[adwww]

I grew up in a leafy village in rural UK. But at one point in the early 90s my dad got an offer to move to SoCal and we went out, I remember visiting schools and stuff, but we never actually went ahead with the move.

Apparently while we were there my dad witnessed the car in front of him being robbed at gunpoint, but decided perhaps that was a one off, don't tell the family, perhaps it's fine... then the exact same thing happened the next night at nearly the same spot.

So that was the end of my potential US childhood.

[nvarsj]

It's sort of funny how you get used to things and normalize them, especially the violence that occurs in the US. I lived in Chicago for nearly a decade, much of it on the near west side, and it was normal to hear gunshots a few blocks away. Violent crime was normal - a pub restaurant I used to take my kids to along with other families, had a brutal murder where someone got their throat slit. And I wasn't living in a "bad" area either, it was filled with affluent middle class families. This was also with two coal fired power plants puffing away right in the middle of the city (this was in the 2000s even, what a joke!). Everyone just accepted these things as normal for living in Chicago. The US can be weirdly dissonant place at times.

[Moru]

So what you are telling me, all those movies, it's not just Hollywood magic, it's reality? Ugh.

[jeffreyrogers]

It was for a time. It's not like that anymore, although it is trending that way again in many cities (homicides are up 50%+ in many American cities this year).

Although to be fair, a lot of the crime is in areas the average HN user wouldn't be in. Most people are not worried about getting carjacked or mugged during their commute and have no reason to be. The US is a big place and problems that affect certain parts of it are usually not present throughout the whole country.

[dugmartin]

Counterpoint: I lived in the North side of Chicago and worked downtown for a few years and I never heard a gunshot. Violence in Chicago is very localized in certain neighborhoods (West side and South side when I was there, not sure about now).

[murph-almighty]

You ever see Taxi Driver? Apparently that movie's depiction of NYC in the 70s was not that far off from reality, and it's jarring.

[ghaff]

You can still see remnants of it, e.g. the Port Authority--aka the world's seediest bus terminal. But, as someone who lived in Manhattan for a summer in the mid-80s, it's hard to see things like the "Disneyfication" of the Times Square area as having too much of a downside.

[9HZZRfNlpR]

In rx soviet block saying "it's like Chicago" here when there was some sort of crime spree going on was very common and still is. Maybe because of old gangsters, not sure.

But it sure was exotic seeing American music coming and videos talking about murder and shooting like it's a cool thing.