I view CA exactly the same as I view Disney, a place I used to love that I’d like to see return to its glory days, San Francisco was my go to vacation from the early 2000s to the early 2010s, my best friend from high school moved there and we used to have a blast barhopping at night and I’d wander alone all over the Presidio area, Marina area, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc while he was at work, that changed in the early teens when I started feeling unsafe walking around the city because the formerly beautiful and peaceful parks were full of tents and homeless people, I haven’t been back since probably 2015, my friend still works in SF but moved to San Rafael a decade ago when he started his family and even he says he doesn’t go into the city unless he has to.
I started visiting LA, mostly OC and DL, around 2012 and loved that I could stay at a nearby hotel and wander around the DL area or the beaches alone and feel totally safe, that noticeably changed after Covid where even going to DL from the nearby Hilton often meant stepping over homeless people to get to the park, I think the final straw for us was when we went to the nearby Target a few years ago, because we forgot out toiletries bag, and had to have an employee open the glass cases so we could get toothpaste and deodorant… I couldn’t believe a block away from Disney they had to lock everything up due to theft.
My last CA escape is still San Diego and even that is getting a bit sketchy, we love the gaslamp district but the last couple vacations we’ve been harassed by homeless people for change and or food.
Maybe that’s normal to many but to someone who’s not used to it it makes for a horrible vacation. CA used to be this amazing place to visit, now it’s pretty sketchy everywhere we go, I just want CA to return to what it was 15-20 years ago. It’s a beautiful state full of many wonders but we find the cons outweigh the pros now and we go less and less with each passing year.
