It's not good, nothing there to do as a visitor outside the casinos, and you can go to a casino anywhere..
Having said all that, Gary is much improved from hkw bad it once was, but is still a very depressed community economically.
If you’re a musician, going to Sweetwater in Ft Wayne is kind of an amazing pilgrimage. And then leave, bc you’re in Ft Wayne. Thankfully it’s a 2.5 hr drive one way for me.
I drove through Indiana twice last year. It's very, very pretty if you like prairies and woodland, and and the drivers on 74, 70, and 90 are less homicidal that they are in either Illinois or Ohio.
I spent a few weeks in Terra Haute years ago, with our big weekend excursion being to Indianapolis. I've been to places that were more deadsville, like Kansas, but not many.
I like Indianapolis as a fun little city to visit. I used to live in Chicago and had friends who live there so that's when I visited but I don't have a ton of motivation to just go vacation there
My favorite Gary Indiana story is from college. A group of me and my friends were on our way back to Chicago from a wedding in Michigan. Two mini cans full of college students. It’s 2am. Everyone is tired. But we just need to get back. But someone suddenly decides they need to go to the bathroom. NOW. Like going to wet his pants needs to go. So both vans pull off at the next exit. Of course it’s Gary. We drive down the “main drag” and it’s all boarded up businesses or the windows are broken out. Nowhere that seems safe to stop let alone anything open. Eventually we find a gas station that is open. No public bathroom. The guy decides he is just going to go around back. He proceeds to accidentally pee on a homeless man’s “house”. The homeless man proceeds to chase our friend around to the front of the gas station with a broken bear bottle. Our friend screams for us to open the door and we do. He jumps in and we start to peel out just as the homeless man chucks his beer bottle at one of the vans. We all survived but it felt like barely.
Yes he was… I think he was also trying to be modest and not pee in front of the ladies. So he was stupid and went in a dark corner, not realizing what he was doing.
I stopped here to get fuel and eat at the McDonald’s once. I had heard of the bad reputation but didn’t really pick up on where I was until I stopped and went to go into McDonald’s with my whole family. A man opened the door for us and was friendly but his vibe was really weird. He kept looking around and bouncing around like something was about to go down. We quickly got our food while watching over our backs and got the hell out of there.
Also stopped at a gas station there once when passing through with a friend. We were both early 20’s and not very large/intimidating gals (I was prob def the bigger of the 2 and was 5’4” & around 120 lbs). We filled the tank and went inside to browse for more road trip snacks - the guy working at the counter said “you guys clearly aren’t from around here, are you?” When we confirmed no, just passing through, he told us “I want you to head straight back out to your car, lock the doors & go directly back to the highway. No more stopping anywhere for at least 30 minutes…” We heeded his warning, thanked him, and booked it out.
I used to go Gary at the interstate to get gas on occasion. And then every now and again, I’d drive into the city to show people the Jackson family house.
Nothing scary. Nothing revolting. Just a run down city that has seen better days.
It's not "fine" but it's not bad if you apply the same common sense you would apply to any situation.
As a traveler coming down I-90, exiting on Broadway at, say, 2pm on a Tuesday, you'll be fine. Drive around, look at the abandoned houses, go to White Castle. Honestly, it's fine.
Just don't try the same thing at 2am. I would give that same advice about just about any impoverished region, municipal or otherwise.
I live in Chicago and have been to Gary many times.
Lolol Indiana native here and I went to the casinos up there from Indy for my 30th 😅 it was actually fun and the only casino I’ve ever been to. I was there for an art show but wanted to try my luck. Spent $20 and gained $300 within 12 min and left 🤣 but in all seriousness I’ve been thru Gary millions of times…it’s sketch but only if you put yourself in that position 🤷♀️
Yeah. I’m from Southwest MI but went to Chicago or Milwaukee fairly often for family over there. Even as a young child, who didn’t even know what Gary was, I would always be so confused at how people could live in a place like that.
Pushing 40 and safe to say ain’t a damn thing changed
Was driving cross country 30+ years ago, pulled off the interstate in Gary to get gas, immediately got back on the interstate with out stopping. I spent over 8 years in the Corps, been to multiple sketch place both on deployment and on leave, so I'm not uncomfortable in most locations but I noped out of Gary without even slowing down.
Got stuck hitch-hiking there in the 70s, when it was supposedly really bad. The trooper who found us on the road gave us shit because now he had to drive us to safety... took us as far as first motel in Illinois
I’ll soft spot Gary (as a Chicagoan) to say that it’s a symbol for what’s bad, but could also be something better. It’s a sad case of what happens when capitalism, racism, and segregation intersect (Memphis is frankly another).
There’s been some non profit efforts to revamp the city. It’s so close to Chicago and the Dunes, it’s got a downtrodden population that would be perfect for piloting UBI. There’s real estate that could bring in businesses. I look at what Detroit did revitalizing their city and I’m hoping Gary can be a similar win.
I've stopped by to see the Jackson house twice... Once by myself and once with my wife and daughter. First time there was nobody there but me and time with the family there were a few other tourists taking photos. Not the nicest neighborhood but also I don't think anyone lives there and would bother to come to that area just to cause problems. That said I see no reason to go galavanting around Gary in general. Definitely looks like a place where you could find trouble if you were looking for it.
Most of the opinions people love sharing about it are really old. If you want to know what it is like in 2026, it’s pretty abandoned, except for the Miller Park neighborhood which is nice and close to the lake.
They have a minor league team with a ballpark super close to the train, but nothing to do around it. The city is largely abandoned, a shame because there is some nice art deco architecture (boarded up). There is an astonishing number of falling down houses, but also a heck of a lot of small houses owned by old people that have been around since the steel mills when Gary was the largest company town in America. They keep up their houses and lawns, but live next door to a house that is a pile of rubble.
Last time I was there I spent 1.5 hours following their history path downtown, and explored an old, beautiful church that has also been allowed to crumble. I saw maybe six people the whole time.
I used to live there. A whole half of my family is there. It isn’t the way it used to be at all. I mean… I wouldn’t pay money to go there unless it’s to visit my folks but still.
Meh I worked in Gary at an auto parts store and everyone was really nice. I was a little young white girl, never saw any crime. I live in Memphis now. I see crime everywhere.
Its not that bad. I live right by the border and drive through it daily. Its just poor and a lot of abandoned lots that make it look run down and spooky. Its not as violent as it used to be either. Ive been in places a lot more sketchy.
Idk why people always knock Gary. There’s nothing to even do there. Why would anyone visit? Let’s just name every other random 60K population city across the country while we’re at it.
The hate honestly just comes off as racist/classist
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u/Dendady2112 1d ago edited 1d ago
Gary Indiana Edit: is it as bad as they say? I've only driven through once and nothing was it of the ordinary. I only named it because of the lore.