El Paso shortly before getting robbed in Las Cruces, and I heard Phoenix was just as bad. Not as comically bad as San Francisco (where the horror is widespread, not just in the city center), but the difference is that I went into the Southwest expecting better from what's supposed to be a booming, prosperous part of the country right now.
Organized crime actually doesn't seem to be much of an issue in California comparatively, guess it's gotten too expensive for kingpins and mules there.
The most depressing place I've ever been if we can include small towns is a tie between Marfa (haven't capitalized on the alien stuff at all unlike Roswell, the Chevron was the locals' hangout of choice) and Boron (they have a firebug who keeps burning stuff down apparently). Yulara in Australia was also depressing in that one company monopolizes all the Uluru tourism, a situation created by the government to protect the aboriginals and stop development, but ironically said company has a disgustingly colonial relationship with the local clans.
On the flip side, I didn't expect much out of Hobart or Devonport and was pleasantly surprised! Tasmania is a gem, don't get why Australians diss it so much.
