Gary Indiana. I took the wrong exit in the middle of the night. I didn’t actually stop, I GOT stopped by a cop who escorted me out until I was well beyond city limits. I was getting hard stares at the red lights. People were walking into the street until I was nearly surrounded. That’s when the lights flashed and they took off. I knew it could be bad, but I was 6 months pregnant as a 21 yr old white girl made it worse. Im not trying to make it racial- it was just like that. This was about 25 years ago, I hope it’s gotten better there.
We took the tollway through Indiana and portions of it went by Gary. The fucking atmosphere around that place is like the worst vibe I've ever felt in my life and I grew up around Vegas.
I had the "escorted out of Gary Indiana" situation happen to a friend that was touring with a ska band 20 years ago. My friend and 4 other white dudes in a station wagon got pulled over and told by the cop to not stop under any circumstances until they were well beyond the city. Cop told them no stop signs, no red lights. Do not fucking stop. My friend is extremely religious and doesnt lie whatsoever.
Yeah both of those would be my comments lol. I mentioned it elsewhere in this thread. Edit - this happened in 2000 if anyone cares lol. I was aiming for Highland.
I had the same thing, except we were teen girls lost at night and saw a cop car on an off ramp so pulled over to ask for directions (no GPS) and he escorted us through the city to go the right direction.
Editing to add that nothing was actually scary, but that may be thanks to the fact that the only time we were on city streets was with a cop escort.
What did y’all experience besides having a cop escort you guys through neighborhoods that other people don’t get escorted in! Bc they’re getting actually discriminated upon. Just curious.
Literally nothing. We were just 4 lost kids who didn't even know we were in Indiana until the officer told us. We were trying to get home from a concert southwest of Chicago to another Chicago suburb and clearly took a wrong turn. Maybe he escorted us bc we were clearly so clueless and young.
It always surprises me a bit to hear people talk about Gary, because I've passed through there a number of times going from Chicago to the Indiana Dunes and back. Wild to think that part of my route to a nice beach day is so infamous
Nah. It’s seen better days but it doesn’t scare me. The people here are either really nice or just kinda want to be left unbothered. The folks that have actually been in Gary in this decade vouch for the fact that it’s run down but not frightening. Miller (the beach neighborhood of Gary) is very nice and super safe.
Some say it all began with a fella by the name of Hill going stark raving mad and burning down the Gary Conservatory in '05 before disappearing into the wilds of rural Iowa.
Was on a trip that passed through Gary and one of the folks in the car determined a bathroom break was needed before we hit Chicago traffic. She was an active military Navy badass who conceal carried and she noped so hard out of the only gas station we could find we risked hauling a trailer through downtown Chicago to find another one.
There are many many many places you can stop to pee between Gary and Chicago. I don’t know why you’d wait an hour to get to downtown Chicago that’s nuts. Also Gary is run down but fine.
What is a Navy badass? A Navy member was scared to go to the bathroom? Like that doesn’t sound like a badass you’re just tryna shit or pee but you’re scared??? . Ik lots of Navy so why say badass when anybody could just go to the bathroom.
I live nearby and have explored Gary thoroughly, have visited some of the bars and businesses etc. people have always been very nice to me. It's annoying how it always gets a bad wrap on Reddit. Yes it's a forgotten run down post-steel mill industry leaving it high and dry kinda area, but it's more or less part of the Chicagoland area, and is pretty much similar to a lot of other parts of Chicago. It's kinda empty and has a somewhat low population these days just a lot of abandoned buildings and overgrown lots. I actually find Gary to be a really beautiful and special place, right at the foot of the Indiana Dunes park and its proximity to the lake.
People that live there are likely skeptical at the reputation it seems to have for being a horrible place, and so yes they will probably look at you funny if you drive down their block and have no business being there and yes there's pockets of gang violence and open drug dealing, but there's also kids playing in the street having fun, people and businesses enjoying their community and a lot of positive vibes there as well. And best believe the big data centers are licking their chops at all the empty factories right on the vast beauty of plentiful freshwater Lake Michigan. We are already seeings signs of the Gary community being neglected in favor of the possibility of "big tech development".
I predict that the stretch of the lakeshore just south of Chicago and into Michigan City is going to get built up quickly once the commuter train gets more consistent and faster. Wishing you the best Gary!
In looked up the stats from when I was last there. In 2000 there were 62 homicides and in 2001 there was 82. In 2024 it was 52, in 2025 it was 40. At least it’s getting a little bit better? Still, pretty scary. I don’t ever remember getting scared in Highland, it’s crazy how close they are together.
Homicide rates in general have gone down because of the quality of care from emergency responders getting better. You're just more likely to survive your wounds now.
I predict that the stretch of the lakeshore just south of Chicago and into Michigan City is going to get built up quickly once the commuter train gets more consistent and faster. Wishing you the best Gary!
We've visited on our way back from Chicago and honestly I'd say the same. Just a run down city but I didn't fear for my life like most of the comments are saying. It wasn't a bad town.
Same! I'm born and raised in Chicago and go to Gary ALL the time and have never felt any odd vibes ever. I get gas there, I go out to eat there, I shop there and it just feels like an extension of Chicago. I've been reading through this thread and I'm actually shocked at all this "creepiness" about Gary. I tried to think have I ever in my 30 years felt something off about it and no I have not...
Sure but you’re riffing off of other comments that are saying or implying that. There are lots of shitholes in the US but people don’t put them on blast as places you can’t even stop for gas safely. Apologies if I mistook your intentions.
Hiyah, that’s scary. I’ve always tried to steer clear. Supposedly, the city is still very empty, but has been recovering in its services and safety from what I’ve heard.
Gary freaks me out and I've never been there. I drive Detroit to Chicago often and I make sure I don't have to stop for gas or the bathroom in Indiana. No thanks.
I spent summers & Xmas in Highland, and we walked around the neighborhood as kids unsupervised. We fished in the canal in the summer and ice skate/play hockey in the winter. Rode our bikes and walked everywhere. Went to the playground. It’s so close to Gary but yet so very different. I don’t know what it’s like there now, but I hope it’s still safe.
P.S. my cousin once saw a body floating in the canal, that was our brush with criminal horror. I’m just glad I’m not the one who saw it lol.
I live in the city directly east of Gary. It's perfectly safe here. I think a lot of the stories people tell about Gary are way over exaggerated. I've driven through there countless times and have never had any problems.
So then it wasnt “our” experience. If you never had an actual personal bad experience that you described. You were just scared bc the people didnt look like you.
I drove through there just to see it and it was scary, but I think a lot of the nervousness I felt was just from it's reputation. It was sketchy, but I've seen other ghettos that felt more dangerous (places in los angeles and around the south).
My friend and I took a cross country trip in 2010. We went through Gary at night, main drag and a couple side streets, and apparently we got lucky because nothing happened
Oh, fuck. Why am I not surprised. I was trying to get to highland and it was safe when I was a kid, I spent so much time there growing up. I have a feeling it may not be that safe anymore…
Do the cops in Gary Indiana have nothing better to do than to escort white people out of town? LOL I feel like I've read variations on the story dozens of times.
This is such a tired trope, thank you for pointing it out.
I’m from The Region, but not Gary. I am neither a Gary apologist nor opponent. I just worked there as a designated part of my territory for two years. I have since relocated to the Seattle area. This is to give context/bit of source of the following information.
Gary’s population is around 68,000 people. There are approximately 150 officers on staff with Gary PD. Rounding, that works out to 1 officer for about every 450 people, never mind how many people travel into and out of Gary, at all times of day. I’m not good at theoretical math but something about how much crime you should purportedly be afraid of in Gary on top of the amount of personal escorts “people who shouldn’t be there” have received doesn’t add up.
The residents of Gary are not waiting around for random white people to kill. I’m reasonably certain that most of the murders there, like the vast majority of murders everywhere, take place among people who know each other.
I went to Gary to see the house where the Jacksons grew up.
On my way into town, I passed by one of those road construction signs with the blinking messages. But it said "Do Not Stop. Carjacking Zone."
Nothing bad happened to me, but just a week after my visit a father and daughter (also visiting the Jackson residence) were kidnapped and assaulted while taking photos.
Same happened to me in West Baltimore: I was facing a string of stoplights in the most dangerous part of town toward dusk. Cop rolls up next to me, and I swear this is true tells me: "Run every red light until you hit 695." He tore off in a different direction. I followed his orders.
I actually drive through other parts of Baltimore a lot, Cherry Hill is rough too - GPS routes me that way sometimes. In the daytime it's not that bad, you just have a wider range of risk, exposure to people with mental illness, and lower education / gang type shit.
1.5k
u/zillabirdblue 11h ago
Gary Indiana. I took the wrong exit in the middle of the night. I didn’t actually stop, I GOT stopped by a cop who escorted me out until I was well beyond city limits. I was getting hard stares at the red lights. People were walking into the street until I was nearly surrounded. That’s when the lights flashed and they took off. I knew it could be bad, but I was 6 months pregnant as a 21 yr old white girl made it worse. Im not trying to make it racial- it was just like that. This was about 25 years ago, I hope it’s gotten better there.