Photos reveal the depressing downfall of once-great US city

A series of shocking photographs has revealed the depressing downfall of one of the greatest cities in America.

A journalist has shared a series of “depressing” photographs that show the devastating downfall of a once great US city.

American reporter Erica Sandberg posted pictures from downtown San Francisco, where one of the main shopping streets has now been gutted due to mass store closures.

The northern California city, known for tourist hotspots like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the iconic Mrs Doubtfire house, has been rocked by major social issues over the last few years.

The once thriving city has been struggling with mass unemployment, rising crime rates and widespread drug addiction, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tourist hotspot has faced social issues over the last few years. Picture: iStock

Despite people returning to work, nearly a quarter of all downtown offices downtown are reportedly vacant, while deaths from drug overdoses are said to be surging.

Theft — including a 200 per cent increase in car break-ins — is rampant.

In the series of brand new photographs, Sandberg points out how the city’s once-bustling shopping hub of Powell Street has turned into a “depressing” ghost town.

One snap shows a group of tourists wandering down the gutted street, confronted by endless shuttered storefronts.

this pic infuriates me. tourists, who do a little thing called SPEND MONEY, walking down a gutted Powell St. which should be buzzing with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters, venues. (to those DMing me that Moe Jamil is also running, he's not on X. will ping him separately) pic.twitter.com/q4vHO5xHj3

— Erica Sandberg 舊金山的神奇女俠 (@EricaJSandberg) January 16, 2024

“This pic infuriates me,” the self-employed San Francisco correspondent wrote in an impassioned post to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

“Tourists, who do a little thing called SPEND MONEY, walking down a gutted Powell St,” she continued.

“It should be buzzing with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters, venues.”

She described the scenes as “depressing and embarrassing” while also being a blow to the city’s still-struggling shopping scene.

Sandberg went on to call on political candidates up for election in the area to take action.

The journalist shared photos from the city to her account. Picture: X / Erica Sandberg

“How will you fill these empty storefronts with revenue bearing businesses?” she asked.

She tagged District 3 supervisor candidates JConr B Ortega, Sharon Lai, Danny Sauter in the post, and promised to send the images to candidate Moe Jamil, who does not have X.

Local restaurant owner Rafik Bouzidi shared that he has seen an endless stream of terminations since opening his eatery in April.

“If you took me back before I signed the lease, I would have opened somewhere else,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Before Covid there was no way in hell you could find an available space on Valencia Street. Now, it seems like another restaurant shuts down every week.”

Back in November 2023, US officials cleared the streets of San Francisco’s downtown area of drug addicts, dealers and homeless people ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The move sparked outrage from long-suffering residents in the crime-plagued city, where rows of tents and piles of refuse have given way to powerwashed pavements and no-nonsense, black metal fencing.

Alcatraz Island is a major tourist drawcard. Picture: Escape

Crowds of transients openly dealing and using drugs were nowhere to be seen ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, where 30,000 people were expected to attend.

Fentanyl was among the issues anticipated to be discussed at the event.

The powerful synthetic opioid, largely manufactured in China, caused the bulk of more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths in 2022 and turned large parts of major cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco and Baltimore into “zombie” wastelands.

Crime has also been a pervasive issue in the city, with a local Target store last year putting all of its products on lockdown amid a shoplifting crisis that has crippled retailers.

Footage of the shop’s interior posted to TikTok shows aisle after aisle of toiletries and cosmetics under lock and key in the megachain.

While it’s common for shops in the US to lock up small valuable items like razors, many inexpensive large items like mouthwash, shampoo and lotion were also being kept out of reach of would-be shoplifters, the clip showed.

A homeless person lies against a mural near APEC Summit headquarters. Picture: Loren Elliott / AFP

The Bay Area has been especially hard hit by a national organised retail crime explosion that ballooned during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading chains such as Walgreens to close five San Francisco shops due to theft.

The National Retail Federation’s 2022 retail security survey ranked San Francisco and Oakland as the second-most hard-hit metropolitan areas by theft in 2020 and 2021, only behind Los Angeles.

The organisation lists items like body wash and over-the-counter medication as items that are particularly attractive to shoplifters, who can often sell their stolen wares on the black market to smaller stores.

Seventy-one per cent of retailers surveyed by the association said they had seen a “substantial” or “moderate” increase in organised retail crime, with 55 per cent saying policies that reduced or eliminated cash bail for nonviolent crimes in cities like San Francisco and New York were to blame.

People and their belongings are seen on Jones Street in San Francisco. Picture: Jason Henry / AFP

Earlier this year, the city’s iconic Golden Gate bridge was finished being fitted with suicide nets after thousands of deaths and decades of calls for change.

The large metal net has been installed around approximately 95 per cent of the iconic bridge, extending six metres wide and spanning across 2.7km.

“The purpose of the net is to reduce the number of deaths associated with individuals jumping off the Bridge,” the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said in a statement.

“The net is a proven design that deters people from jumping, serves as a symbol of care and hope to despondent individuals, and, if necessary, offers people a second chance.”

Nearly 2000 people are known to have jumped to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.

The net was first approved by city officials over a decade ago in 2014 before work began in 2018.

Only now has construction been fully completed, costing $US224 million ($334 million).

Originally published as Photos reveal the depressing downfall of once-great US city