Reminds me of one of the first times I ever took the train / subway to Yankee Stadium. This is back in the 90's. I accidentally got on the wrong train and got off the train on the opposite side of the Bronx. This is WELL before there were cell phones let alone GPS on a phone.
I said to myself, it can't be that bad, I will walk across the Bronx.
Whoa, was I wrong...
except for this one little area where there was no graffiti, there were actual lawns, and there was an old man wearing a member's only type jacket sitting in a vinyl strapped lawn chair with a hat and a cane next to him on the corner of that block. He called out and asked me where I was going. When I told him, he looked me up and down and told me to go down his block and around and never to head in the direction I was going ever again.
I made it to Yankee Stadium that day and never forgot that man.
Moral of the story? Always appreciate the neighborhood watch. They keep the lawns green where they otherwise wouldn't be.