City Chronicles: Austin, Seattle, San Francisco - Opioid Crisis and Urban Realities

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*Disclaimer: I want to mention that I was in each of these cities as a tourist. I have no hard data or facts to support my opinions. This is just what I observed and how I felt about my visits to each of these cities. Also, in the case of Seattle and San Francisco, I was only there for the day. I'm from Washington State originally and I lived in Northern California for nine years, but I haven't lived in either state or the US for that matter, since 2003. I actually did spend a week in downtown Austin though. So, take my opinions and advice about each of these cities with a grain of salt.

In March 2024 I spent two weeks in Austin doing some open mics and watching a lot of great stand up comedy. This month (Aug 2024) I spent two weeks in Washington State and Northern California and visited both Seattle and San Francisco.

Austin, Seattle, and San Francisco have all been hit hard by the opioid crisis with crime rates skyrocketing in each city over the past several years.

Austin, Texas

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As I mentioned, in March I spend two weeks in Austin, Texas doing open mics and watching stand up comedians mostly at Joe Rogan's comedy club The Comedy Mothership. I wrote a short article about it here.

Open Mics and Comedy Scene Austin

I don't think I mentioned the, what was shocking for me, condition of the downtown area. I spent two weeks in total in Austin. During my last week there I was in a hotel two blocks from what is known as Dirty 6th, otherwise known as 6th Street. This is the heart of Austin's live music scene, night life, and now thanks in a very big way to Joe Rogan and Kill Tony (Tony Hinchcliffe's live comedy podcast) stand up comedy scene.

Sadly, it is also ground zero for Fentanyl, Crytal Meth, Crack Cocaine, as well as various other illegal and legal addictive substances. Weed is illegal in Texas and I'm pretty tolerant being from the Seattle area, but I have to say there were times on 6th Street I was thinking, "Is there anywhere on this street where I can just breath air?"

Marijuana smoke aside, I also saw a man die and then be revived with Narcan in a Starbucks on my last day in Austin. It was very similar to this terrifying video.

I was on 6th Street late at night and early in the morning several times and there always seemed to be at least one person on Fentanyl around. There seemed to be a lot of people with serious mental health issues on or around 6th Street. I think there is a major shelter on 7th Street so that be part of the reason why.

I didn't see any violence while I was there though and I never felt unsafe or threatened. I was asked for spare change a few times, but never aggressively. And when I didn't have any the people asking were polite and left me alone.

6th Street did live up to its rep as being dirty though. I did see what I'm pretty sure was human feces on the sidewalk one day as well as a lot of trash, vomit, and broken bottles. Thankfully, I didn't see any used needles while I was there.

Despite this, I still had a great time. If you like stand up comedy, live music, and great food the Dirty 6th in Austin Texas is worth all the negatives I mentioned.

Seattle, Washington

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I was born and raised in the Seattle area. I lived there until I was 15, moved to Northern CA until I was 24, and then moved back to the Seattle area until I moved to Japan in 2003.

So, I was a little concerned to return to my home state and potentially see how far Seattle had slide to into the opiate abyss.

Surprisingly, in the area I was in, Seattle Center. I didn't see anything shocking at all. There were a few people smoking Weed, which is legal in WA, near the fountain, but that was it. Even when we left the Seattle Center and walked several blocks to the bus stop I didn't see much. Honestly, I was fully expecting to see tents on the sidewalk and the ravages of fentanyl everywhere like in this video.

We were there on a walk day in the middle of the afternoon, so maybe we just happened to catch Seattle on a good do, but I really thought it was going to be far worse.

And it was much cleaner than 6th Street in Austin was. Maybe I got lucky, but from my experience, I would have no problem recommending people to visit the Seattle Center.

San Fransisco, California

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I lived in Northern California (Contra Costa County) from 1985 to 1994. There was a lot of problems with Crack Cocaine and Crystal Meth back then as well as the violent crime that goes with it, but San Francisco was still considered a fairly safe city for the most part. Judging by this video, that isn't the case anymore.

I chose this video for a reason. Mainly because it shows someone's car getting broke into while they were still in it. Apparently, that is fairly common.

Like Seattle, I only spent a day in San Francisco and because one our passengers had knee injury and was on crutches we spent almost all of our time in the car. We did manage to see The Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, and Coit Tower though. We also ate lunch in Sausalito. Maybe because the fog was heavy that day, but I didn't really see much evidence of urban decay at all while we were there. There was a lot of graffiti, but I didn't see any tent cities, open drug use, or crime while we were there. Maybe like Seattle, we happened to get very lucky.

I will say though, out of the three, San Francisco had the worst traffic by far. That is saying a lot I think considering how bad traffic in Austin and Seattle can be. We were in SF right as a Giant's game was letting out, so that might be part of the reason why.

Overall, I didn't find the crime in any of these cities to be excessive. Clearly they all have a lot of problems and can be dangerous especially late at night, but I think if you visit them during the day time and keep your wits about you they are probably safe most of the time.