interesting. The Mission is good for street shooting and not quite as bust-ass as the Tenderloin. Walking up the Embarcadero is good for people watching too. Ocean Beach, Presidio, City Hall, ...

Oakland is a couple of BART (train) stops away. Or better yet, take the ferry.

 

[charjohncarter]

Actually, as big a mess as San Francisco is it probably is fairly safe. There are huge homeless camps under every freeway, but if you have a car you can go to many iconic sites: Golden Gate Park which includes the DeYoung Museum, and other sites, Ocean Beach is close. There is the Legion of Honor with a Pompeii exhibit on now. Go across the Golden Gate bridge and view the City from the headlands. Stay away from the Tenderloin (XXX). Union Square would be of interest to your girls (shopping)(the Museum of Modern Art is also close). Ride a Cable Car to North Beach and walk along the bay. If you are up to Berkeley, Telegraph Avenue is a step back to the 60s, but be prepared for panhandlers in both SF and Bezerkely.

Traffic is slow but the distances are not great. You can eat any food from any where in both Berkeley and SF.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I agree with CharJohn. I grew up in NYC and visit there often. I lived in SFO for about five years. Very different cities, of course, but they have in common a rich street life. There are two main risks in an urban area: a snatch-and-grab or putting your gear down and not paying attention to it. Both are small risks: near-zero, but not zero, if that makes any sense. I wouldn't hesitate to take gear that I could comfortably carry to either. You have to make your own risk-assessment of taking a large amount of gear and leaving it in a hotel room. I have done it many times without incident, but that just means I have been lucky.

Funnily enough I am never nervous in a large urban setting as long as there are other people around. This is true for Rome/Paris/Montreal/NY/SFO/Boston etc. etc. The presence of others is really your best protection. Keep your wallet in your front pocket. Make a photocopy of your credit cards and important travel docs and keep them in the hotel safe. Don't flash a lot of cash or walk around with your pocket book open. These are all second nature to me. Remember: criminals are predators and although they are rare they are looking for the easiest score against the weakest in the herd. Don't be that guy, and you'll be fine. Overall, property crimes in NYC and SFO are down compared to 10 years ago -- basically, there has never been a safer time in history to visit a major urban area.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I would avoid all three. Due to business I've been there through the Covid stuff. Homeless, trash, most stores closed and boarded up. There are still places o visit in those states but I would avoid downtown areas. was in Boston last week still pretty nice except for the Hamas / Israel protests.

Mark: I visit my mother in NYC about once a month, and I just haven't seen any evidence of what you are describing. Last time I was there was end of April, we had three dinners out in her neighborhood (Upper East Side), I had drinks or dinner with friends at restaurants on the Upper West Side, did shopping for food/sundries etc. with her. I rode my bicycle out to Brooklyn for dinner with my brother and his family. Was the city back to its pre-pandemic "snap"? No. But getting there.

 

[JeffS7444]

My sister thinks I'm nuts, but I've gotten around the region pretty well on foot, BART, Muni and Caltrain. It could sometimes be a fuss to transfer from one system to another, but they've since built a big new transit center which supposedly unifies them somewhat (haven't visited yet).

I enjoy checking out food, books, magazines and what-not around J-town but I swear the complex has scarcely changed since the 1970s.

 

[peppard]

I have visited San Francisco few times and I find the city to be the closest to an European city in flavor, maybe because you must walk everywhere and where people hang out on the side walk eateries. It makes a fine substitute to an Italian vacation (I plan to be in Italy in the fall). Make sure to visit both China Town and North Beach for an intensely foreign culinary experience. Also make sure to visit Muir Woods National Park in Sausalito, your girls would love that. I took my kids there when they were very young, and to this day the cherish the memory of the morning walk we took through the redwood forest as one the highlight of the trip. I took with me my Rolleiflex 3.5F, my Minolta CL with 40 and 90mm lenses, and never felt concerned about being robbed. San Francisco is city full of tourists and local people are used to pp brandishing their cameras. Have fun, and enjoy the food: The best in the USA!
Giorgio

 

[bob338]

Hi Raid. I grew up in Chicago, but I don't have any relevant information to pass along except to avoid the far west side and anything south of The Loop.

I have lived in San Francisco, then Marin County, for the last 25 years and it is a very different place than it was. The crime is out of control here thanks to the SF DA. He pretty much refuses to prosecute anything these days. If you're caught red-handed breaking into a car, you'll be given a ticket and released right where you are. It's crazy.

I would strongly suggest being very careful about walking around with a nice camera pretty much anywhere in the city. There are bands of thieves that target photographers and they will steal your stuff before you know what happened. There are usually a couple guys following the guy doing the crime to help him in case of any John Wayne situations. If you want to get the Golden Gate Bridge picture that PKR posted above, do not do it at sunrise. I lived in Sausalito, about a mile from that vantage point, for 15 years and you'd be shocked at the sophisticated system the thieves have set up to rob you. They're up there early in the morning and rob photographers and their cars daily. We actually witnessed one gang of them popping windows in cars and clearing them out a couple years ago. They can break into a line of 20 cars in under a minute and be back on the freeway 10 minutes later. They do the same thing at Land's End, Twin Peaks and anywhere you might think of taking one of those sweeping view photos. This is a business and you will lose.

On the other hand, if you stick to places where you see plenty of tourists, you'll be fine.

It's a beautiful city, just a little out of hand right now.

For your reading pleasure...
https://petapixel.com/2021/05/24/i-was-robbed-in-san-francisco-while-the-cameras-rolled/

 

[Sanders McNew]

Holy cow: This is what happens when people grow up watching Dirty Harry and The French Connection.

I lived in Manhattan for decades. I've traveled extensively in Chicago, less so in the Bay area (and then mostly in Oakland).

I have yet to find a reason or circumstance to feel as if my life or possessions were at risk. I didn't bother to lock my front door in Manhattan. It's not to say crime doesn't exist, but I found West Palm Beach and Boca Raton to be far more problematic for property crime.

Take your cameras, Raid. And have fun.

Sanders

PS: I was last in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago. There are some empty storefronts, but that was true before the pandemic. Some old friends have disappeared -- what will I do without Xiao's Famous Noodles? -- but new ones have popped up. (Hello, Krispy Kreme!) New York is always in flux. This is just one more moment in the stream of change.

 

[Rayt]

We will travel to SF.
I skipped renting a car. I want less stress for myself. We will do the old fashioned thing; we walk and take cabs, when needed.
Does any airline or tour (say) ask for the vaccination proof?

I used to hangout in the Tenderloin area for the gritty street photography. It’s a lot more gritty now. If you intend to visit the Castro on foot then you’ll likely walk pass it. It has some good Vietnamese food and Pakistani Halal.

Assuming you will be staying in the financial district area you’ll be within walking distance to all of the tourist areas like Coit Tower, North Beach, Chinatown, the Embarcadero where you can also take a ferry to Sausalito and that’ll be a really nice side trip. You’ll need to take a taxi to get to the Sutro Baths where you can do the Lands End walk to the Legion of Honor and the cliff houses. From there you can walk down to the Outer Sunset neighborhood for lunch.

The BART nearby will take you to the East Bay where you can walk around the UC Berkeley campus, up and down Telegraph Avenue. Caltrain will take you to Palo Alto and you can visit Stanford for a few hours. I don’t think you need a student ID to use their free shuttle.

Renting a car now is ridiculously expensive anyway.

* just got this from my FB feed:

https://petapixel.com/2021/05/24/i-was-robbed-in-san-francisco-while-the-cameras-rolled/

 

[raid]

Thank you all for your feedback. I want to keep things simple and also safe. I doubt it that with the family and during a short period of time that I will encounter situations where a "real camera" must be used. M 4/3 will have to do.

 

[andyturk]

On the other hand, if you stick to places where you see plenty of tourists, you'll be fine.

Well if you're around a bunch of tourists, that's a good spot for the thieves too.

 

[bob338]

Well if you're around a bunch of tourists, that's a good spot for the thieves too.

The thieves tend to stay away from the touristy areas. Too many people around and it is easier to go after easy targets like parked cars and small groups not paying attention to their surroundings.

I know my post sounds alarmist, but I have never seen anything like the crime going on in San Francisco these days, and I grew up in a rough part of Chicago. It's even spilled over the bridge into Sausalito. Just last week someone stole a bunch of stuff from behind my store. Not much of value, but in my 15 years at this location, we have never had anything stolen. Cars are being robbed constantly, pick-pocketing is a thing again, etc.

Just be careful.

 

[Sanders McNew]

I know my post sounds alarmist, but I have never seen anything like the crime going on in San Francisco these days, and I grew up in a rough part of Chicago. It's even spilled over the bridge into Sausalito. Just last week someone stole a bunch of stuff from behind my store. Not much of value, but in my 15 years at this location, we have never had anything stolen. Cars are being robbed constantly, pick-pocketing is a thing again, etc.

If true, then all the more reason to go to New York City.