“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods

Sometimes you roll up to a new place and you’ve got a gut feeling that something is just… off. The people there are looking at you all weird, there’s strange smells assaulting you from every direction, and you just want to get out of there ASAP.

But it’s always good to know what to look out for in places like this, right? Broken glass, suspicious people, unknown businesses… Some signs are not as obvious, though, but I’m certain you’ll find something to expand your street smarts by checking out these bad neighborhood red flags in today’s list.

More info: Reddit

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods If you have to play the "Was that fireworks or gunshots?" game in any month of the year besides July.

Edit: Specifically in the city, you'll find this sort of thing all over rural areas.

partofbreakfast , Denys Gromov Report

Final score:

110points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods An adult man on a child's bmx bike slowly riding in the middle of the street.

Amduscias7 , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

93points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods In my neighborhood someone posted on nextdoor that they woke up to someone standing over their bed then 2 days later someone else posted that a dude was walking around the street naked asking strangers if they wanted to touch his weewee oh and car theft is so common that I no longer lock my car because it's financially smarter for me to let them have a look around than to pay for any more broken windows I might be in a bad neighborhood

ttothesecond , Cristian Manieri Report

Final score:

90points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Lots of dollar stores, payday loan and title loan places. No or few actual grocery stores.

anon , Mark Hillary Report

Final score:

89points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Ghetto Diamonds

See broken shards of glass in the parking lot? Those are from thieves crow-barring your car windows, not bad driving.

laterdude , Lars H Knudsen Report

Final score:

85points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods When you ask a cop for directions cause your lost and he tells you the way but to drive very fast and to not stop at red lights.
(We were lost in Camden NJ after a concert)

gabeybaby13 , Kaique Rocha Report

Final score:

84points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Pairs of tennis shoes thrown over the electrical lines

AldermanMcCheese , Ben Schumin Report

Final score:

82points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods when the restrooms in businesses have black/blue lights to make it difficult to find your vein.

anon , JetCarson Report

Final score:

76points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Random shopping carts on the side of the road.

bekahboo1989 , Daniel R. Blume Report

Final score:

69points

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#10

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods There's a baby hanging out on a street corner at 3AM.

Wiknetti , Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas Report

Final score:

68points

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#11

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods pizza places won't deliver to your house/apartment/neighborhood

reesejenks520 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

67points

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#12

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods boost mobile next to a check cashing place

oiooioio , Mike Mozart Report

Final score:

60points

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#13

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods It's the middle of the afternoon on a weekday and people are just hanging out on porches and yards, just walking around. It's a neighborhood with a lot of unemployment. If you are looking to rent or buy, visit in the middle of the work day and at night to see what it's like.

MonkeyCatDog , Caio Report

Final score:

52points

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#14

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The businesses just outside the residential area are pay day loan operations, rent-to-own furniture, rent-to-own wheels

anon , David McBee Report

Final score:

50points

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#15

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods When the 1 decent human being there flat out tells you its a bad area and you should leave.

anon , denisbin Report

Final score:

45points

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#16

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The cats are afraid of you, and run away when you get closer.

In a good neighborhood, the cats stay put, and give you superior looks.

florinandrei , Ivan Radic Report

Final score:

41points

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#17

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Bars/bulletproof glass on gas station windows, and they don't let anyone in the store past a certain time, you can only walk up to the window.

Mojo_so_dopey , Antonio Lorenzana Bermejo Report

Final score:

40points

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#18

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods If you're getting more of a confused look rather than a smile from strangers

biggerthanbread , Pixabay Report

Final score:

39points

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#19

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Indoor furniture outside

Jamarch , saintjeux Report

Final score:

38points

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#20

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The weight of the bathroom key. My family stopped for a bathroom break in The Wire era baltimore. My dad had to carry the car rim keychain over to the bathroom for my sister.

ortusdux , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

38points

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#21

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The Chore Boy, tube socks and roses in glass tubes are in a locked cabinet at the local Quickie-Mart.

RobertTheRoseHorse , wallpaperflare Report

Final score:

37points

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#22

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Corner stores and random businesses with cages on the doors and windows. Advertising is usually painted on the wall or something, and you see ads for really cheap foods and drinks that usually aren't big product names. Also there are potholes everywhere and random fences tend to be driven into and not fixed. Also where I live in the lower the street number the worse the neighborhood. Also random groups of guys gathered outside of random corner stores. Oh and if there are fast food places with nowhere to sit that's also how you know.

anon Report

Final score:

35points

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#23

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Grocery carts on the sidewalk and streets, trashy looking corner stores, trashy looking beauty supply shops, Boost mobile, cars parked in lawns, bars on the windows.

PM_ME_USED_TAMPONS , Taiwankengo Report

Final score:

31points

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#24

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Bail bonds offices, hair braiding salons, payday loans on the same street.

Convenience stores with "WE TAKE EBT" signs in hand written letters.

Weekly-rate "budget" motels.

Gas station locks its doors at 10 PM. If you want cigarettes, drinks, or snacks late at night, you have to tell the cashier what you want and she'll deliver it to you through a hole in a bulletproof glass window.

anon , Nitram242 Report

Final score:

29points

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#25

In New Zealand a sure sign is someone walking the street playing music from their mobile phone speaker

anon Report

Final score:

27points

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#26

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The stores are named quite literally for what they are.

In my best friend's hometown, the bowling alley simply has a sign that says "Bowling Alley". Same with the nail salon, the laundromat, etc. It is a sketchy a*s place.

presciiient , Photocapy Report

Final score:

23points

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#27

I the Uk , its has to be a broken bus stops (Glass smashed) with frosty jacks bottles lying around or a burnt out car or possibly a car on bricks as the wheels have been robbed

pm-your-cavos Report

Final score:

22points

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#28

This is a scottish thing but if there is an old church its fine, if its a new building that says christian centre or a newly built church its probably a s**t hole and this is for towns and parts of cities not neighborhoods

anon Report

Final score:

19points

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#29

This is specific to Toronto, but I always felt that if there was a Coffee Time instead of a Tim Horton's, you weren't in the right place.

Bonus points if there's one of the extremely few Dollar Trees.

lemonylol Report

Final score:

17points

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#30

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Lots of kids with a surprising lack of adults anywhere in the area

theImplication69 , Quang Nguyen Vinh Report

Final score:

16points

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#31

you start seeing murals of 19 y/o males wearing haloes.

edit
if there is any philly people out there rip rodney senior elsworth street.

he was my next door neighbor, great father, not involved in crime, no f****n mural for him.

DrugsandGlugs Report

Final score:

12points

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#32

At least one car on cinderblocks.

Burt_the_Hutt Report

Final score:

7points

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#33

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods The basketball hoops are made out of ribcages & a Wendy's run by a pack of wild dogs.

IHaveButt , Laura Tancredi Report

Final score:

5points

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#34

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods 13 different color Honda Accord

icecreampopncereal , Nathan Tran Report

Final score:

3points

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#35

“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods Here in South Florida...

If you are surrounded by a bunch of small, pastel colored one-story houses with shallow roofs all lined up side-by-side in a row with no cul-de-sacs, you might be in the ghetto.

anon , Jenn Durfey Report

Final score:

1point

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What do you think ?

HungryPanda 1 year ago

This post is tone deaf. Define what a bad neighborhood is. A lot of these descriptions are characteristics of low-income living which shouldn't be demonized.

36points

zgillet 1 year ago

Started strong, then became just poor neighborhoods. A bad neighborhood is one where you have to fear for your own safety. That does sometimes correlate with a poor neighborhood.

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Eve Forbes 1 year ago

The racism and classism in this post are both disconcertingly blatant.

24points

Emily M 1 year ago

I'm horrified. OOF. The examples here like.... The houses are small dont have cul de sacs? The cats run away from you?? People sit outside??? Stores accept EBT?? Stores have hand painted signs???? What the actual F.

21points

Headless Horseman 1 year ago

Yeah most stores accept EBT ! just because they have a sign for clarification doesnt mean its a bad store 😟. Also, a lot of 'nice' neighborhoods hire artists to create signs for their businesses. Aaaaand many outdoor cats are skittish in general! I agree with you, Emily M, this was definitely an OOF for BP

9points

Laura Kaye 1 year ago

I get it but having We Accept EBT every 5 feet in a neighborhood just feels sketch-ville. Reminds me of bad neighborhoods in Massachusetts. I live in NH and you generally don't need to advertise where EBT is accepted so heavily... Maybe growing up in small towns made me biased though

Mir Adwari 1 year ago

Sorry, what is EBT? It's not coming to me!!

0points

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“When The Restrooms Have Blue Lights”: Netizens Share 30 Ways To Identify Bad Neighborhoods

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