MLK Blvd.
 

I had an interesting experience last night. I was riding my bike to my brothers loft, there was a rave at the Coliseum, and i was riding down MLK BLVD behind the sports arena. Anyways... i hear glass breaking, then i turn around and three guys are sprinting towards a guy on the floor who just got a bottle broken over his face. They then start to kick the living $hit out of his stomach. It wasn't even 11pm yet. I've rode down MLK probably around 4 or 5 times and never saw anything like this. My brother told me that every single MLK BLVD in the United States is bad and to stay away from it.

My question, to all of you who live in cities besides LA--how bad is ur MLK blvd? Is my brother completely right or not? It makes sense...but i just want some first hand experience.

MLK blvd and Market street are always the worst streets in a city.

In Detroit, we have MLK and Rosa Parks Drive and they are both places to be avoided, especially at night...

Also, any city with the name "Heights" tacked onto the end of it always seems to be a pit...

Its a good rule of thumb to avoid any MLK Blvd no matter where you are. Your brother is spot on.

Its sad, MLK stood for resolution through peaceful protest. He was never about violence, yet, the very streets named after him are meccas for violence.

I've seen this in other cities, too. The irony is amazing. MLK would be heart broken.

Yup. MLK Blvd. is way bad in every city.

Re: MLK Blvd.
 

When I read the first sentence my only thought was at least you're still alive to write about it....

I can't believe nobody has ref'd Chris Rock talking about MLK. Funny stuff!

You just did

My Local PCA holds ints Autocrosses in Hialeah Miami, in the middle of the hood.

I made a wrong turn leaving the 1st one I ever attended and ended up on MLK Blvd in Hialeah. Not a good place for a white guy in a Red Porsche 911 with its Targa top out to be.

As I expected I started to attract attention of all the guys standing around on the side of the road. I was close to I95, I could see it about 6 blocks up and I was heading towards a red light. I really did not want to come to a complete stop. So I slowed down about 1/2 a block from the red light when it turned green I broke some laws to get to the interstate asap.

I never made that wrong turn again.

I had made friends with another PCA member that is a firefighter in Miami and he told me he always leaves a couple of car lengths in front of him at red lights when he is in his 911. This way he can scoot if someone is trying something stupid. He also told me to watch my mirrors and look around when stopped down there. GTA Vice City is not too far off from real lfe in parts of Miami.

In Jacksonville, it is to be avoided:(
And I never thought about it before, but it seems that every MLK dr./RD.Ave, what every city I have been in, is not appear to be save areas:(

Re: Re: MLK Blvd.
 

for some reason, people know that I'm a USC student, and leave me alone. Thats why i ride bikes around downtown...

MLK Blvd. in Tampa starts out OK than turns dark than extends out into redneck country. When they first changed the signs back in the '80, the rednecks were using them for target practice. They had to change out hundreds of signs. A true sign of the times.

It's true in Bloomington, Illinois.

And where they meet, there is at least a few shootings a year.

And Richard Daley has helped make them worse...

Also streets with President's last names always seem to be in bad areas.......

MLK in St. Petersburg is not horrible, at least not when I was last living there. It borders the eastern side of the areas best to avoid. The north side and extreme south are nice areas.

The strange thing about MLK Blvd. in L.A., is it was called Santa Barbara Avenue up until the 1980s.

No matter how bad MLK Blvd is now, it was worse when named after one of the wealthiest enclaves on the planet.

In cleveland, MLK is a pretty rough road to be on. Its a shame because near university circle it is a beautiful place to travel. You don't have to get far to realize that you are in for trouble.

Absolutely true. The one here in the LBC is a ghetto. Never really thought about it, but I think the comment about presidents' last names is pretty much spot-on too.

It is bad here in Raleigh. Right up the middle of the bad part of town.

Why is it always a Boulevard? Why not Drive? Road? Parkway?