San Francisco Blog

Adam Fisher moved to New York City almost 20 years ago chasing an old-school bohemian utopia and discovered East Williamsburg, Brooklyn -- about as rough and post-industrial a neighborhood as can still exist in gentrified NYC. From New York Magazine:

"This is what Soho in the early seventies or Tribeca in the early eighties must have felt like, I thought."

Then reality struck, literally. Fisher was bashed in the head from behind with an unknown blunt object in his local subway station, robbed of a measly $28 and left, miraculously, with only a split lip and a gash on the chin. But he was spooked, and within two days had decided to relocate back to his home town, San Francisco, where a crime wave is underway and the murder rate has climbed to its highest in a decade. While some debate has sprouted over the wisdom of high-tailing it back to San Francisco, ostensibly, to escape crime, the fact remains: your home town, no matter where, probably feels safer than just about any other place.

-- Brian Bernbaum