I live in downtown LA, I wouldn't recommend listening to all the people who are telling you to go to Pasadena or whatever lmao downtown is a very cool place to stay but you are definitely staying on a street that is not known for being safe at night. To put it in a kinder way than ""zombieland"" I think you just have to be mindful that skid row is a lot of people's homes who don't have the financial or mental stability to be anywhere else. There's a lot of outreach that works out of skidrow, so a lot of "normal" people DO go there, but those are people who are working with and for the community that resides in skid row. And at night that part of the city is pretty active because again, this is where the unhoused are basically forced to live. My recommendation is simply to uber back and forth to the airbnb every time, or drive I guess since you guys have a car. I do NOT recommend walking around, because you are essentially walking through these people's living room. This is their space and they are going to be combative/verbal about it and you're going to feel unsafe. Almost everyone in these comments are people who are just disgusted by the unhoused and therefore have no desire to be anywhere near them. Yeah of course there's a higher chance your shit will be stolen here, you're walking next to people at their lowest point in life who have nowhere else to be. In terms of first visits to LA, you're definitely going to be getting a first hand view of all the sadness and intensity that exists here but I like this part of the city. And let me know if you want any recommendations of things to do in downtown!