
Map of gang territories in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley - kapitza
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1PD1YdFZWhv_-1o6ZulmPoLMkQAM&hl=en_US&ll=37.811004381575664%2C-122.32459035205079&z=12
======
up_and_up
I used to live on Apgar Street in North Oakland. I can confirm, at that time,
the North Pole Gang was active. A shooting happened right in front of my
house.

Other than that, you would see people hustling but they didnt really bother me
or my housemates besides asking for a smoke now and again.

For the record, in two years, we were never burglarized, mugged or otherwise.
The worst that happened to me is I was attacked by a juvenile pitbull that was
being trained to fight. The owner apologized.

Were we just lucky? Seemed like most of the violence was gang on gang
violence.

That being said, my (future) wife, who lived on 55th came home one night to
greet the SWAT team at her house. Someone had been running around the
neighborhood with an AK-47 and they thought he might be hiding in her
backyard.

College.

~~~
Brainix
About a year ago, I got hit on the head (hard) with a metal pole at 9:30 AM,
on my way to BART to get to work. The guy asked for my phone. I was too
disoriented to take it out of my pocket. He grabbed my earbuds (but didn't get
my phone) and walked away.

I lost a lot of blood and had a bad concussion. In the ambulance on my way to
the hospital, I couldn't recall my zipcode. I needed seven large staples in
the back of my head. After that, the mental fog persisted for about two weeks
and I wasn't productive at work.

Up until that point, nothing bad had happened to me. Thankfully, I'm ok now,
but I'll never live in Oakland again.

~~~
Humjob
At the risk of appearing politically incorrect, what race/ethnicity was the
guy?

------
mamurphy
What's the source for this data?

Is "West Street" the name of a gang? If so, it appears that there are many
micro-territory gangs that named themselves after streets. If not, what are
all these areas that are named after streets for?

I would assume that areas tagged with similar names are part of a larger gang,
but that's not made clear here either (are all the "Lower Bottoms" areas part
of one group, or affiliated sub-groups?).

------
tptacek
There are dozens of these maps for Chicago (and I presume most large cities).
I'm not sure how credible they are; for one thing, they disagree with each
other (and not in the sense of turf changing hands); for another, they can
sometimes get basic things wrong (for instance, North Ave in Chicago isn't the
"Heroin Highway", which is a slang name for I-290).

Here's one:

[https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=11VXioHjuHZgvv8...](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=11VXioHjuHZgvv8CFj_YspG4ULlc&hl=en_US&ll=41.90596614316312%2C-87.7484250073486&z=13)

What's crazier is that there are bulletin boards all over the web with gang
members discussing gangs. Like: it's not a secret; you can just read their
message boards.

~~~
kasey_junk
At least in my neighborhood the entire idea of turf is questionable. The sets
are small & the alliances so quickly rotated through that you just don't see
large scale, long term turf holding.

Anecdotally this seemed to happen in the summer/fall of 2007. So it's not new.

------
ng12
Dolores park is gang territory? Is being a day-drinking yuppie considered gang
activity?

~~~
big_youth
I once dated a girl who said her ex was a cocaine dealer in the Mission. Born
and raised in the neighborhood, him and his crew would have constant scuffles
with other small 'gangs' over drug territory. Once he was stabbed multiple
times during an altercation over which crew had rights to sell coke at Beauty
Bar. She told me this while we were sitting in Dolores and she saw him and his
crew smoking weed and drinking in the sun.

Edit: Looking at the map it's kind of interesting that Beauty Bar is on 19th
street, which according to this map is on the boundary of three gang
territories. I've always felt that the mission is a still sketchy place.

------
xadhominemx
Would be interesting to overlay this with instances of gang-related violence.
How much occurs at or near the boundaries?

~~~
tptacek
Probably not that much (even if you accept the notion that this is really an
accurate description of SFBA gangs). This isn't West Side Story. There aren't
"rumbles". Even in this SFBA map, these gangs have minimal territory. Violence
tends to occur when people drive through other territory, run into each other
outside anyone's territory.

------
ktRolster
It would be cool to know where the data for this came from.

------
Uhhrrr
What's the source for this?

------
nwatson
Where's the Sand Hill gang territory?

~~~
pcardh0
The whole Bay Area

------
Hydraulix989
Nothing in The Excelsior?!

~~~
sundaeofshock
I know! There are some unsavory folks in our hood; surprised it's not on the
map.

------
mholmes680
heartbreaking when you see elementary schools in blue on the map.

~~~
smhost
I once walked in on my 15-year-old brother and his friends watching what
looked like a home video of some guys in wifebeaters apparently standing
around doing nothing. I asked them what they were watching, and they said it's
a gang video. I got interested so I ask them some more questions, and they
went off describing local gang activities, their sources of income, etc.

A few years later, I was taking a criminal justice class at a nearby community
college, and the term project involved working with local law enforcement to
understand criminal activity. When we got to talking about gang activity, I
realized I already knew a lot about what the sergeant was saying, and I
remembered that encounter I had years ago with my brother. I mentioned it to
the sergeant, and he told me about pee wee gangsters and how they have been an
increasing problem recently.

I'd forgotten about all of that until just now, and I hadn't realized how
disturbed it all had made me feel back then.

~~~
metaobject
Did your brother actually get involved with gangs, or was he and his friends
just curious?

~~~
smhost
At least one of his friends peddled hard drugs, but I don't know where the
drugs came from. And it seemed to be more than mere curiosity. I could sense
their desire for that lifestyle, and they were clearly getting social cues
from those videos. The way they used words, they way they dressed, etc.

To my knowledge, it was fortunately "just a phase" and they're now more or
less normal, functioning suburbanites with mediocre desk jobs.

------
Hydraulix989
Who made this?! Is it old? There aren't too many gangs around anymore, just
crazies.

------
dhruvkar
Didn't know I lived in a gang neighborhood..

What's the source for these?

------
thrden
kinda weird the hells angels club in dogpatch isn't mentioned...

~~~
nickphx
That's because they're a motorcycle club, not a gang. ;)

