- San Francisco was one of the USA's most visited cities
with over 15 million people that visit here
in a typical year, but tourism is way down.
I've been walking around San Francisco today
and there are very few visitors here.
Why? People just don't feel safe.
I've gotten the question from a lot of you,
"Chris, is it safe to visit San Francisco right now?"
So that's what I'm doing here in this video.
I haven't been here for a couple years, since the pandemic,
and I wanted to revisit, see how it feels.
And I've discovered six areas
that I think make people feel less safe when they're here.
And so that's what I'm gonna talk through in this video.
I'm also gonna tell you some of the safest neighborhoods
to stay in if you're playing to book a hotel
and also some of the least safe neighborhoods,
maybe the ones you might wanna avoid
on your trip to San Francisco.
Number one is shoplift.
This is probably the most high profile thing
that'll make you feel unsafe in San Francisco.
CVS, drug stores, lots of places have been the target
of rampant shoplifting.
And you sure shoplifting has a problem everywhere
in every city in the world,
but in San Francisco so much more
it seems than everywhere else because the crooks are brazen.
They go into these stores, they bring trash bags
and they just fill it up with stuff,
and then they just walk out.
They don't get stopped by the security guards.
They don't get stopped by the store staff.
They don't get stopped by the police.
They don't get stopped by anybody,
because there was a proposition passed recently
that basically made it no longer a felony
or a big crime to shoplift under $900.
And so they just make sure everything they steal
is under $900, they never get prosecuted on it
and they get to do it over and over again.
I mean, it's gotten so crazy
that they lock up $6 toothpaste to pine glass,
and the entire liquor aisle
on both sides is behind glass and locked up as well.
Now, before I go on to number two,
I don't want you to think this is a video
where Chris is just crapping on San Francisco,
that Chris hates San Francisco, that Chris says
that nobody should ever come to San Francisco.
I love this city, I love to come to this city.
I want this city to be amazing, and so I want San Francisco
to clean up some of these problems.
I want you to feel safe, and I'm thinking
that maybe they should reopen Alcatraz
to help curtail some of those shoplifting problems.
Number two is car break-ins.
In 2021, San Francisco led the nation in car break-ins,
with over 20,000 car break-ins last year.
The reason why I say over, there's about 18,000
that were reported, then there's gonna be more
that were unreported than just the ones that were reported.
Why are so many people breaking in the cars?
Another one, if it's considered under $900,
they don't stop them.
But where do the crooks target cars?
In the touristy areas, Union Square, Chinatown,
and number one Fisherman's Wharf where I'm shooting
a lot of this video. Why?
Because this is where juicy tourists come
that often have suitcases, laptops, electronics
and cameras in their car.
So I have two pro tips for you to avoid this.
One is to actually consider parking your car
at a hotel valet.
I parked my car and making this video
at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf valet,
in their parking structure underneath.
Where it happens, it happens in parking garages,
it happens on the street, happens in broad daylight,
where people break into cars
It's become so bad that many residents
have actually are keeping their trunks open,
their glove boxes open,
showing that there's absolutely nothing in their car.
And you might think, well, look,
I've got a rental car and it's got a trunk,
and so my valuables are out of sight.
Look, the crooks know what rental cars look like,
and so they particularly target rental cars.
So if you've got stuff in your car, it is not safe.
So you could consider also not bringing your car
into San Francisco, leave your car home,
take public transportation, take Uber,
or what I did in fact, to make this video,
I flew in this morning, I stopped into my hotel at noon,
checked in, but my plan was even if I couldn't check
into my room, I was gonna leave my stuff
with the hotel better than leaving it
in the trunk of my car.
Car break-ins are really such a huge issue
that you now see these signs all over the city
to remind you to take your valuables with you.
It's also funny when the signs are graffitied.
The third thing you gotta watch out for
in San Francisco is poop.
And you know, in European cities,
you have to watch out for poop too, but in European cities,
it's of the dog variety.
And in San Francisco,
unfortunately it's of the human variety
because in San Francisco it is perfectly legal
to do your business wherever you would like on the street,
on the sidewalk, not a big deal.
There has actually been websites
that have put together San Francisco poop maps,
and San Francisco has a special poop patrol
that goes out to clean up all the poop.
So when you are walking around, definitely beware
of those, not poop emojis, but actual poop
on the streets.
Number four, beware of pickpockets, particularly on buses
and trains, and in touristy areas like Fisherman's Wharf,
if you've got a backpack, keep it in front of you.
If you've got your wallet in your pocket,
keep your hand on it.
I love these pack safe bags that I care about.
These are great pick pocket proof bags.
I've got a whole video view of these, if you wanna watch it.
But, the zippers clip in,
makes it really hard to steal things.
But you might be lulled into a false sense of safety,
and don't be because they're people,
when you feel safe,
that's when they're gonna be after your stuff.
Now, in addition of pick pocketing,
number five robberies are also on the rise,
particularly on public transportation,
particularly on the BART,
the Bay Area Rapid Transit, the Subway.
And with the way this works is it's usually your phone
that the target or maybe your purse.
Often happens to people that are sitting near the door.
The crooks they come in,
and they wait till the train comes to the stop.
And when the door's open, they profile the person
who's got their phone, who's got their bag,
and then they snatch it real quick and run out the door
just so the doors close and you can't go after them anymore.
So if you are riding public transit,
I really encourage you to pay attention
and to keep your phone in your pocket
and just be looking around.
Now, there have been some high profile things
about cameras being stolen in San Francisco recently.
A good friend of mine, Jefferson Graham,
he was shooting in San Francisco,
had his camera set up on a tripod.
Some people in a car came up, grabbed this tripod,
tossed in the car and drove off.
So definitely be careful, if you have any camera gear
I would not recommend that you put on tripod,
I'd recommend that you hold it in your hand all the time,
which is in fact what I'm doing shooting this video.
The camera right here never leaves my hand.
Now the sixth thing that you need to be aware of
is the large unhoused population in San Francisco.
At last count 2019,
there were 5,000 people living
on the streets in San Francisco,
and the pandemic has certainly made more.
I notice more, I see more.
What's the number?
I don't have any hard statistics for you,
but they're in a lot of places that they didn't used to be.
They didn't really used to be in Fisherman's Wharf,
but now they're here in Fisherman's Wharf as well.
So now you could be saying to yourself,
"Chris, do people sleeping on the street
really make you feel unsafe?"
And no, it's not people sleeping
on the street that make me feel unsafe,
but a fair percentage of the unhoused in San Francisco,
I'm not saying all of them, and not half,
but a significant amount of the population,
significant enough that I experience it
when I come here, need mental help.
They are shouting obscenities at invisible enemies
until I look at them, and then they think I am their enemy.
If there's really one thing that's made me feel
the least safe in San Francisco are definitely
the people on the street that are yelling
at the top of their lungs, because I'm worried
I don't know what they're gonna do, that's a big worry.
And where do I see the most?
In the city center and the neighborhoods
we're gonna talk about next
as maybe some of the ones you might want to avoid.
So now let's get into the discussion
of what are some of the least safe
and most safe neighborhoods in San Francisco.
These are based on crimes reported
to the San Francisco Police Department.
And the neighborhood
with the most crimes reported is the Tenderloin.
The Tenderloin is the one that you'll probably
want to pay attention to most as a tourist
because the Tenderloin is right next to Union Square,
which is where a lot of the touristy hotels are.
And I often get a lot of people who say,
"Chris, how do I know where the Tenderloin is?
How do I stay away from it?"
Google Maps, type in Tenderloin,
but basically don't go kind of south or west
of Union Square.
If you are just going to the east and north,
then you're pretty good, staying away from the Tenderloin.
Now that being said, Market Street which kind of runs
through the heart of San Francisco,
the part south of Union Square is also one
of the worst neighborhoods for crimes being reported.
Now, when I say Market Street,
it's not all of Market Street.
It's mostly the part of Market Street
that's south of Union Square.
If you go to the north like towards the cable car turnaround
and towards the Ferry Building, that's all pretty good.
Stay in that section as a tourist.
Third worst is the Mission District.
Although there's some really good Mexican food,
and tacos and burritos down there.
And then fourth worst is Western Addition,
which also turns out to be where Japantown is.
Now, just because these have crimes more,
doesn't mean there aren't things,
you should see their things to go there,
but you should definitely be
on your guard more in these neighborhoods.
Now, one of the safest neighborhoods
in San Francisco is the Marina District,
this district that I'm standing in right now.
But there aren't any hotels here, really, not that many.
So the two neighborhoods that are really good with hotels,
one is Nob Hill, this is up on a big tall hill
from the business district,
and there are some nice hotels up there.
I think it's so safe because people
who commit crimes don't wanna walk up the tall hill,
though the con is that
there's not great transportation around Nob Hill.
The second safe district to stay in
that we like to stay in is the Financial District.
This is also near the Ferry Building.
There's like a hight over there, high end hotels.
And you can actually get some pretty
inexpensive hotels there on the weekends,
since it's mostly office buildings,
things like that there,
though it's not in the middle of the night life.
Now you'll probably say, "Well, Chris,
what about the neighborhood
you've been shooting a lot of this video in?
What about Fisherman's Wharf?"
Fisherman's Wharf has a lot of crimes supported.
Does that make it unsafe?
Does that make it feel unsafe?
I just think there's a lot of target rich opportunities
which makes a lot of crimes.
It feels like a safe neighborhood,
but the statistics say otherwise.
Okay, now the silver lining to all of this
is that although crime is up in San Francisco,
it's mostly petty crime.
And if you are the victims of it,
your car gets broken into, that's a real drag.
But violent crime in San Francisco is actually
some of the lowest of any of the big cities in the US.
So your risk of being a victim of a violent crime
in San Francisco, quite low.
Now with all this being said, petty crime is being up.
Can you still enjoy San Francisco?
I'll tell you, I still enjoyed San Francisco
making these videos while I was here.
I think you can do.
I just think you need to be mindful of all these things,
realize that it's a little different place right now
than maybe it has been before.
I really hope the San Francisco government
kind of gets everything together, the police clean it up.
It's gonna take a while, it's not gonna be overnight,
but I think this can be a great city once again.
It's still a great city, but I think we can help get rid
of some of this urban rot and make it awesome
for all of us to enjoy.
The last thing, just as sunset is coming here
that I've noticed on this trip is,
things are closing way earlier than they used to,
and the streets are clearing out way earlier
than they used to.
So maybe think about, just getting back
to your hotel a little bit earlier,
maybe not staying out perhaps as late as you did,
'cause you might not be with as many of your tourist friends
as you were before since everything seems
to shut at about eight o'clock now in San Francisco.
Well, if you are planning to come here, and I hope you do,
check out some of my videos right here,
more of my San Francisco Series.
You'll also find link subscription below.
As usual I won't say goodbye
'cause I'll see you in one of these videos.