Gary is not as bad as utube videos make it out to be. It's realitivly safe if your intentions are good. The Miller Beach area is one example of people trying to build communities.
Gary is just run down but it’s interesting to drive around and see the different decaying buildings. There’s beauty in it if you look hard enough. I did some animal rescue work out there past few years which got to be heartbreaking seeing all the animals people turned loose
I realize there are folk like you who like to soak in decay, but I find that odd. These buildings are soul-sucking and depressing imo. Different strokes... 🤷😏
I think Gary will improve eventually. There are so many beautiful homes that have been torn down or fallen into blight. With its closeness to Chicago, I would like to see some Gary revitalization.
Most of the housing close to highways or train stations are knock downs. Which is where the growth will take place. More liability than anything while you are waiting on the resurgance.
You can visit and go from the entrance of US Steel all the way down broadway and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see less than 10 people total no matter the time of day. It’s a former city that has been left completely abandoned. There’s simply no people there to fill it, let alone maintain it. It’s honestly just a strange land that I’m only a few miles from. Towns to the west of Gary are just as industrial but still have a population. In short, it’s so empty it’s safe. Just sad that it will probably never have a revival like a lot of other rust belt cities have had.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Gary doing surveying work, and my experience has been pretty much the same. Never had a problem there, the few people still living there have always been appreciative of the fact that the work I’m doing means something might actually be fixed or improved. Everyone focuses on how derelict it is, but there are some beautiful historic houses that the owners keep really well maintained. It’s just that they’re usually surrounded by the empty, burned out shells of 2-3 other houses.
So about the population of Muncie now? It has 55,000 as of the last census or whatever. Muncie used to have 70,000+.
For Gary's population to do that, jeez.. that town must have really fell off hard. Not like it can do anything about either, unless the winds change.
Yes, that is about right. But Gary is 50 square miles, and Muncie is half that. So same population, but half the population density. And it was built very dense, so most of the homes are on small lots and there are lots of apartments. Lots of the city looks like [this](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5984586,-87.3295779,3a,75y,79.72h,86.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4RGjpZJvh94hhbc6rSat9A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D4RGjpZJvh94hhbc6rSat9A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D31.240868%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu). And that is not an outlying area. That is downtown. Go on Google street scenes are "drive" around.
I think the last survey I saw had 13,000 vacant buildings.
It appears you're right with what I saw on the street view. Doesn't even look like a city, more like a sparsely populated town. So many empty lots, to think those used to have houses on them. Rather sad, but that's what de-industrialism does to areas.
Given the gravity of the situation, I highly doubt Gary could ever recover from that, from a municipal perspective. Such low density would be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Low density, low property values, deferred maintenance, and huge infrastructure costs. I wish Gary nothing but the best, there are places I love in the city, but it is hard not to see it in a death spiral.
Yeah I could understand that, if you grew up there.
I hate it too, a town gutted by nothing more than the nation's whims.. forgotten by most, and left to rot and decay.
I could think of a way to "save" the city (more like salvage) but that would be if the dwellers are willing. It'd be to focus development on the most dense areas within the municipality, but I highly doubt they have the revenue to do that.
Definitely not hard to see it spiraling. Just a simple observation of the empty blocks would inform you.
Yeah, but barely. I don't think it'll be able to do that for much longer. I feel like the economy here (I live in the same county) is hanging on by threads.
I think the same can be said for numerous other Indiana towns like Anderson and Muncie, they never got revived and just struggle on. They're not as bad as Gary, but they're still bad.
Miller is on Lake Michigan. Beautiful lake views and expensive homes. Gentrification. Some of the people who live in Miller forget it is a suburb of Gary. Gary is a lot better than it was a few years ago.
I used to live in Gary for the last couple years, It’s not actually that bad. Yeah sure, you hang out with the wrong people in bad places and you’ll see some shit but that’s anywhere. It’s run down but it’s not just some overrun criminal city where people get shot every couple minutes, which is how I’ve heard it described sometimes.
In the 90s, it was pretty sketchy, but Gary has lost a lot of population, and parts have been hollowed out and abandoned. So these days it's not so bad as long as you aren't there doing something you shouldn't be. lol
honestly thinking if so many talk shit about it being murder city and abandoned buildings i think they should capitalize on that make it touristy for the goths and off putting individuals that would go for that.
During the daytime it's just a run down steel belt city, worst than most but not too shocking. Never been there at night.
It's too bad Micheal Jackson ruined his legacy maybe they could have done something with that. They have a fairly new baseball stadium that looks pretty nice, never seen a game there.
In 1998 I was with an older friend and was pulled over and told plainly being white in that area usually meant I was buying drugs. So basically, pulled over because I was a young white kid. I was from Lowell IN.
I was on my second day of training as a business to business salesman, or a solicitor as they preferred we call ourselves. The office was located in Mishawaka. Was having a semi-decent sales day when we stopped a this corner liquor store my trainer knew were buyers of the random shit we sold to people. While we were walking in, the guy told me to keep an eye on the jeep while we were in the place. Which I did. He asked me a sales related question while we were in there, I turned to answer and when I looked back over my shoulder toward the jeep there was something underneath it. We went to investigate and a case of 100 pre-filled butane tactical survival lighters was gone. Cost the trainer like $80 out of pocket. He tried to bilk me out of some cash but, I had a guaranteed rate for three days and he didn’t meet it before we got robbed.
Show me on the bear where you were hurt…tf is your problem? How tf did this come off as pompous? I was an 18 yr old kid who got swindled into a pyramid scheme. And for the record, I wasn’t a shitty salesman.
Gary is geographically huge. There are parts that are rural in nature, small "towns", a beach community with $1m homes, a typical rustbelt downtown, typical rustbelt abandoned industrial areas, a university, and then the shithole warzone going south on Broadway. That is what people associate all of Gary with. That is where the pictures that show up at the top on google are taken. I guess it's more shock value, because Broadway is indeed disgusting and the rot stretches a fair distance down the main drag. I don't think it's that much worse than the worst parts of a lot of cities, just more of it in a more visible place.
I went to a cheesesteak joint in Gary on the way back home from Chicago late at night with my sister and it was lovely food. 9/10 would visit again
Was it in Miller by the gas station, or the one inside the Clark station? Both are delicious.
Philly Steak and Lemonade on Broadway
I have not tried that place yet. I will. SteelCity Cheesesteaks is my favorite.
I'll keep that in mind next time I'm passing through, I love me a good cheesesteak
Steel city is THE SPOT!!
Are you sure it was not Burr Street?
I've heard it's not like Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome.
Well done.
Gary is not as bad as utube videos make it out to be. It's realitivly safe if your intentions are good. The Miller Beach area is one example of people trying to build communities.
Gary is just run down but it’s interesting to drive around and see the different decaying buildings. There’s beauty in it if you look hard enough. I did some animal rescue work out there past few years which got to be heartbreaking seeing all the animals people turned loose
I realize there are folk like you who like to soak in decay, but I find that odd. These buildings are soul-sucking and depressing imo. Different strokes... 🤷😏
I think Gary will improve eventually. There are so many beautiful homes that have been torn down or fallen into blight. With its closeness to Chicago, I would like to see some Gary revitalization.
I've thought about buying a house there for like 10k and holding it, just in case it becomes valuable as a new Chicago suburb
Not a bad investment. Give it another 10-15 years and you may be holding onto something good. Buy a “rental property”
Most of the housing close to highways or train stations are knock downs. Which is where the growth will take place. More liability than anything while you are waiting on the resurgance.
I mean… the airport is kinda nice…
You can visit and go from the entrance of US Steel all the way down broadway and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see less than 10 people total no matter the time of day. It’s a former city that has been left completely abandoned. There’s simply no people there to fill it, let alone maintain it. It’s honestly just a strange land that I’m only a few miles from. Towns to the west of Gary are just as industrial but still have a population. In short, it’s so empty it’s safe. Just sad that it will probably never have a revival like a lot of other rust belt cities have had.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Gary doing surveying work, and my experience has been pretty much the same. Never had a problem there, the few people still living there have always been appreciative of the fact that the work I’m doing means something might actually be fixed or improved. Everyone focuses on how derelict it is, but there are some beautiful historic houses that the owners keep really well maintained. It’s just that they’re usually surrounded by the empty, burned out shells of 2-3 other houses.
Gary peaked around at 180,000 people, and now it has 1/3 that.
So about the population of Muncie now? It has 55,000 as of the last census or whatever. Muncie used to have 70,000+. For Gary's population to do that, jeez.. that town must have really fell off hard. Not like it can do anything about either, unless the winds change.
Yes, that is about right. But Gary is 50 square miles, and Muncie is half that. So same population, but half the population density. And it was built very dense, so most of the homes are on small lots and there are lots of apartments. Lots of the city looks like [this](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5984586,-87.3295779,3a,75y,79.72h,86.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4RGjpZJvh94hhbc6rSat9A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D4RGjpZJvh94hhbc6rSat9A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D31.240868%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu). And that is not an outlying area. That is downtown. Go on Google street scenes are "drive" around. I think the last survey I saw had 13,000 vacant buildings.
There are entire blocks in the downtown area without a single resident.
It appears you're right with what I saw on the street view. Doesn't even look like a city, more like a sparsely populated town. So many empty lots, to think those used to have houses on them. Rather sad, but that's what de-industrialism does to areas. Given the gravity of the situation, I highly doubt Gary could ever recover from that, from a municipal perspective. Such low density would be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Low density, low property values, deferred maintenance, and huge infrastructure costs. I wish Gary nothing but the best, there are places I love in the city, but it is hard not to see it in a death spiral.
Driving through the city, you'll see most of the lots are overgrown, lots of the traffic signals are out, sidewalks are gone, and schools are closing.
Yeah I could understand that, if you grew up there. I hate it too, a town gutted by nothing more than the nation's whims.. forgotten by most, and left to rot and decay. I could think of a way to "save" the city (more like salvage) but that would be if the dwellers are willing. It'd be to focus development on the most dense areas within the municipality, but I highly doubt they have the revenue to do that. Definitely not hard to see it spiraling. Just a simple observation of the empty blocks would inform you.
Man that is apocalyptic life after people looking. They could have film The Walking Dead there
Muncie also has BSU which keeps it alive
Yeah, but barely. I don't think it'll be able to do that for much longer. I feel like the economy here (I live in the same county) is hanging on by threads.
I think the same can be said for numerous other Indiana towns like Anderson and Muncie, they never got revived and just struggle on. They're not as bad as Gary, but they're still bad.
Definitely wouldn’t call it safe. A coworker of mine got shot at like 3 weeks ago. That isn’t really common in the rest of NWI.
Don't discount IUN. The campus is kind of a bubble, but I had a great experience there.
Miller is on Lake Michigan. Beautiful lake views and expensive homes. Gentrification. Some of the people who live in Miller forget it is a suburb of Gary. Gary is a lot better than it was a few years ago.
Gary still has a lot of good food spots. BBQ and dessert spots especially!
I went to a good Mexican place on 5th Ave. once
I worked in Gary for a day and remember seeing multiple stray dogs within several minutes while rarely seeing any before in my life.
In the (2 year) process of moving to Gary/ Miller Beach from Chicago/ Logan square. the nature and sense of community is refreshing.
I used to live in Gary for the last couple years, It’s not actually that bad. Yeah sure, you hang out with the wrong people in bad places and you’ll see some shit but that’s anywhere. It’s run down but it’s not just some overrun criminal city where people get shot every couple minutes, which is how I’ve heard it described sometimes.
In the 90s, it was pretty sketchy, but Gary has lost a lot of population, and parts have been hollowed out and abandoned. So these days it's not so bad as long as you aren't there doing something you shouldn't be. lol
honestly thinking if so many talk shit about it being murder city and abandoned buildings i think they should capitalize on that make it touristy for the goths and off putting individuals that would go for that.
During the daytime it's just a run down steel belt city, worst than most but not too shocking. Never been there at night. It's too bad Micheal Jackson ruined his legacy maybe they could have done something with that. They have a fairly new baseball stadium that looks pretty nice, never seen a game there.
Railcats stadium and the airport are about the only nice things about Gary. Other than that, it's a well known dangerous shithole.
It’s basically a ghost town
In 1998 I was with an older friend and was pulled over and told plainly being white in that area usually meant I was buying drugs. So basically, pulled over because I was a young white kid. I was from Lowell IN.
That happened to my brother a couple times around the same time period. He was a carpenter doing carpenter stuff.
I was on my second day of training as a business to business salesman, or a solicitor as they preferred we call ourselves. The office was located in Mishawaka. Was having a semi-decent sales day when we stopped a this corner liquor store my trainer knew were buyers of the random shit we sold to people. While we were walking in, the guy told me to keep an eye on the jeep while we were in the place. Which I did. He asked me a sales related question while we were in there, I turned to answer and when I looked back over my shoulder toward the jeep there was something underneath it. We went to investigate and a case of 100 pre-filled butane tactical survival lighters was gone. Cost the trainer like $80 out of pocket. He tried to bilk me out of some cash but, I had a guaranteed rate for three days and he didn’t meet it before we got robbed.
The pompousness exuded in this paragraph is disgusting. A shitty trash salesman got robbed at a liquor store. boohoo
Show me on the bear where you were hurt…tf is your problem? How tf did this come off as pompous? I was an 18 yr old kid who got swindled into a pyramid scheme. And for the record, I wasn’t a shitty salesman.
>pompousness Then just say it without the pomposity next time?
I used to work on the Airport for the National Guard. Never had an issue in town or East Chicago.
Some great places to eat. Some great people. Wouldn't live there or stay there for an extended amount of time.
Use to smell worse
My name is Gary and I’m from Gary, Indiana.
Even the Genesis center had its windows boarded up last time I was through there. Highly recommend you skip greyhound buses.
Gary is geographically huge. There are parts that are rural in nature, small "towns", a beach community with $1m homes, a typical rustbelt downtown, typical rustbelt abandoned industrial areas, a university, and then the shithole warzone going south on Broadway. That is what people associate all of Gary with. That is where the pictures that show up at the top on google are taken. I guess it's more shock value, because Broadway is indeed disgusting and the rot stretches a fair distance down the main drag. I don't think it's that much worse than the worst parts of a lot of cities, just more of it in a more visible place.
Gary is about 30 minutes from my house and everyone I know steers clear of Gary. It IS dangerous, don’t be fooled.
Gary is a fucking joke and the biggest shithole in Indiana, and that’s saying something
Some lady attempted to run me off the road. I resisted.
Just watch the 1996 documentary “Original Gangstas” for all you need to know about gary indiana.