worst areas

[DATYdude]

"Gimme crack corner", Landsdowne and Bloor.

 

[mtl_guy]

Re: Scary places

Theres areas in every city that you wouldnt want to be in any time of day but especially at night.

Montreal is relatively safe for a city its size. Downtown at nite has a lot of "regular" folk as well as its share of drug dealers, pimps, hookers, bums, as well as other people up to no good. You could walk probably walk from one end of St.Catherines to the other at 4am on Saturday nite without anyone even verbally acosting you. But step off the main streets onto the wrong side street and you will find yourself in areas that are infested with crackies, dealers, gangs. It doesnt matter what attitude you have or how you carry yourself, if you come up to some strungout druggies who need money for a fix or are fucked out of their mind, then you are in trouble.
Gangs are also becoming a bigger problem in Montreal. Theres certain areas where you wouldnt want to go down any street because for sure you would find trouble.
Theres also certain bars youd never want to go into.

This exists in every city.
I only travel to T.O on business so havent had the pleasure to venture into any of these nasty areas but I know they do exist.
Vancouver has some particularily awful streets that you wouldnt want to walk down any time of day.
Ive got some friends and family in Winnipeg. The downtown core and north end are awful. The streets are full of druggies, alchies, bums. Lots of gangs. Streets where every other house is a booze can or crackhouse.

I've never been scared anywhere in Canada, (one of the many things I love about Montreal is how, no matter what the weather or time of day, you can go downtown and there's always people on the streets, you never feel isolated or vulnerable). I've made several trips to the Detroit area and never been scared - hell, I even got lost in downtown Detroit right about midnight and asked that proverbial big black guy for directions on a deserted street, and wasn't scared. Wandered around in downtown Baltimore on my own and wasn't scared, there, that big black guy just asked me if I was all right and told me to look after myself, (he did!)

But the one place that creeped me out was St. Louis. The friend I was there with has lived all over the world - London, Paris, Manhattan, LA - and the only place he practically tripped over a murder was in St. Louis.