I understand poverty; I was raised poor. What I don't understand is how being poor equates to one's yard looking like a trash dump. Being poor does NOT have to equate to being dirty...it just doesn't.
67 years old and a life long resident of Pennsauken, the neighboring town. Walked to my Boy Scout meeting every Thursday night, played in Dudley Grange, my gram and pop lived at 27th and Westfield Ave. I’ve seen Camden in it’s glory times of the mid 60's. It was very nice shopping around where my grandparents lived. My dad worked for Western Electric based in Camden and met my mom at the bank at 27 st and Westfield Ave. What has happened is a real shame.
Unfortunately there are so many towns like this scattered across the United States. Believe it or not, some look even worse than that area you were in. So many have been sucked dry and left as carcasses on the landscape.
I live in Newark and run a 501c3 that puts popup fine art galleries in long vacant storefronts on Commercial corridors. One of the issues I had to work out was the garbage dumped on sidewalks every Monday morning. I would go through the trash trying to identify the source. Most of it was Amazon boxes addressed to businesses in Kearney, just across the river. It took persistence and research but, it finally got toned down
I drove through Camden in 1993, I was also speechless. Nothing has changed, block after block of abandonment cars, refrigerators, tires, burned out homes, etc. it looked like someone dropped a bomb in the area.
@@denisemiller1409 I lived in Philly a while back. They tried to build up the waterfront. Therese a park, entertainment facilities and the battleship New Jersey museum is there. The city is just to far down. I don't know what will help.
the waterfront and immediate surrounding area is where the government buildings, corporations, parks, luxury condos, and some of the most expensive real estate are located
I’m optimistic that Camden will become thriving city. Back 30 years ago my city New Brunswick ,nj was a failing city and it became little bit more touristic and right now the city is thriving. They are building a hub center and I hope Camden recovers and becomes the city they were meant to be.
@@bretert Exactly. Over $2 trillion spent, 2,455 US service personnel deaths and 46,000 Afghani civilians killed (by both sides), only to end up with the Taliban in charge again, and they're just as brutal as ever. Absolutely nothing was achieved.
Well Afghanistan was going pretty good right up until President Biden threw it in the trashcan for the terrorists to have because he doesn’t care about the brown people. He decided he would rather fight for the people in Ukraine. That entire investment got blown up at the last minute because of the Democrat party
As the water peacefully flows past the scenic shores of Bucks County and Frenchtown area it has no idea it's life will be turned upside down in short order.
Camden,NJ is my hometown,graduated from Camden High back in 1977,moved out in 1982,it wasn't always like this but Companies closing up or moving away,and other things it's ashame that so many vacant houses and crime,I just pray 🙏🏽 things can change.
Born Jan 6th 1958 at Cooper Hospital in Camden. My grandfather came to camden in the early forties from puerto rico to work at campbell`s soup because so many young men were off to war that the U.S. had to "import" workers from other countries that were friendly to us such as P.R. to work in the factories. My grandfather left the family(including my mom) for about 4 years while he built a house, got a car and prepared everything for them when the time came finally for them to come to the U.S. and also sent money to them for subsistence because P.R. was poverty ridden in those days. Many men worked low-paying jobs in the hot sugar cane fields getting cut and stabbed by the sugar cane stalks. The family came over finally in the winter and got their first look at snow. Yes it is true, camden has fallen farther than a bad angel when industry left or deported jobs and now camden is a horrible shell of a memory that even makes Philadelphia look good. My grandfather is long passed away and most of family is also passed. The part of this video that says that are some positive signs of an uptick is something we can surely hope for. There are some other places that once were vibrant, then went way down but something positive happened and then something else did and they soared up from way down so it might happen to camden. My birthplace❤🫡
A real shame. Not only did manufacturing companies close down and put people out of work, but railroads also used to provide jobs, transportation and commerce before they too got bulldozed over. Add to that corruption. There are dozens of cities like Camden that suffered a similar fate though this is all the more tragic because of the potential this city could offer.
@@michelletaylor5691 sorry I lived that era Kennedy Johnson until now Biden. I use to work in a factory in those days in the 60 when the Japanese and their 🚘 music items replace Motorola and compete the Ford, General Motors fans other’s companies. The unemployment in Detroit a Mecca for manufacturers started go downhill and Factories went to Mexico and other’s countries. Detroit 40% housings are empty.
@@michelletaylor5691 the factories went to Japan but your right he was not along Nixon open the door to China and now is becoming our enemy. Who helps China to grow that today is the second economic of the world. China is every where in the Caribbean, Africa Europe is investing in Serbia 🇷🇸 built great trains 🚆 me while USA is using the airplanes ✈️ that I will not surprise that airplane’s are made in 🇨🇳.Biden is only expending the money in Ucrania 🇺🇦 sending weapons from the WW11 and the maniac talking about that we shouldn’t afraid 😱 of nuclear war.😈😈😱😱☠️☠️🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦😜🤪 who gave the money to China? United States 🇺🇸 gave our money and job to China , India and South America where our corporation send those jobs to others lands. My daughter work in one of those and told many her coworkers have had lost their jobs to overseas jobs. USA 🇺🇸 is digging out grave.
One of the largest employers in Camden was the Victor Talking Machine Company. Founded in 1901 by a machinist...Eldridge R. Johnson. Later became RCA Victor from 1929 to the 1980's. Gone today. Johnson literally built up Camden: two schools, a library and public parks and recreation centers. He was also one of the first employers to offer housing, benefits and good wages for the workers. Hope you don't get a flat...looks like loose screws and nails territory!
The legacy of that Victor/RCA company is still in Camden, L-3Harric Technologies. They make radios for the government. They also used to make secure telephones for the military. Fun fact, the radio that Niel Armstrong used to say to the world "The eagle has landed." was made in Camden at the RCA plant.
The old RCA/Victory company was a complex of buildings. Four of the buildings still remain, one has been converted into an apartment complex, once is being refurbished as a museum, one is used as a maintenance building by the city, and one was supposed to be converted into condominiums but was postponed when the project managers (Dranoff Properties) ran out of money.
As a lover of cities, this makes me extremely sad. I was expecting to see a struggling downtown, maybe a bit like Poughkeepsie but not a dumpster fire.
I visited Camden in 2015, when I visited my office in Philadelphia. We went to Camden on a Sunday to see the adventure aquarium & battleship. We also walked along the river front & enjoyed a ride on the patco high speed line. The next day, everyone in the office was like, why did you even go there? It's the crime capital of the US.
Years ago I had to drive a car load of kids to the aquarium for their prom. then had to return to pick the kids up at 11pm. I felt like to Omega man, the only living person on the planet. The only sign of life was the traffic signals changing. No people, no other cars. I sat at a red light thinking, why am I stopping if I'm the only car on the road.
Back when Camden had its own city police force, a friend got pulled over for not running a red light. The cop told her to just stop and run the lights because otherwise they'd assume she was looking to buy drugs. To be fair to Camden, I've walked through parts of it without issues. Even had a pair of methheads properly direct me to a bus station. One told me "You are too white and too cute" to be here on a weekend.
@@VirgilZandig Wow, really sad that they told you that you're "too white and too cute" to be there on a weekend. It shows that the people there thought very low of themselves and thought that poverty is a phenomenon reserved mostly for them. Mentalities like that start to form once poverty is all you know and you never see white people in it. (I do, however, acknowledge that impoverished white people exist.)
Id love to go back especially to 1924. My great grandmother came to America and had a home on beckett street in camden. She was a sewer and started a textiles business. She help start one of the catholic churches i forget which one. I wouldnt wanna bring them back to this century they would probably hop back on the boat back to italy.
i live one town over from Camden in Collingswood, which is nice. Camden has been plagued by corruption in its local govt for decades. There is a long list of mayors who have been indicted and served prison terms. All those boarded up houses? You cant even buy them as a property rehabber because they all have back taxes on them worth more than the property and the city govt will not waive the taxes so nobody ever buys them. the waterfront section is nice - because the govt offered companies massive tax breaks to come there so the city doesnt even make much from American Water, for example, who is HQ'd there now. i'm not a republican (either), but I find it almost funny that the city votes one way every single time - they have one style of governanace - nothing ever changes there. they have had 3 mayors just in the past year alone. i dont see anythin good coming for camden. it has its waterfront and the rest of the city is unlivable. *EDIT* I like near the end where he says "see the philadelphia skyline in the distance....whole different world here..." He clearly is not from this area. I invite him to search on "streets of kensington" videos. Kensington is a district in philadelphia. It makes Camden look like Bali.
I’ve done two videos on Kensington and North Philly. Explored the areas extensively, including drone footage. My wife was born and raised in Philadelphia. Her father was a 30 year Philadelphia police officer, and he showed me a lot of the city. I have spent a lot of time there. I was referencing the downtown of Philadelphia, which is absolutely nothing like that part of Camden. Oh, and for the record, Camden is every bit the trashy shithole Kensington is.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip they're both like displays of art on the walls. they are up to each person's interpretation. both are hellscapes. i drive through the camden hellscape from time to time. I wont even attempt kensington which literally has zombies standing in place because they cant move. camden has crime and violence. kensington has motionless zombies. it's up to the eye of beholder. for me, kensington is worse.
@@jamest4659 I think they must be. How many sets of traffic lights on empty roads. Surely they cost most to upkeep and maintain. Yet the city have invested in solar power street lights rather than fixing potholes. It's sad to see any city get run down, but it seems, as an outsider, that Camden Govt has it's priorities all mixed up.
I've lived in New Jersey for many years now, and watching this video - while he was saying "wow" constantly of the view of the streets, it really hit me that all of it looked so normal to me now. Most of Camden looks like streets I normally go down in New Brunswick (not the parts by Rutgers), Newark, Elizabeth, or Paterson, or where I work in New York City. It really made me realize how desensitized to the trash dump streets and cities I live by I've become. Seeing barely drivable streets, dope addicts passing out on the sidewalk and drug dealers standing on their corners with piles of trash next to broken down buildings, thats just New Jersey to me.
@@DingoXBX Passaic may be an improvement as far as trash all over the place and having actual businesses lol but other than that, not much difference. Crappy streets, no parking, drug addicts.
When I see all the derelict places, it reminds me there is no housing shortage. These places are all ripe for renewal. The land is there. Infrastructure, etc... Remote work offers the biggest opportunity to recreate these places.
Dude they try that all the time. What you gonna do fix it up? Build new? Second you put in wiring its getting stripped in the middle of the night. Any copper you put in that place... Gone faster than you can blink. You would be lucky to get a quarter the way finished before the place is stripped and burned and insurance agencies know this so good luck getting that to cover your loses. Plain and simple, bulldoze it, let it become forest and reclaim it 20-40 years from now. Worked somewhat in small areas of Bridgetown.
@Niklas S effectively calling people roaches is pretty egregious. You have a point about there being a problem. However, the solution isn't to barricade people into literal ghettos, it's to address the problem. The problem is cultural. Not "black" culture, but rather a culture that inculcates a victim mindset. A culture that lacks personal accountability. The erosion of the nuclear black family is at the root of this problem. Democrats have always and are actively seeking to continue this narrative. This is why these cities always exist in Democrat run strongholds. It's not a coincidence, it's values and culture.
@@youBrakeIHonk The problem is the unwillingness to invest in people ( education, vocational training, job training). Republicans are responsible for cuts in those areas. Furthermore our federal revenue system doesn't work for poor communities to be able to fund their public education system. The state or fed gov should chip in to offset tax base losses for those communities. The erosion of the Black nuclear family does play a part but access to education & training should fix that..
@@youBrakeIHonk Republicans got near the Fed gov whose policies directly impacts downtrodden cities/towns like Camden... When Trump stated in 2015 we needed to focus investments at home for Americans, what do you think he meant by that...?
I live in Jersey. I was in Camden once in the early to mid 2000s, and what I saw was shocking. I saw street after street, row after row, of formerly beautiful Victorian row houses, all burned out, vandalized and collapsing. The last time I was there was just about 2 years ago. I was in the area of the US District Courthouse and the Rutgers campus, and I did a lot of walking. It was quite nice. But I obviously didn't get to those areas where you drove. That's pretty bad. I just recently saw some videos of the residential streets of Gary, IN. That was worse than what I saw in this video.
Is Rutgers expanding in Camden? Its mostly for graduate students right? In New brunswick, they are buying everything. People should take a look at NB. When I was a kid, it was grimey as hell. Does anyone remember the fountain?
I live in Massachusetts which has its share of filthy and rough areas. But many of those neighborhoods and lots are being purchased out and building new stuff or at least renovations. The 2 states are both wealthy. Boston is being rebuilt and cleaned up. Alot corporate and small businesses.
I remember about 10 yrs ago Camden decided to downsize their police force. People were walking around with shirts that said, it's our time now! I went to someone's home for a service call, when I walked out people were shooting at each other from across the street. We decided at that point it wasn't worth working in Camden any longer.
The Camden police department was eliminated because of mass corruption and shame on them the force was then replaced with county and state police ..but more cops isn’t the answer it’s more jobs …to hell with corporations for abandoning towns across this land for profit
WOW! Thank you for the tour. I do not blame you whatsoever for not wanting to give us a walking tour. Really makes me fortunate to have grown up where I did (the prosper west coast). Those rust belt cities, especially those of Camden, Gary, etc. really took the blunt force trauma of the economic impact. Too bad and sad to see.
I was thinking the same thing. I got nervous every time he had to stop at a red light because when that happens your head needs to be on a swivel....and God Forbid your vehicle breaks down.
The reason why is because it's not an overpopulated area like certain cities in California. There is an area in Camden where a tent city springs up every few years and then they are forced out.
Camden, NJ is my hometown. I was born there & also went to school there. I still currently work there and still go to church there (you rode past the street my church is located). Camden wasn't always like that. It was destroyed by corruption & empty promises. The residents lost hope & anything they tried to save it was stolen from them. Now the "privilege" kids that grew up in the suburbs have now pitch a tent & do there drugs & prostitute down the same streets you drove through. 😳 Zombies now walk the streets. I still pray 🙏 my once thriving city will make a surprising comeback or at least I hope
The issue that I can’t get my head around is the ENORMOUS value of infrastructure that is already in place. It’s hard to fathom how the elected and stakeholders (taxpayers) can let this priceless resource degrade. I listened to a podcast recently that made the claim that the problem with the USA is that there are TOO MANY POOR PEOPLE! We can waste our treasure $$$ fighting wars that hinged on lies told to the people of this country and we can give vast sums to places like Egypt and Pakistan where much of that money is siphoned off into the pockets of the corrupt…..but if someone proposes rebuilding the infrastructure of OUR OWN COUNTRY for OUR OWN PEOPLE then there’s much fighting among politicians who oppose
@@frederickmuhlbauer9477 I lived in Europe for YEARS and even the cities in poor countries of Eastern Europe were more vibrant. The idea that American cities are outdated is absurd but…it’s written in the Constitution that if we want to let our cities and infrastructure collapse, we have the RIGHT! The problem is that we still think we have the money - that money was spent on war. The other issue is that in other countries (other than China) building, infrastructure, etc., is made to last generations. Construction in North America is made to last 3 loan cycles maximum. Outdated is NOT the core problem and claims like that deflect and obscure the bigger task
It was during the Reagan administration that the tax laws were changes so corporations could keep their money overseas...instead of coming back into the Us economy. The answer is easy..You want to sell in the US your products then manufacture in the US if not leave and we will have someone else create a business to sell what you sell........
@@dojocho1894 up until recently (thank you C-19) the idea that the market decides where anything can be made most cheaply - and it worked. If you go to Walmart you can buy a 10 pack of men’s underwear for less than $10 (similar for socks and t-shirts), if those items were manufactured in the US then you would pay $10 per item. So now most people have more $$$ for cell phones, cable TV and internet to play games (as an aside…China recently mandated that computer/online game playing time be severely restricted. This single act nearly guaranteed that they will overtake the US - unlike distracted students in the US, Chinese students will have to use that time to study). Cheap goods come with a cost.
@@johnmckeag1048 I lived through it all Im 61 Combat Vet.......America as I know it changed greatly in the late 80's being a kid in the suburbs in the 70's was a dream......I agree with you the need for cheap goods and making it look like you have money sucked many people in. I find it mind blowing guys buying trucks for 60K and dont even need it for work...I remember watching those Super Bowls with the Pittsburg Steelers and Cowboys and seeing people in Pennsylvania talking about how the steel plants were all closing down...that was the late 70's It was the beginning. Reagan allowed off shore accounts and that ended business in the US. Add Clintons NAFTA One see's corporation communisms today....Illegals are here for they will do the work..Farmers ranchers and other labor jobs need them It is farmers ( I own Horses) who are pushing for them to get drivers licenses ..why? For in the old days they lived on the farm...but regulations and insurance and housing are way too much money for the farmer to pay so they want them to go home at night. Landlords in the area of farmers rent houses out not by the number of bedrooms but by the total number of people in the apartment sharing it. That's the realities behind the smoke and mirrors of the govt. Many states want private prisons for it free's up the state not to pay all those big salaries healthcare and Pensions' of the Officers....They did the same with psychiatric facilities. The States didnt want to pay to house and take care of crazy people so the let them go out on the street and thats why they are there now. .
I have a good friend in Phoenix that’s a minister from here, he told me how it is, but I still didn’t grasp how bad it actually is. I’m not going to complain about Phoenix after watching this. Blessings to you as always for keeping us in the know.
Generally there are a whole group of smaller cities that are highly impoverished. Camden actually is not alone. Here are a few compared to Camden. Camden household income= $28k, Poverty rate= 36%, Population 88k. Reading $32k, 33%, 88k. Youngstown $28k, 35%, 64k. Flint $28k, 39% (wow), 96k. Gary 32k, 31%, 76k. Flint has serious problems too. That 39% poverty rate is crazy high. The average house there is only worth $29k.
They wont tell that part. There is clearly a MAGA/racial agenda here. They wont even give credit to the fact that Camden now has a better credit rating (AA) than the towns they live in.
I had a surreal experience in NJ. We took a train from Camden to NYC. The train ride through NJ in March looked like the game Fallout 4. I took a ride through a post apocalyptic world that was NJ. The people on the train were rude, the people who sold us a ticket were rude, and the train station itself was sketchy. The most surreal part was when we flew out of NJ. I wish I could remember which airport it was, but it was something else. Everything was old and dated inside. When we got to our terminal, I went over to a food stand to get breakfast. I approached the stand where two employees were having a conversation. I stood there while they chatted. For a good awkward 30 seconds. While I was waiting, another employee took a yogurt out of a refrigerated section to my left and punctured the seal with a plastic spoon. He looked at me, grinned and said: well I guess someones gonna have to eat it now! I was blow away by this. The two ladies behind the counter finish their chat. She looks at me and with the most attitude someone could possibly muster, gives me the most sassy MMMHHHMMMMMM I have ever been witness to. I ordered my food and sat down. It was the saddest food I have ever seen. My egg sandwich was stuck to the foil and somehow greasy. I wasn't hungry anymore. The worst part - and it was surreal, I don't understand what or why this was happening; as I was sitting, this loud, obnoxious BEEP BEEP BEEP would come over the intercom and then someone would SHOUT over the intercom in a voice I can only describe as sounding muffled like Kenny from southpark, blown out and distorted, and somehow full of attitude. You could not understand a single WORD this person was shouting over the intercom. Every 30 seconds or so, BEEP BEEP BEEP MAHAWALALAL BAHAHRAAA and then slamming down the intercom. I nearly jumped out of my seat. It scared the shit out of me. This went on the entire time I was waiting for my flight. Why?? Why is this place like this?? Who is shouting over the intercom and why does it have to have that loud awful beeping?? These are questions I will never have an answer to. NJ is a fucking weird place I don't plan on visiting any time in the future.
If fate would see you visiting Newark Airport once again; the intercom operator will begin to make some sense, no joke its _surreal,_ but your best bet is to still ignore them, until you're near fluent-----upwards of 10 visits min. required. Don't be one of those guys, they usually smell and carry several large bags
"People shouldn't have to live like this." When the government gives them everything they "need" except hope and motivation, how else could they live. Welcome to Camden, Detroit, Gary, Buffalo, and many more.
@@thebigbeautycutie Free cell phones, housing, food stamps, medicaid, child-support, alimony, public-education. What else would you like your highness?
There is old chinese proverb: If you want to feed a hungry person for a once, give him a fish; if you want that person will be fed for the rest of his life, give him a fishing rod.
My dad was raised in Camden! I remember going with him up to Sycamore St in the polish neighborhood when I was a young girl in the 1950 & 60s. We were there to visit my grandfather. It was so clean. I remember seeing the women scrubbing there front steps with pine sol. Everyone was poor but there houses and properties were Clean! They took pride in what they had! By the time the 1970s came in my grandfather had passed away and the old neighborhood was changing fast. Now you can’t even go to that neighbor. I would love to go back to see the old house and visit St Joseph s church. It’s just not safe! So very sad because there are many good people who live in that city and go to work everyday!! It’s just not fair!
WOW! I wish cities like Camden would consider opening up opportunities for everyday people to obtain properties for close to nothing and establish art colonies and redo the buildings. Detroit did it and it breathed so much life back when they were on the brink of destruction. Cool areas bring investment and of course you have the scourge of gentrification, but something has to give.
You are severly underestimating how costly it is to renovate and clean neighbourhoods, it cost over 415 BILLION dollars to "gentrify" an area that now has about 140k people living in it
@@bretert actually I’m not. Unfortunately and I guess fortunately I’ve seen exactly how this has been carried out in the US in major cities, especially cities that are in dire debt. People move for opportunities like this all the time. It’s more than doable. It’s the same formula. Problem is displacement. I’ve worked with city planning and the stock market for many years before bowing out of the industry and have been part of art colonies that did exactly this and was moved out once the neighborhoods were considered safe and hip again. I truly believe there is a balance that can happen but greed always wins out.
@@joelonzello4189 I actually think he's kind of right. To clean up a city, you make it trendy for gays to live there. The gays clean it up and then the upper class buys all the good property and the upper middle class gets a piece too. Then all the buildings get renovated and before you know it it's a nice place to be once again.
A former Mayor of Newark had a girlfriend who was getting incredible deals on distressed properties.and flipping them at great profit. Then people found out...
I was born in Camden as was my dad and grandfather. It was a different city back in the day. My dad worked as a teen delivering milk and selling ice cream from a bicycle cart. He finished his degree at Rutgers and met my mom at a skating rink. We had a very nice row house near Pine Point and I remember everyone on our street posting an American flag on Flag Day. We moved out when I was 4 because the city was going down. Today, that neighborhood looks like a bomb hit it. Boarded up windows, cracked sidewalks, cratered streets, trash, graffiti and crackheads. It’s horrible.
I remember Camden for the 1950s through the 1970s. When you were driving on Kaighn Avenue and you crossed Broadway going west you were in my families old neighborhood. McCrorys still has the old sign up. Kaighn is pronounced Kane. The corner side ways to McCrorys was a drug store. The was a newspaper vendor on that corner. The other corner looks like it is still a liquor store. The other corner was a shoe store. Going north up Broadway was a fabulous butchers shop. Thriving stores lined both sides of Broadway going north and south. You drove right by where my grandmother's house on fourth street. Her house is gone now, but I remember the five points bar on the corner of fourth and Kaighn. My father would drop us off at grandmom's so we could do the shopping and he would go into the bar to visit with friends. My uncle George and aunt Doris lived up the street. That is where you cut off your video. My grandmom worked at Campbell Soup for 45 years. The New York Shipyard was further south on Broadway. Many, many war ships were built there during WWII. I have a lot of good memories in Camden. Corruption brought Camden to its knees. So sad. Hopefully the people of Camden can have a good life once again someday. I pray for them.
A few years ago Camden was declared to be one of the worst cities to live in. However, just down the road a few miles was Moorestown, NJ....which was declared to be the best small town in the U.S. to live in. Go figure !
My parents lived in Delran, NJ, right next to Moorestown. Delran is more middle class. And I worked at one of the big hospitals in Camden. It's unfortunate that the hospitals are located there, but they are a great place to work. Cooper Hospital is a #1 trauma center, and it's badly needed there. On our lunch break we use to walk thru the cemetery on the main street Haddon Ave.
@@PanamaRose Try hanging out in the ER of Cooper hospital on a Friday night. Drug overdoses, stab wounds and gun shot wounds, never a dull moment. If you life is boring, sign up to be a volunteer aide there. It is like one of those TV hospital dramas.
5:24 that grown woman is my son's mother. She got a crack habit and disappeared into those streets. Haven't heard from her since February and it's September. Wow. Her name is Lisa 🙏
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip thank you for uploading this. We didn't know if she was still alive or not. The month before this was filmed she spent a month in the ICU on life support from an overdose. That city and the drugs in it destroys lives like I've never seen.
I was born in Trenton and grew up there in the 60's. All the dads worked in the factories. Great neighborhoods, good schools. Now I avoid going there at all cost. It's Sad.
I had to transfer trains in Camden a few times when I traveled a few years ago. It was one of the most scariest experiences I've ever had in my life. Just walking across the street.
Yes, the Camden waterfront has seen some nice development. There is a huge 15k seat outdoor concert venue. A nice aquarium and the Rutgers-Camden campus. The Battleship NJ museum and now the 76ers headquarters and practice facility. But once you leave the waterfront area, things go downhill. I visited the aquarium and spotted a Rite Aid on my way out and stopped to grab some tylenol. Nope, the store was already closed for the day at 5pm. It was just too dangerous to stay open past that hour. You mentioned unemployment and big companies leaving. A good deal of the blame has to go to local and state government. I see places close in the suburbs and they have new tenants in only a few months. Also where are the city services such as trash pickup. Most of that trash has been there for years. I didn't even see you drive past a police car. Over in Philly we had his nerd mayor who was not popular. But one smart thing that he did was raise fees and taxes. He correctly pointed out that without revenue coming in, city services will suffer. Philly is still in a weak position but the steady revenue coming in has helped us to avoid the fate of Detroit and Cleveland.
The concert venue seats somewhere between 7K & 8K under the pavillion but it has a massive lawn which holds another 15K or so it's one of the larger outdoor shed concert venues. I personally prefer the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel for various reasons although it holds around 15-17K with a pretty close split between the pavillion and lawn capacity.
This is not the country that fell . It's the people that destroy there own community.This here is a example if the mindset of people don't change no matter what resources they provided for people in low income community this will always continue. When you look back this is nothing New. Poor mindset equal to poor results.
Camden is literally like those 90's scenes of the nice happy family taking the wrong exit off a highway and ending up in the deep dark ghetto. Buses riddled with bullet holes, junkies sprawled out every 20 feet, everyone meandering about on their porches looking for something to fuck with. I walked every part of Philly as a kid with no fear or worry but just driving around Camden made me fear a stray bullet was gonna nail me or a car jacker would run up on me if I drove too slowly.
You were driving around in a true "food desert" there in Camden. I did not spot one place to get a decent meal and/or groceries or even a decent cup of coffee. WOW.
Growing up in New Jersey most of the urban areas rely on mom and pop stores. They put up a few chain stores in the downtown or close to cities near New York City.On the other hand if You go to any of suburbia areas that’s where will see all the chain stores. This is not New issue to New Jersey it’s been like that since the 70s.
It has nothing to do with liquor stores. They exist because it's the only thing actually profitable in the area. There's pubs on almost every corner of every town here in Czechia, there's alcohol in every grocery store and you're allowed to drink it outside, yet you won't find piles of trash like this anywhere.
Companies did not abandon Camden for cheap overseas labor. RCA went out of business because it failed to innovate in electronics, Campbell Soup had to downsize or go out of business because soup is not as profitable as it once was and the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed in the early 1990's as a result of Pentagon realignment. Crime, crack and corruption enveloped Camden while anyone who could afford to move did. What you have left is a city that is a magnet for illegal immigrants with no tax base to support services. NJ has dumped hundreds of millions into Camden but it is an urban black hole. You would think with its easy proximity to Center City Philadelphia and waterfront real estate gentrification would take hold. So far that has not happened. No easy answers.
I lived in Philadelphia in the 90s and thought that city was rough then occasionally I drove to Camden and then suddenly didn't feel so bad about Philly. Interesting to note that Camden still bad today.
Born and raised in New Jersey so I can tell you that the State has it's fair share of many towns like Camden - there has been this mass exodus of people leaving Jersey for many years now.
I live in the town where they sent al the scum when building up the water front and I tell my kids every day. GTFO NJ please for the love of god. This place is a blackhole that sucks you in and destroys you. There are people in this comment section talking about how shitty the Content creator is for calling this place bad. That shows you how warped these peoples mentality is.
While in the Netherlands I spoke with a woman who was going to the US to study. I warned her about the crime and poverty she is likely to see. These videos accurately portray the decline of America. I travel a lot and also experience the gutted cities all across the US.
@@akeffo your absolutely right but it's not as widespread as the comment suggests. Again the majority of America is in much much better shape than camden. A city mere miles from me
I went into the Army in 1966 and never went back except for my parents funerals. Sadly many towns in New Jersey are just like Camden. It may take another two decades to improve living conditions state wide.
Camden had a great minor league stadium (Campbell's Field) with a magnificent view of the bridge over the outfield wall. It was a destination stadium for baseball fans, but razed in the last several years. Now a new Marriott hotel is where part of the parking lot was. We'll see how that works out.
That was a nice baseball stadium. Camdens waterfront plans have failed. They should of kept the new prison Instead of demolishing it when we need it now. Half that crap city is an empty lot with all the torn down rowhomes. It will ever have the waterfront they dreamed of. They're lucky the ports haven't moved out yet.
Trash everywhere, people should be ashamed of themselves to let their city get that bad. Only can imagine the rats that live amongst the trash that lay everywhere...eeeek
When drugs invade these areas this happen. Ban drugs, send people to rehab and education and let them work for a social income clean the city and fixing streets.
I'm a 56 white guy. I'm in Camden a few times a week doing service work. I've been doing it for over 20 years. I haven't had any problems there. There's a lot of good people in that neighborhood.
A lot of the investment in Camden, like the subaru headquarters, are put in parts of Camden that are inaccessible to the residents. They're in Camden, but all the employees live in Cherry Hill and the surrounding suburbs
Yeah, I wouldn't get out and walk either. I'm 47 and lived in Jersey my whole life and Camden has always been bad as long as I can remember. Trenton isn't great either but it's better than Camden
I'm from Newark and I gotta say, Camden is a different monster. I've never been or had a reason to be there but I see that I'm not missing out on anything...I was getting nervous for you as you were driving through those streets. I'm definitely going to check out your other vids!
@@septbaaby Newark is actually cleaning up and has improved tremendously throughout my years growing up there. Yes, there are still things that could use some work but they are definitely NOT the same (or close).
Don't say "part of the country WE have failed" or "people shouldn't have to live like this" because it's up to the people there to make it look nice. We can help, but it's their responsibility at the end of the day. Everybody has the ability to make it out of places like that, but THEY choose not to work to make it out of their or even make it a better place. They may have their own reasons for not working to make it out, but that's on them, it ain't anybody else's responsibility but theirs.
I totally agree. I bet those citizens continue to vote for the same crooked politicians every single time! They are getting exactly what they voted for.
@Jesse James Yup, make it look nice or get outta there. Because guess who makes it not look nice, the idiots who live there. The idiots who throw trash out of their cars and let buildings go into disrepair. Those same people are the ones who feel like their victims because they live in an awful area. Little do they know, it’s people like them who make it an awful area.
Go By Cooper Medical Center see how bad it is there, I got stopped and told by the cop to get out as fast as I can. I was Visiting someone at the Hospital.
Rutgers Univ. has a campus in Camden, adjacent to the toll booths for the Ben Franklin Bridge. I went to law school there from 1974 to 1977. It's perhaps the only economically viable and "OK" area of the City. I took my son to see the USS New Jersey (BB-62) museum ship in Camden in the early 2000s The waterfront is also OK. There's also an aquarium that's pretty nice there, which we visited. But beyond that, Camden is one of the worst cities in the USA, though I suspect Gary Indiana is worse, as you state. I have no idea what the solution is. It's a rust-belt hellhole on the East Coast.
Camden was one of the worst cities in the 90's but not anymore. Half the city is demolished and an empty lot. The crime moved to Kensington in Philly across the bridge where junkies have the El train and thousands of buildings to shoot up in. Camden died when the world's biggest ship yard closed in South Camden (NY ship building company) where the kitty hawk and USS Indianapolis were built. Ironically the USS NJ was built across the river at the Philly shipyard from the NYSBC. It is a port now. Camden is lucky to even have that
@@TheOldTapeArchive watch a few videos of "Kensington Philadelphia ", it's only a section of the city but the biggest ope air heroin and fentenyl drug market. There's nothing like it in America. Even volunteers from skid row from the west coast were shocked by Kensington. Camden had the highest crime rate in the early 90s but half the city has been demolished since then lowering crime
@pinebarrenpatriot. I agree that the loss of the Camden shipyard began the economic death of the City. I once drove between the Walt Whitman Bridge North along the Delaware River up to the Ben Franklin Bridge. One could see where the Shipyard was. Back then I was in the Navy and actually stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard when it was still operating as a shipyard. So it was clear what was lost. Of course it is now long gone too.
@@Redhand1949 many of the buildings from the NYSBC company are still there and being used for freight storage by the South Jersey port but even the villages of rowhomes built for the thousands of workers across the street were torn down. Fairview village is still around and actually still respectable looking.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Where do you put the garbage? Lets say you work 2 jobs when do you get the time to do this? Im sure some people are but the city government along with help from the state and our national governments are the only ones who can actually change anything.
5 minutes. Pick up some trash. Get some trash bags from the food pantry for free. If you're working two jobs you're not living like that...don't tell me you are.
@@Skulls123goso let’s say this fictional person that has all the time and energy goes and clean up that town. They pick up all the appliances, tires, trash somehow only using free trash bags. They’re still going to have to pay for a bulk removal service.
I’ve lived in NJ all my life and I hear the Camden aquarium is gorgeous. I’ll never know. However the one thing I did see is a lot of nice cars for such a run down town. Good to know everyone’s got their priorities in order 👍🏼
@@bigjimmy6956 not really. if you think because the color of your skin is what would get u robbed shot or whatever you thinking, then youre sadly mistaken. look at the statistics.
Thank you for your great video. I had been to Camden 3 times and i was shocked by the way people live there. Now i can show this video to people and i don't have to explain anymore. Greetings from FraserVille ontario canada
I'm from the UK and would never expect to see this in the US, really depressing. I've never understood why people feel the need to litter their own streets, so disrespectful. We get it here too in places.
u just documenting the bad part camden got a lot of beauty full areas like river ave is beautiful the parks like why show only the bad part every city have there bad part like bro show everything this city has improved a lot like alotttt
Agreed! He kept driving in the same neighborhood. I noticed as he was driving down Broadway towards the center of town he cut the camera. I guess to not show how much that area has been revitalized. All areas of Camden do not look like that. Whenever there’s a documentary on Camden, they’re always filmed in the same part of town.
@@DeniLane I’ve noticed that myself I was born and raised in Camden and yes there is bad spots but not all I keep telling some people you wanna see some real slums go out the US ,even the so called paradise islands and places one thing I’ve learned is that there’s a hood in every state and county
Seems like he intentionally kept driving back thru the southern part of Broadway. As soon as he gets closer to Cooper he ends up showing around Broadway and kaighn. Seems intentional. Why didn't he show Cooper Plaza, Coopers Grant or Parkside....because that would not fit the narrative.
Being a longtime NJ resident, a couple points regarding Camden: don't blame companies for leaving, blame unions. Campbell's would have stayed if not for the absurd, near automaker's wages demanded. The main employer in Camden was NY Shipbuilding that left after WW2 for obvious lack of demand. Now, let's say joe potato and his handlers gave Camden that $40 billion they just threw away on the lost cause of Ukraine. Camden would be cleaned up. Then, if you came back 5 years later, it would be exactly what it is now - a disaster. As long as welfare prevails and these people are continually given everything, they will never take pride or care about their surroundings. This is the fate of joe potato's America.
Those companies became rich off the employees’ labor. Management didn’t create that wealth. Unions wouldn’t exist if there were no need for them because management would nickel and dime every employee if they could.
@@geraldobrien7323 uh, management or the owners did create that wealth, and it's mobile... and the workers? they eventually left Camden as well since they couldn't create that wealth you're talking about.... plus who would pay to modernize the plant and still deal with higher wages?..... and yes, I have worked union and enjoy a pension after years of paying for an education....
Welfare was well meaning, but, promoted dysfunctional behavior. People who have no parenting skills have lots of babies. Kids end up as immature and mentally ill as their parents. You see it in every city in America.
Seems every city has its rough side, is this entire city the rough side? Detroit gets a lot of bad press but wow this place doesn't look like its in the richest country in the world
I used to live in North Camden, pretty much it's all bad. Back in the late 80's when mischief night October 30th came around you would've been dodging empty 40 bottles & bricks while driving your whip smh
I lived in Camden in the mid 70's as a kid. I use to love that city, and still do. But it's a shame what's happened to it. It's really corporate greed that doomed this city. When businesses leave, there's not much of a recourse for a city like Camden. The sad thing is that it's prime real estate, and right across the river from Philadelphia. Many businesses are taking advantage of tax abatements, and setting up shop there. Subaru, L3, Holtec, and others. One day Camden will come back and become a Hoboken type of town. But that's going to take some serious time, and a group with a serious vision. What's going to be interesting is with more and more people being able to work from home, the suburbs becomes more attractive and location isn't as important. It's sad, but I hope Camden returns strong one day.
You can't solely blame cooperate greed for what happened to Camden, NJ. Unions, Taxes, Politics, Corruption, Solely Relaying on Manufacturing Jobs & Crime, are what killed places like Camden, Gary, Detroit, Central - Western NY State, PA, and Illinois.
I was there a couple years ago to visit the Battleship New Jersey and was surprised how bad the roads to the ship were! Would not want to walk around town as the feeling even in the Uber car was unsafe! Ship is excellent though!
I have travelled through many countries of the European Union, and I love living in the EU, but there are areas (not whole countries, but areas) in the EU, where Camden would be a really nice place to live. Especially in Greece, Spain and Croatia I have seen much poverty. I myself am from the Austrian countryside. There are some areas inside my own country, that almost look like Camden. I wasn't even aware of that until last year, when I moved to a 200k city for university.
@@enthusiastisch1922 Dude was I talking about some place in Africa? I have looked up Kampala. Being poor in Camden is much better than being poor in Kampala.
I know what you mean, but all these run down areas in Greece, Spain, Croatia or Austria - the crime rate there is nowhere near as high as in Camden or Baltimore or...that is the difference.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Exactly why you made the comment of Camden being the worst place you have seen was confusing to me because I've seen other videos you've made in Other States that look worst, more destitute and pretty bad. Maybe you should review some of your own footage!
After the unites states cease to be and north America become more like today’s Europe, mark my words: New York and Pennsylvania will fight each over for influence over New Jersey and new Jerseyans will fight both sides and rise in a neutral independence. The land is too valuable and important, it’s basically the only safe way to go from New England to the south.
That's what happens when corporations care about profits and stock price more than their workers and communities they used to operate in. Camden, NJ., Bridgeport, CT, Detroit, MI, and a host of many others.
You’re free to start your own corporation and run it the way you see fit. If you need additional capital, convince potential investors that your corporation is a “good” investment. If profit is not very important to you or them, then go for it.
@@Observe555 That’s not the point. I remember when Hostess asked its’ employees to take a pay cut to “help” the company. The employees agreed and then corporate gave the executives big bonuses. When the primary focus of a company becomes stock price and profits at the exclusion of all else, the workers and the communities in which they live, are the ones to suffer.
Yes, a lot of companies moved overseas for cheaper labor - but that's only party of the story. The other part is automation. In my kicking around days years ago, I did a lot of dead end factory jobs, like standing in front of a drill press or a lathe. All those jobs are gone now, and a lot of grunt work is now done by robots.
What a dumb comment - you act like FAMILIES collapses before the jobs dried up. I’d put hands on folks like you if you were in front of me just for saying that.
@@GP4288 yeah you’re way off. This has nothing to do with ordinances - Smdh. Clearly you’ve never been to Appalachia. ALL WHITE! When industries leave there is not tax base, let alone income to maintain anything. What type of MATH are YOU doing.
That is the stark truth. Corporations are legal persons, but they are not citizens. They don't vote. When the people who do vote are irresponsible, the corporations are the victims.
This was once a beautiful place. Ship building .. the soup factory.. and the record player builder all left or went out of business. It was also home the one of the first mass shootings in USA. Also this what happens when you have a massive welfare state and let criminals do what ever they want. It's been like this since the 60s . I think there was a police shooting that sparked riots.
As someone who spent the first 23 years of their life living in the Gloucester/Camden Country area I can agree...yes it's a dump one hundred percent. There is no redeeming quality in that place whatsoever, the fact that there's a prison in the middle of it says it all. Street after street of nothing but misery and trash.
The prison was was torn down 12 years ago, so you are lying..... Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if Camden wasnt the dumping ground for suburban drug addicts, the prison for surrounding counties, public assistance agencies, the dumping ground for rehabs (suburban towns pay Camden to house the suburban druggies.)....sad you think there's "no redeeming qualities" but Subaru, American Water Corp, Rutgers, Cooper Hospital, etc....disagree.
Yea, I worked in the prison once. It is a medium security one. The jerks put the cable head for the phone lines in the secured area. What a pain that was. Also worked in the country jail before it opened. They went from one person to a cell, that it was designed for. then put in three more. Two had to sleep on the floor.
My grandma grew up in Camden. My grandpa moved there.. Camden was beautiful. Grew up there during the great depression. My grandmas father (my great grandpa) was a cop. They never wanted for anything. (Turns out he was a bookmaker too). Seeing their address on old letters and whatnot looked upon Google maps... Horrible now. And this isn't a bad section (lake shore).. Not sure what my Grandfather did before or after his service but he worked for the city at one point. His position was filled by Walter Rand. Found that interesting.
Not a zombie apocalypse, just another day living under the best economic system on Earth. I love when you can see the clear effects of capitalism, the declining rate of profit and eternal search for cheaper labor gutting American manufacturing and cities, people describe it as apocalyptic. If so, it's suffering of our own creation, and a more just world can be built in its ashes. Camden, Philly, Detroit, St. Louis, the entire East Shore of Indiana... all gutted in the name of increased profits and to hell with the people and communities they used for labor for decades.
I understand poverty; I was raised poor. What I don't understand is how being poor equates to one's yard looking like a trash dump. Being poor does NOT have to equate to being dirty...it just doesn't.
But if you're poor AND a degenerate.....
@@GrzegorzDurda good point!
You’re not wrong.
Drug addicts
That's what giving up looks like.
67 years old and a life long resident of Pennsauken, the neighboring town. Walked to my Boy Scout meeting every Thursday night, played in Dudley Grange, my gram and pop lived at 27th and Westfield Ave. I’ve seen Camden in it’s glory times of the mid 60's. It was very nice shopping around where my grandparents lived. My dad worked for Western Electric based in Camden and met my mom at the bank at 27 st and Westfield Ave. What has happened is a real shame.
Your Grandparents lived by the bank across from the firehouse.
@@SMOOV_726 Yes.
😢😥It's sad to see America like this.
We here call it Camsauken... pretty soon we will be another Camden...
Unfortunately there are so many towns like this scattered across the United States. Believe it or not, some look even worse than that area you were in. So many have been sucked dry and left as carcasses on the landscape.
U went through bad u show no progress going on wight which lots nice places your full of s. It
The sad destruction of America under capitalism.
Idk man, camdens as bad as it gets.
@@ckck5258 Naw, I saw a town in West Virginia that was unbelievable.
@@banks5162 Do you remember the name?
I live in Newark and run a 501c3 that puts popup fine art galleries in long vacant storefronts on Commercial corridors. One of the issues I had to work out was the garbage dumped on sidewalks every Monday morning. I would go through the trash trying to identify the source. Most of it was Amazon boxes addressed to businesses in Kearney, just across the river. It took persistence and research but, it finally got toned down
I drove through Camden in 1993, I was also speechless. Nothing has changed, block after block of abandonment cars, refrigerators, tires, burned out homes, etc. it looked like someone dropped a bomb in the area.
Such a key location being wasted. Waterfront usually brings in a great opportunity. So sad.
Lol that's your takeaway? Bozo
Agreed 399%
@@denisemiller1409 I lived in Philly a while back. They tried to build up the waterfront. Therese a park, entertainment facilities and the battleship New Jersey museum is there. The city is just to far down. I don't know what will help.
the waterfront and immediate surrounding area is where the government buildings, corporations, parks, luxury condos, and some of the most expensive real estate are located
I’m optimistic that Camden will become thriving city. Back 30 years ago my city New Brunswick ,nj was a failing city and it became little bit more touristic and right now the city is thriving. They are building a hub center and I hope Camden recovers and becomes the city they were meant to be.
While u r watching this, consider this; We spent $300m/day for 20 years, in Afghanistan. Look who runs Afghanistan, now.
The CIA?
The same people as 20 years ago?
@@bretert Exactly. Over $2 trillion spent, 2,455 US service personnel deaths and 46,000 Afghani civilians killed (by both sides), only to end up with the Taliban in charge again, and they're just as brutal as ever. Absolutely nothing was achieved.
We hadn't, and haven't learned that democracy is a DIY thing, no one can confer freedom on you.
Well Afghanistan was going pretty good right up until President Biden threw it in the trashcan for the terrorists to have because he doesn’t care about the brown people. He decided he would rather fight for the people in Ukraine. That entire investment got blown up at the last minute because of the Democrat party
*Canadian goose honks in the distance*
"It's a kind of duck"
It probably wants to get back to Manitoba.
@@j3lny425 Or Ottawa.
if it's not a duck, maybe chicken, or pigeon, how about an eagle?
Imagine being the Delaware River. Trapped between Camden and Philly, forever. Condolences.
Yes, condolences to a non-living river.
As the water peacefully flows past the scenic shores of Bucks County and Frenchtown area it has no idea it's life will be turned upside down in short order.
Camden,NJ is my hometown,graduated from Camden High back in 1977,moved out in 1982,it wasn't always like this but Companies closing up or moving away,and other things it's ashame that so many vacant houses and crime,I just pray 🙏🏽 things can change.
Born Jan 6th 1958 at Cooper Hospital in Camden. My grandfather came to camden in the early forties from puerto rico to work at campbell`s soup because so many young men were off to war that the U.S. had to "import" workers from other countries that were friendly to us such as P.R. to work in the factories. My grandfather left the family(including my mom) for about 4 years while he built a house, got a car and prepared everything for them when the time came finally for them to come to the U.S. and also sent money to them for subsistence because P.R. was poverty ridden in those days. Many men worked low-paying jobs in the hot sugar cane fields getting cut and stabbed by the sugar cane stalks. The family came over finally in the winter and got their first look at snow. Yes it is true, camden has fallen farther than a bad angel when industry left or deported jobs and now camden is a horrible shell of a memory that even makes Philadelphia look good. My grandfather is long passed away and most of family is also passed. The part of this video that says that are some positive signs of an uptick is something we can surely hope for. There are some other places that once were vibrant, then went way down but something positive happened and then something else did and they soared up from way down so it might happen to camden. My birthplace❤🫡
U Spanish people fucked Camden up
Thank you for your sincere comments God Bless you
God Bless you go in safety Saint 🙏 Christopher.......
Born in 1958 at "Lady of Lourdes!
"rom other countries that were friendly to us such as P.R." and theres the problem now. Im sure in 10 to 15 years well have Americans in name only.
A real shame. Not only did manufacturing companies close down and put people out of work, but railroads also used to provide jobs, transportation and commerce before they too got bulldozed over. Add to that corruption. There are dozens of cities like Camden that suffered a similar fate though this is all the more tragic because of the potential this city could offer.
Who was the president who encouraged the manufacturer jobs relocate to Japan and other’s countries now China. Lyndon Johnson. Good job Johnson
@@JudithSanchez-ht6jn bullcrap, put the blame where it belongs , Reagan and Walmart
@@michelletaylor5691 sorry I lived that era Kennedy Johnson until now Biden. I use to work in a factory in those days in the 60 when the Japanese and their 🚘 music items replace Motorola and compete the Ford, General Motors fans other’s companies. The unemployment in Detroit a Mecca for manufacturers started go downhill and Factories went to Mexico and other’s countries. Detroit 40% housings are empty.
@@JudithSanchez-ht6jn so did I, So how and why would president Johnson kill off Camden? What was his motives?
@@michelletaylor5691 the factories went to Japan but your right he was not along Nixon open the door to China and now is becoming our enemy. Who helps China to grow that today is the second economic of the world. China is every where in the Caribbean, Africa Europe is investing in Serbia 🇷🇸 built great trains 🚆 me while USA is using the airplanes ✈️ that I will not surprise that airplane’s are made in 🇨🇳.Biden is only expending the money in Ucrania 🇺🇦 sending weapons from the WW11 and the maniac talking about that we shouldn’t afraid 😱 of nuclear war.😈😈😱😱☠️☠️🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦😜🤪 who gave the money to China? United States 🇺🇸 gave our money and job to China , India and South America where our corporation send those jobs to others lands. My daughter work in one of those and told many her coworkers have had lost their jobs to overseas jobs. USA 🇺🇸 is digging out grave.
One of the largest employers in Camden was the Victor Talking Machine Company. Founded in 1901 by a machinist...Eldridge R. Johnson. Later became RCA Victor from 1929 to the 1980's. Gone today. Johnson literally built up Camden: two schools, a library and public parks and recreation centers. He was also one of the first employers to offer housing, benefits and good wages for the workers. Hope you don't get a flat...looks like loose screws and nails territory!
Thank God Campbell soups HQ is still there.
When I was a kid we used to play in the abandoned RCA building I seen when they blew it up to demolish it
@@zombie6350 So sad...Eldridge Johnson...Victor's founder in 1901...would die over again, if he could see the demise of his hard work!
The legacy of that Victor/RCA company is still in Camden, L-3Harric Technologies. They make radios for the government. They also used to make secure telephones for the military. Fun fact, the radio that Niel Armstrong used to say to the world "The eagle has landed." was made in Camden at the RCA plant.
The old RCA/Victory company was a complex of buildings. Four of the buildings still remain, one has been converted into an apartment complex, once is being refurbished as a museum, one is used as a maintenance building by the city, and one was supposed to be converted into condominiums but was postponed when the project managers (Dranoff Properties) ran out of money.
As a lover of cities, this makes me extremely sad. I was expecting to see a struggling downtown, maybe a bit like Poughkeepsie but not a dumpster fire.
Mid Hudson Civic Center
you should watch his video on Gary Indiana, that place was a true dumpster fire. Almost every house burned down and falling apart
I visited Camden in 2015, when I visited my office in Philadelphia. We went to Camden on a Sunday to see the adventure aquarium & battleship. We also walked along the river front & enjoyed a ride on the patco high speed line. The next day, everyone in the office was like, why did you even go there? It's the crime capital of the US.
Years ago I had to drive a car load of kids to the aquarium for their prom. then had to return to pick the kids up at 11pm. I felt like to Omega man, the only living person on the planet. The only sign of life was the traffic signals changing. No people, no other cars. I sat at a red light thinking, why am I stopping if I'm the only car on the road.
Great story!
Back when Camden had its own city police force, a friend got pulled over for not running a red light. The cop told her to just stop and run the lights because otherwise they'd assume she was looking to buy drugs.
To be fair to Camden, I've walked through parts of it without issues. Even had a pair of methheads properly direct me to a bus station. One told me "You are too white and too cute" to be here on a weekend.
@@VirgilZandig Wow, really sad that they told you that you're "too white and too cute" to be there on a weekend. It shows that the people there thought very low of themselves and thought that poverty is a phenomenon reserved mostly for them. Mentalities like that start to form once poverty is all you know and you never see white people in it. (I do, however, acknowledge that impoverished white people exist.)
We used to blow right through them. Never once got pulled over lol
@@VirgilZandig it was also a smart suggestion by the police because cars stopped at red lights are targets for carjackers.
Imagine Going back in time to Camden in its prime, and taking someone back to present day they would think “apocalypse”
Id love to go back especially to 1924. My great grandmother came to America and had a home on beckett street in camden. She was a sewer and started a textiles business. She help start one of the catholic churches i forget which one. I wouldnt wanna bring them back to this century they would probably hop back on the boat back to italy.
All you have to do is look at what changed over the decades, mainly it’s demographics.
It was majority White during its golden days.
@@Valmontst Yes... Demographics made the town close up its shops.🙄
Theyd tell you what the problem was. Were too nice now.
i live one town over from Camden in Collingswood, which is nice. Camden has been plagued by corruption in its local govt for decades. There is a long list of mayors who have been indicted and served prison terms. All those boarded up houses? You cant even buy them as a property rehabber because they all have back taxes on them worth more than the property and the city govt will not waive the taxes so nobody ever buys them. the waterfront section is nice - because the govt offered companies massive tax breaks to come there so the city doesnt even make much from American Water, for example, who is HQ'd there now. i'm not a republican (either), but I find it almost funny that the city votes one way every single time - they have one style of governanace - nothing ever changes there. they have had 3 mayors just in the past year alone. i dont see anythin good coming for camden. it has its waterfront and the rest of the city is unlivable. *EDIT* I like near the end where he says "see the philadelphia skyline in the distance....whole different world here..." He clearly is not from this area. I invite him to search on "streets of kensington" videos. Kensington is a district in philadelphia. It makes Camden look like Bali.
I’ve done two videos on Kensington and North Philly. Explored the areas extensively, including drone footage. My wife was born and raised in Philadelphia. Her father was a 30 year Philadelphia police officer, and he showed me a lot of the city. I have spent a lot of time there. I was referencing the downtown of Philadelphia, which is absolutely nothing like that part of Camden. Oh, and for the record, Camden is every bit the trashy shithole Kensington is.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip they're both like displays of art on the walls. they are up to each person's interpretation. both are hellscapes. i drive through the camden hellscape from time to time. I wont even attempt kensington which literally has zombies standing in place because they cant move. camden has crime and violence. kensington has motionless zombies. it's up to the eye of beholder. for me, kensington is worse.
If city gov't will not waive taxes and let someone rehab the place then city gov't is really stupid.
@@jamest4659 I think they must be. How many sets of traffic lights on empty roads. Surely they cost most to upkeep and maintain. Yet the city have invested in solar power street lights rather than fixing potholes. It's sad to see any city get run down, but it seems, as an outsider, that Camden Govt has it's priorities all mixed up.
Born in Camden lived in Collingswood then Navy and ended up in SoCal.
I've lived in New Jersey for many years now, and watching this video - while he was saying "wow" constantly of the view of the streets, it really hit me that all of it looked so normal to me now. Most of Camden looks like streets I normally go down in New Brunswick (not the parts by Rutgers), Newark, Elizabeth, or Paterson, or where I work in New York City. It really made me realize how desensitized to the trash dump streets and cities I live by I've become. Seeing barely drivable streets, dope addicts passing out on the sidewalk and drug dealers standing on their corners with piles of trash next to broken down buildings, thats just New Jersey to me.
New Brunswick has gotten alot better in the last 10 years.. 20 years ago it looked like a trash dumpster
me too, used to live in Paterson, live in Passaic area now but i'd say its definitley an improvement
NONE of that is supposed to be normal...
@@DingoXBX Passaic may be an improvement as far as trash all over the place and having actual businesses lol but other than that, not much difference. Crappy streets, no parking, drug addicts.
@@XxProGamersxX100 true, but i feel that goes for the entire new york metropolitan area lol
When I see all the derelict places, it reminds me there is no housing shortage. These places are all ripe for renewal. The land is there. Infrastructure, etc... Remote work offers the biggest opportunity to recreate these places.
Dude they try that all the time. What you gonna do fix it up? Build new? Second you put in wiring its getting stripped in the middle of the night. Any copper you put in that place... Gone faster than you can blink. You would be lucky to get a quarter the way finished before the place is stripped and burned and insurance agencies know this so good luck getting that to cover your loses. Plain and simple, bulldoze it, let it become forest and reclaim it 20-40 years from now. Worked somewhat in small areas of Bridgetown.
@Niklas S effectively calling people roaches is pretty egregious.
You have a point about there being a problem. However, the solution isn't to barricade people into literal ghettos, it's to address the problem.
The problem is cultural. Not "black" culture, but rather a culture that inculcates a victim mindset. A culture that lacks personal accountability.
The erosion of the nuclear black family is at the root of this problem. Democrats have always and are actively seeking to continue this narrative. This is why these cities always exist in Democrat run strongholds. It's not a coincidence, it's values and culture.
@@youBrakeIHonk The problem is the unwillingness to invest in people ( education, vocational training, job training). Republicans are responsible for cuts in those areas. Furthermore our federal revenue system doesn't work for poor communities to be able to fund their public education system. The state or fed gov should chip in to offset tax base losses for those communities.
The erosion of the Black nuclear family does play a part but access to education & training should fix that..
@@kinkiesse7736 Republicans? You really think a republican got anywhere near Camden? Sources please
@@youBrakeIHonk Republicans got near the Fed gov whose policies directly impacts downtrodden cities/towns like Camden...
When Trump stated in 2015 we needed to focus investments at home for Americans, what do you think he meant by that...?
I live in Jersey. I was in Camden once in the early to mid 2000s, and what I saw was shocking. I saw street after street, row after row, of formerly beautiful Victorian row houses, all burned out, vandalized and collapsing. The last time I was there was just about 2 years ago. I was in the area of the US District Courthouse and the Rutgers campus, and I did a lot of walking. It was quite nice. But I obviously didn't get to those areas where you drove. That's pretty bad.
I just recently saw some videos of the residential streets of Gary, IN. That was worse than what I saw in this video.
Is Rutgers expanding in Camden? Its mostly for graduate students right? In New brunswick, they are buying everything. People should take a look at NB. When I was a kid, it was grimey as hell. Does anyone remember the fountain?
I live in Massachusetts which has its share of filthy and rough areas. But many of those neighborhoods and lots are being purchased out and building new stuff or at least renovations. The 2 states are both wealthy. Boston is being rebuilt and cleaned up. Alot corporate and small businesses.
@@scottbrenham1341 - Ha! NJ is a wealthy state? NJ is a broke-ass state! Everything & everybody is moving away from the filth & decay.
Experienced the same thing going through St. Louis 25 years ago. I'm sure it's only worse now.
New Jersey is still one of the best locations in America as long as you have decent income and have time to get around.
I remember about 10 yrs ago Camden decided to downsize their police force. People were walking around with shirts that said, it's our time now! I went to someone's home for a service call, when I walked out people were shooting at each other from across the street. We decided at that point it wasn't worth working in Camden any longer.
Kip
When you lose your tax base & cut services the people who can smell the coffee leave . Which leads to more cut services .
Thanks for the truth.
The Camden police department was eliminated because of mass corruption and shame on them the force was then replaced with county and state police ..but more cops isn’t the answer it’s more jobs …to hell with corporations for abandoning towns across this land for profit
Yep, all one needs to do to realize why cities have become like this, is to study how the demographics have changed over the decades.
These are results from drugs, poor education, horrible government . This is as bad or worst than some third world countries .
You’re not wrong.
WOW! Thank you for the tour. I do not blame you whatsoever for not wanting to give us a walking tour. Really makes me fortunate to have grown up where I did (the prosper west coast). Those rust belt cities, especially those of Camden, Gary, etc. really took the blunt force trauma of the economic impact. Too bad and sad to see.
I am from New Jersey. You have courage to even drive through Camden. Good thing you went during the day and not at night.
I was thinking the same thing. I got nervous every time he had to stop at a red light because when that happens your head needs to be on a swivel....and God Forbid your vehicle breaks down.
Yep you don't want to go to Camden I'm surprised he went there.
Maybe there are people both armed and insane enough to make it not matter when he goes.
@@lunakat7020 Why, Do you live in Camden to offer that advice?
@@hondaphan4172 Wow I have thought that sooo many times when he is in some other states with these type of areas, but he always makes it.
Was surprised to not see the sidewalks filled with homeless tents. Camden must be so bad not even the homeless want to camp out there.
No money there to pa handle steal.from The homeless like gypsies know how to play thatgame
I think they have ZERO population, and the homeless hate the cold, big shocker.
They all hang out at the train station
The reason why is because it's not an overpopulated area like certain cities in California. There is an area in Camden where a tent city springs up every few years and then they are forced out.
@@joesmith9216 you’d be surprised, there are a lot of homes there getting moved into from people from neighboring cities nowadays..
Camden, NJ is my hometown. I was born there & also went to school there. I still currently work there and still go to church there (you rode past the street my church is located). Camden wasn't always like that. It was destroyed by corruption & empty promises. The residents lost hope & anything they tried to save it was stolen from them. Now the "privilege" kids that grew up in the suburbs have now pitch a tent & do there drugs & prostitute down the same streets you drove through. 😳 Zombies now walk the streets. I still pray 🙏 my once thriving city will make a surprising comeback or at least I hope
Why haven't you moved out of there? Being homeless is safer!
@@Furrazii I moved out of Camden a year after my nephew was killed in 2000. At that time Camden wasn't the same at all.
They go there because that’s where the drugs are.
Thank you for your support and Love for Camden, NJ I miss it
Sadly it will NOT as the US is in big trouble Debt especially way too high for any kind of prosperous future
The issue that I can’t get my head around is the ENORMOUS value of infrastructure that is already in place. It’s hard to fathom how the elected and stakeholders (taxpayers) can let this priceless resource degrade. I listened to a podcast recently that made the claim that the problem with the USA is that there are TOO MANY POOR PEOPLE! We can waste our treasure $$$ fighting wars that hinged on lies told to the people of this country and we can give vast sums to places like Egypt and Pakistan where much of that money is siphoned off into the pockets of the corrupt…..but if someone proposes rebuilding the infrastructure of OUR OWN COUNTRY for OUR OWN PEOPLE then there’s much fighting among politicians who oppose
Most of it is outdated Rebuilding will be costly
@@frederickmuhlbauer9477 I lived in Europe for YEARS and even the cities in poor countries of Eastern Europe were more vibrant. The idea that American cities are outdated is absurd but…it’s written in the Constitution that if we want to let our cities and infrastructure collapse, we have the RIGHT! The problem is that we still think we have the money - that money was spent on war. The other issue is that in other countries (other than China) building, infrastructure, etc., is made to last generations. Construction in North America is made to last 3 loan cycles maximum. Outdated is NOT the core problem and claims like that deflect and obscure the bigger task
It was during the Reagan administration that the tax laws were changes so corporations could keep their money overseas...instead of coming back into the Us economy. The answer is easy..You want to sell in the US your products then manufacture in the US if not leave and we will have someone else create a business to sell what you sell........
@@dojocho1894 up until recently (thank you C-19) the idea that the market decides where anything can be made most cheaply - and it worked. If you go to Walmart you can buy a 10 pack of men’s underwear for less than $10 (similar for socks and t-shirts), if those items were manufactured in the US then you would pay $10 per item. So now most people have more $$$ for cell phones, cable TV and internet to play games (as an aside…China recently mandated that computer/online game playing time be severely restricted. This single act nearly guaranteed that they will overtake the US - unlike distracted students in the US, Chinese students will have to use that time to study). Cheap goods come with a cost.
@@johnmckeag1048 I lived through it all Im 61 Combat Vet.......America as I know it changed greatly in the late 80's being a kid in the suburbs in the 70's was a dream......I agree with you the need for cheap goods and making it look like you have money sucked many people in. I find it mind blowing guys buying trucks for 60K and dont even need it for work...I remember watching those Super Bowls with the Pittsburg Steelers and Cowboys and seeing people in Pennsylvania talking about how the steel plants were all closing down...that was the late 70's It was the beginning. Reagan allowed off shore accounts and that ended business in the US. Add Clintons NAFTA One see's corporation communisms today....Illegals are here for they will do the work..Farmers ranchers and other labor jobs need them It is farmers ( I own Horses) who are pushing for them to get drivers licenses ..why? For in the old days they lived on the farm...but regulations and insurance and housing are way too much money for the farmer to pay so they want them to go home at night. Landlords in the area of farmers rent houses out not by the number of bedrooms but by the total number of people in the apartment sharing it. That's the realities behind the smoke and mirrors of the govt. Many states want private prisons for it free's up the state not to pay all those big salaries healthcare and Pensions' of the Officers....They did the same with psychiatric facilities. The States didnt want to pay to house and take care of crazy people so the let them go out on the street and thats why they are there now. .
Accountability. The people (not all) who live in this area need some. The blame game is getting nauseating.
@ Sgt. Muffin The level of poverty there is on par with Appalachia.
@@kge420 you can be poor and pick up your trash..
100% true
I have a good friend in Phoenix that’s a minister from here, he told me how it is, but I still didn’t grasp how bad it actually is. I’m not going to complain about Phoenix after watching this. Blessings to you as always for keeping us in the know.
750 billion for the Us military to lose another war yet cant have money to clean up trash and fix potholes.....
Generally there are a whole group of smaller cities that are highly impoverished. Camden actually is not alone. Here are a few compared to Camden. Camden household income= $28k, Poverty rate= 36%, Population 88k. Reading $32k, 33%, 88k. Youngstown $28k, 35%, 64k. Flint $28k, 39% (wow), 96k. Gary 32k, 31%, 76k.
Flint has serious problems too. That 39% poverty rate is crazy high. The average house there is only worth $29k.
They wont tell that part. There is clearly a MAGA/racial agenda here. They wont even give credit to the fact that Camden now has a better credit rating (AA) than the towns they live in.
I had a surreal experience in NJ. We took a train from Camden to NYC. The train ride through NJ in March looked like the game Fallout 4. I took a ride through a post apocalyptic world that was NJ. The people on the train were rude, the people who sold us a ticket were rude, and the train station itself was sketchy.
The most surreal part was when we flew out of NJ. I wish I could remember which airport it was, but it was something else. Everything was old and dated inside. When we got to our terminal, I went over to a food stand to get breakfast. I approached the stand where two employees were having a conversation. I stood there while they chatted. For a good awkward 30 seconds. While I was waiting, another employee took a yogurt out of a refrigerated section to my left and punctured the seal with a plastic spoon. He looked at me, grinned and said: well I guess someones gonna have to eat it now! I was blow away by this.
The two ladies behind the counter finish their chat. She looks at me and with the most attitude someone could possibly muster, gives me the most sassy MMMHHHMMMMMM I have ever been witness to. I ordered my food and sat down. It was the saddest food I have ever seen. My egg sandwich was stuck to the foil and somehow greasy. I wasn't hungry anymore.
The worst part - and it was surreal, I don't understand what or why this was happening; as I was sitting, this loud, obnoxious BEEP BEEP BEEP would come over the intercom and then someone would SHOUT over the intercom in a voice I can only describe as sounding muffled like Kenny from southpark, blown out and distorted, and somehow full of attitude. You could not understand a single WORD this person was shouting over the intercom. Every 30 seconds or so, BEEP BEEP BEEP MAHAWALALAL BAHAHRAAA and then slamming down the intercom. I nearly jumped out of my seat. It scared the shit out of me. This went on the entire time I was waiting for my flight. Why?? Why is this place like this?? Who is shouting over the intercom and why does it have to have that loud awful beeping??
These are questions I will never have an answer to. NJ is a fucking weird place I don't plan on visiting any time in the future.
Good writing.
Thats Jersey for you Always been bad Philly sucks too Im.from Sag Harbor NY origonally now living very happily in Warsaw Poland
They cant be fired because there’s no one else to take their place
Newark Airport is where you encountered the bleak, pathetic reality of urban culture
If fate would see you visiting Newark Airport once again; the intercom operator will begin to make some sense, no joke its _surreal,_ but your best bet is to still ignore them, until you're near fluent-----upwards of 10 visits min. required. Don't be one of those guys, they usually smell and carry several large bags
"People shouldn't have to live like this." When the government gives them everything they "need" except hope and motivation, how else could they live. Welcome to Camden, Detroit, Gary, Buffalo, and many more.
The government does not do much for people.
@@thebigbeautycutie Free cell phones, housing, food stamps, medicaid, child-support, alimony, public-education. What else would you like your highness?
There is old chinese proverb: If you want to feed a hungry person for a once, give him a fish; if you want that person will be fed for the rest of his life, give him a fishing rod.
My dad was raised in Camden! I remember going with him up to Sycamore St in the polish neighborhood when I was a young girl in the 1950 & 60s. We were there to visit my grandfather. It was so clean. I remember seeing the women scrubbing there front steps with pine sol. Everyone was poor but there houses and properties were Clean! They took pride in what they had! By the time the 1970s came in my grandfather had passed away and the old neighborhood was changing fast. Now you can’t even go to that neighbor. I would love to go back to see the old house and visit St Joseph s church. It’s just not safe! So very sad because there are many good people who live in that city and go to work everyday!! It’s just not fair!
Paterson is the same thing. I went there for the first time last year, and what shocked me the most was the amount of garbage everywhere.
@MKAY I gotta try it one day.
As Spiro Agnew once said, "You've seen one slum, you've seen them all".
Martin somewhat safe I remember East NY Brooklyn in.1980 and it wasnt safe in my roofers truck
Camden is a city that has seen better days. I find it so sad that a city could get into that state. It’s got to be corruption at the top.
Lots of things contributed to it, keyup, but corruption is definitely one of them.
Absolutely‼️
And not just on the "Blue" side of the aisle.
@@edwardmiessner6502 manufacturing got outsourced to China and Mexico. That’s capitalism comrade
@@mattkennedy6115 Campbell Soup could have stayed, and went belly up. How many $5 cans of tomato soup would you buy?
WOW! I wish cities like Camden would consider opening up opportunities for everyday people to obtain properties for close to nothing and establish art colonies and redo the buildings. Detroit did it and it breathed so much life back when they were on the brink of destruction. Cool areas bring investment and of course you have the scourge of gentrification, but something has to give.
You are severly underestimating how costly it is to renovate and clean neighbourhoods, it cost over 415 BILLION dollars to "gentrify" an area that now has about 140k people living in it
@@bretert actually I’m not. Unfortunately and I guess fortunately I’ve seen exactly how this has been carried out in the US in major cities, especially cities that are in dire debt. People move for opportunities like this all the time. It’s more than doable. It’s the same formula. Problem is displacement. I’ve worked with city planning and the stock market for many years before bowing out of the industry and have been part of art colonies that did exactly this and was moved out once the neighborhoods were considered safe and hip again. I truly believe there is a balance that can happen but greed always wins out.
Art Colonies arent the answer...
@@joelonzello4189 I actually think he's kind of right. To clean up a city, you make it trendy for gays to live there. The gays clean it up and then the upper class buys all the good property and the upper middle class gets a piece too. Then all the buildings get renovated and before you know it it's a nice place to be once again.
A former Mayor of Newark had a girlfriend who was getting incredible deals on distressed properties.and flipping them at great profit. Then people found out...
I was born in Camden as was my dad and grandfather. It was a different city back in the day. My dad worked as a teen delivering milk and selling ice cream from a bicycle cart. He finished his degree at Rutgers and met my mom at a skating rink. We had a very nice row house near Pine Point and I remember everyone on our street posting an American flag on Flag Day.
We moved out when I was 4 because the city was going down. Today, that neighborhood looks like a bomb hit it. Boarded up windows, cracked sidewalks, cratered streets, trash, graffiti and crackheads. It’s horrible.
I remember Camden for the 1950s through the 1970s. When you were driving on Kaighn Avenue and you crossed Broadway going west you were in my families old neighborhood. McCrorys still has the old sign up. Kaighn is pronounced Kane. The corner side ways to McCrorys was a drug store. The was a newspaper vendor on that corner. The other corner looks like it is still a liquor store. The other corner was a shoe store. Going north up Broadway was a fabulous butchers shop. Thriving stores lined both sides of Broadway going north and south. You drove right by where my grandmother's house on fourth street. Her house is gone now, but I remember the five points bar on the corner of fourth and Kaighn. My father would drop us off at grandmom's so we could do the shopping and he would go into the bar to visit with friends. My uncle George and aunt Doris lived up the street. That is where you cut off your video. My grandmom worked at Campbell Soup for 45 years. The New York Shipyard was further south on Broadway. Many, many war ships were built there during WWII. I have a lot of good memories in Camden. Corruption brought Camden to its knees. So sad. Hopefully the people of Camden can have a good life once again someday. I pray for them.
We may have grown up together my name is Kiddles and my Sister is Tiki brother Breezy
What was the corruption?
A few years ago Camden was declared to be one of the worst cities to live in. However, just down the road a few miles was Moorestown, NJ....which was declared to be the best small town in the U.S. to live in. Go figure !
Nope impossible My town Sag Harbor NY is the best I tell ya If youre wealthy anyway
My parents lived in Delran, NJ, right next to Moorestown. Delran is more middle class. And I worked at one of the big hospitals in Camden. It's unfortunate that the hospitals are located there, but they are a great place to work. Cooper Hospital is a #1 trauma center, and it's badly needed there. On our lunch break we use to walk thru the cemetery on the main street Haddon Ave.
@@PanamaRose interesting, going to google map it!
@@PanamaRose Try hanging out in the ER of Cooper hospital on a Friday night. Drug overdoses, stab wounds and gun shot wounds, never a dull moment. If you life is boring, sign up to be a volunteer aide there. It is like one of those TV hospital dramas.
It’s because New Jersey has a population density. You can have that. It’s not like living in rural states like Alabama where most of it is depressing
Now you know why New Jersey is often disrespected by everyone else. Just sad.
I’ve never seen anyplace this bad, and I’ve been to Juarez and Tijuana.
Every state has a Camden.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip it was way worse 20 years ago. they actually cleaned it up.
Try Baltimore
@@Fire-Dragon_76 and downtown LA
5:24 that grown woman is my son's mother. She got a crack habit and disappeared into those streets. Haven't heard from her since February and it's September. Wow. Her name is Lisa 🙏
Really? Wow.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip thank you for uploading this. We didn't know if she was still alive or not. The month before this was filmed she spent a month in the ICU on life support from an overdose. That city and the drugs in it destroys lives like I've never seen.
@@richragenj I understand.
I was born in Trenton and grew up there in the 60's. All the dads worked in the factories. Great neighborhoods, good schools. Now I avoid going there at all cost. It's Sad.
U somehow found the best parts of Camden.. there r blocks n blocks of totally abandoned n collapsing houses
I had to transfer trains in Camden a few times when I traveled a few years ago. It was one of the most scariest experiences I've ever had in my life. Just walking across the street.
Don’t be scared
What was that fear justified? Were you mugged?
@@kumarg3598 sounds like he’s into Poopypushin
@@poopytown9307 to each their own. I go crazy when a women nibbles on the arteries on my wrist
Most scariest is totally wrong grammar.
Yes, the Camden waterfront has seen some nice development. There is a huge 15k seat outdoor concert venue. A nice aquarium and the Rutgers-Camden campus. The Battleship NJ museum and now the 76ers headquarters and practice facility.
But once you leave the waterfront area, things go downhill. I visited the aquarium and spotted a Rite Aid on my way out and stopped to grab some tylenol. Nope, the store was already closed for the day at 5pm. It was just too dangerous to stay open past that hour.
You mentioned unemployment and big companies leaving. A good deal of the blame has to go to local and state government. I see places close in the suburbs and they have new tenants in only a few months. Also where are the city services such as trash pickup. Most of that trash has been there for years. I didn't even see you drive past a police car.
Over in Philly we had his nerd mayor who was not popular. But one smart thing that he did was raise fees and taxes. He correctly pointed out that without revenue coming in, city services will suffer.
Philly is still in a weak position but the steady revenue coming in has helped us to avoid the fate of Detroit and Cleveland.
The concert venue seats somewhere between 7K & 8K under the pavillion but it has a massive lawn which holds another 15K or so it's one of the larger outdoor shed concert venues. I personally prefer the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel for various reasons although it holds around 15-17K with a pretty close split between the pavillion and lawn capacity.
This is not the country that fell . It's the people that destroy there own community.This here is a example if the mindset of people don't change no matter what resources they provided for people in low income community this will always continue. When you look back this is nothing New. Poor mindset equal to poor results.
Camden is literally like those 90's scenes of the nice happy family taking the wrong exit off a highway and ending up in the deep dark ghetto. Buses riddled with bullet holes, junkies sprawled out every 20 feet, everyone meandering about on their porches looking for something to fuck with. I walked every part of Philly as a kid with no fear or worry but just driving around Camden made me fear a stray bullet was gonna nail me or a car jacker would run up on me if I drove too slowly.
Have you been back to Philly lately? Much of it is only marginally much better than this.
Ever been to Memphis or bad areas in the south? This place doesn’t look that bad in comparison
You were driving around in a true "food desert" there in Camden. I did not spot one place to get a decent meal and/or groceries or even a decent cup of coffee. WOW.
You're exactly right. There's virtually nothing there.
Growing up in New Jersey most of the urban areas rely on mom and pop stores. They put up a few chain stores in the downtown or close to cities near New York City.On the other hand if You go to any of suburbia areas that’s where will see all the chain stores. This is not New issue to New Jersey it’s been like that since the 70s.
The South 5th Street Meat Deli was closed when the video was taken, but it is apparently still in business.
@@Boldorion1958 That's all you have?
So true and sad. Norcross chased away many other interests for a new Shoprite. He couldnt get $$$ he wanted in ransom.
This is what happens when there are liquor stores on almost every block.
Absolutely.
There are liquor stores on every block here in Littleton Colorado and there is no trash anywhere.
Then again we don't sell full strength liquor at grocery stores
Correction, this is what happens when there is nothing on almost every block.
It has nothing to do with liquor stores. They exist because it's the only thing actually profitable in the area. There's pubs on almost every corner of every town here in Czechia, there's alcohol in every grocery store and you're allowed to drink it outside, yet you won't find piles of trash like this anywhere.
That's a Canadian goose 🦆
Thank you for that!
That's a camden goose hide your wallet
Companies did not abandon Camden for cheap overseas labor. RCA went out of business because it failed to innovate in electronics, Campbell Soup had to downsize or go out of business because soup is not as profitable as it once was and the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed in the early 1990's as a result of Pentagon realignment. Crime, crack and corruption enveloped Camden while anyone who could afford to move did. What you have left is a city that is a magnet for illegal immigrants with no tax base to support services. NJ has dumped hundreds of millions into Camden but it is an urban black hole. You would think with its easy proximity to Center City Philadelphia and waterfront real estate gentrification would take hold. So far that has not happened. No easy answers.
Camden NJ is my hometown and not afraid or ashamed to say so...many life in lessons and memories of the grind... That's what's up doh
I lived in Philadelphia in the 90s and thought that city was rough then occasionally I drove to Camden and then suddenly didn't feel so bad about Philly. Interesting to note that Camden still bad today.
😂😂😂
Philadelphia isn’t do much better today
Born and raised in New Jersey so I can tell you that the State has it's fair share of many towns like Camden - there has been this mass exodus of people leaving Jersey for many years now.
Why do you think the mob dumped there dead bodies in New Jersey??? lmfao... Its not as if anyone would notice and probably improved the smell...lmfao
indeed and many are coming to where I live in the Lehigh Valley, PA.
I live in the town where they sent al the scum when building up the water front and I tell my kids every day. GTFO NJ please for the love of god. This place is a blackhole that sucks you in and destroys you. There are people in this comment section talking about how shitty the Content creator is for calling this place bad. That shows you how warped these peoples mentality is.
While in the Netherlands I spoke with a woman who was going to the US to study. I warned her about the crime and poverty she is likely to see. These videos accurately portray the decline of America. I travel a lot and also experience the gutted cities all across the US.
I'm sorry but your way off base. This is not as common, not by a !ongshot, as you suggest
@@diggersdiecast8879 Go to any major US city and you will see a city within a city-tent cities of homeless people.
@@akeffo your absolutely right but it's not as widespread as the comment suggests. Again the majority of America is in much much better shape than camden. A city mere miles from me
I went into the Army in 1966 and never went back except for my parents funerals. Sadly many towns in New Jersey are just like Camden. It may take another two decades to improve living conditions state wide.
Thanks for sharing I had no idea about the Campbell's soup starting there that's my favorite🤔🙄
Camden had a great minor league stadium (Campbell's Field) with a magnificent view of the bridge over the outfield wall. It was a destination stadium for baseball fans, but razed in the last several years. Now a new Marriott hotel is where part of the parking lot was. We'll see how that works out.
That was a nice baseball stadium. Camdens waterfront plans have failed. They should of kept the new prison Instead of demolishing it when we need it now. Half that crap city is an empty lot with all the torn down rowhomes. It will ever have the waterfront they dreamed of. They're lucky the ports haven't moved out yet.
They tore down the stadium!?
@@garden0fstone736 yes 2 years ago, now it's an empty weed filled lot like the rest of the city. Good job Camden🤬
Trash everywhere, people should be ashamed of themselves to let their city get that bad. Only can imagine the rats that live amongst the trash that lay everywhere...eeeek
Why should urban/economic decay evoke shame?Do you think those people in Camden WANT to be there?
When drugs invade these areas this happen. Ban drugs, send people to rehab and education and let them work for a social income clean the city and fixing streets.
@@domimusic3683 Drugs ARE banned my friend.
Each city is a reflection of the people that live there.
I'm a 56 white guy. I'm in Camden a few times a week doing service work. I've been doing it for over 20 years. I haven't had any problems there. There's a lot of good people in that neighborhood.
A lot of the investment in Camden, like the subaru headquarters, are put in parts of Camden that are inaccessible to the residents. They're in Camden, but all the employees live in Cherry Hill and the surrounding suburbs
That this should be a reality in the richest country on earth is heartbreaking...Gary, Indiana....Detroit, Michigan are in similar dire straits.
its not about the country the city is in...its about the people in the city...
Lol Americans so poor they don’t even wash with Soap anymore… they use “beauty bars” and other “bars” but not soap bars.
Let's all keep voting Democrat
@@nikoc8968 Oh, horse "bananas" to that!
Yeah, I wouldn't get out and walk either. I'm 47 and lived in Jersey my whole life and Camden has always been bad as long as I can remember. Trenton isn't great either but it's better than Camden
I'm from Newark and I gotta say, Camden is a different monster. I've never been or had a reason to be there but I see that I'm not missing out on anything...I was getting nervous for you as you were driving through those streets. I'm definitely going to check out your other vids!
um newark is almost worse.
@@septbaaby Newark is actually cleaning up and has improved tremendously throughout my years growing up there. Yes, there are still things that could use some work but they are definitely NOT the same (or close).
@@anacantillopagan exactly, newark is worse 😂
@@septbaaby Try living in Eastern Europe: I'd literally donate an organ just to live in Newark or even Camden NJ
@@walnutsandbeastiality866 see this is exactly what i mean!
Don't say "part of the country WE have failed" or "people shouldn't have to live like this" because it's up to the people there to make it look nice. We can help, but it's their responsibility at the end of the day. Everybody has the ability to make it out of places like that, but THEY choose not to work to make it out of their or even make it a better place. They may have their own reasons for not working to make it out, but that's on them, it ain't anybody else's responsibility but theirs.
I totally agree. I bet those citizens continue to vote for the same crooked politicians every single time! They are getting exactly what they voted for.
@Jesse James Yup, make it look nice or get outta there. Because guess who makes it not look nice, the idiots who live there. The idiots who throw trash out of their cars and let buildings go into disrepair. Those same people are the ones who feel like their victims because they live in an awful area. Little do they know, it’s people like them who make it an awful area.
The Mayor of that town should be held accountable. This is sad.
It looks like a typical liberal utopia to me! 😂😂
No blame the governors since the 50s
Go By Cooper Medical Center see how bad it is there, I got stopped and told by the cop to get out as fast as I can. I was Visiting someone at the Hospital.
I’ve heard many people say the exact same thing happened to them.
Rutgers Univ. has a campus in Camden, adjacent to the toll booths for the Ben Franklin Bridge. I went to law school there from 1974 to 1977. It's perhaps the only economically viable and "OK" area of the City. I took my son to see the USS New Jersey (BB-62) museum ship in Camden in the early 2000s The waterfront is also OK. There's also an aquarium that's pretty nice there, which we visited. But beyond that, Camden is one of the worst cities in the USA, though I suspect Gary Indiana is worse, as you state. I have no idea what the solution is. It's a rust-belt hellhole on the East Coast.
East St Louis, IL probably has Camden and Gary beat for the worst, most dangerous and most depressing city in America.
Camden was one of the worst cities in the 90's but not anymore. Half the city is demolished and an empty lot. The crime moved to Kensington in Philly across the bridge where junkies have the El train and thousands of buildings to shoot up in. Camden died when the world's biggest ship yard closed in South Camden (NY ship building company) where the kitty hawk and USS Indianapolis were built. Ironically the USS NJ was built across the river at the Philly shipyard from the NYSBC. It is a port now. Camden is lucky to even have that
@@TheOldTapeArchive watch a few videos of "Kensington Philadelphia ", it's only a section of the city but the biggest ope air heroin and fentenyl drug market. There's nothing like it in America. Even volunteers from skid row from the west coast were shocked by Kensington. Camden had the highest crime rate in the early 90s but half the city has been demolished since then lowering crime
@pinebarrenpatriot. I agree that the loss of the Camden shipyard began the economic death of the City. I once drove between the Walt Whitman Bridge North along the Delaware River up to the Ben Franklin Bridge. One could see where the Shipyard was. Back then I was in the Navy and actually stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard when it was still operating as a shipyard. So it was clear what was lost. Of course it is now long gone too.
@@Redhand1949 many of the buildings from the NYSBC company are still there and being used for freight storage by the South Jersey port but even the villages of rowhomes built for the thousands of workers across the street were torn down. Fairview village is still around and actually still respectable looking.
"People shouldn't have to live like this." .... it doesn't cost any money to pickup garbage or not graffiti the side of a building.
You’re not wrong. What I should have said is “People shouldn’t willingly live like this.”
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Where do you put the garbage? Lets say you work 2 jobs when do you get the time to do this? Im sure some people are but the city government along with help from the state and our national governments are the only ones who can actually change anything.
Of course it costs money.
5 minutes. Pick up some trash. Get some trash bags from the food pantry for free. If you're working two jobs you're not living like that...don't tell me you are.
@@Skulls123goso let’s say this fictional person that has all the time and energy goes and clean up that town. They pick up all the appliances, tires, trash somehow only using free trash bags. They’re still going to have to pay for a bulk removal service.
Thank you so much for sharing.❤️👊
I’ve lived in NJ all my life and I hear the Camden aquarium is gorgeous. I’ll never know. However the one thing I did see is a lot of nice cars for such a run down town. Good to know everyone’s got their priorities in order 👍🏼
It’s a good aquarium, gorgeous though? Nah…..
As the old saying goes, "Nothing good ever happens in Camden."
Dad things happen all over the world.
I say that about the entire state of NJ.
@@joselitodatil6052 More in some places than others son. You'll learn...
Youre a brave man to even drive through that plave bro
Especially as a white man driving alone!! 😂
there’s nothing brave about it.
@@septbaaby yes, if he is white.
@@bigjimmy6956 not really. if you think because the color of your skin is what would get u robbed shot or whatever you thinking, then youre sadly mistaken. look at the statistics.
@@septbaaby My thoughts as well. Drive through certain areas of West Philadelphia and you might get a "kudos" from me, but that's about it.
You're a very brave person. It's sad to see that a once thriving city has been relegated to this. Hopefully, it's not too late.
He indeed must have huge balls to drive alone, especially as a white man, through those neighborhoods!! 😂😂
@@Valmontst 🤣
Thank you for your great video. I had been to Camden 3 times and i was shocked by the way people live there. Now i can show this video to people and i don't have to explain anymore. Greetings from FraserVille ontario canada
Awesome! :)
I'm from the UK and would never expect to see this in the US, really depressing. I've never understood why people feel the need to litter their own streets, so disrespectful. We get it here too in places.
u just documenting the bad part camden got a lot of beauty full areas like river ave is beautiful the parks like why show only the bad part every city have there bad part like bro show everything this city has improved a lot like alotttt
Face it. Camden Sucks.
Agreed! He kept driving in the same neighborhood. I noticed as he was driving down Broadway towards the center of town he cut the camera. I guess to not show how much that area has been revitalized. All areas of Camden do not look like that. Whenever there’s a documentary on Camden, they’re always filmed in the same part of town.
@@DeniLane I’ve noticed that myself I was born and raised in Camden and yes there is bad spots but not all I keep telling some people you wanna see some real slums go out the US ,even the so called paradise islands and places one thing I’ve learned is that there’s a hood in every state and county
Seems like he intentionally kept driving back thru the southern part of Broadway. As soon as he gets closer to Cooper he ends up showing around Broadway and kaighn. Seems intentional. Why didn't he show Cooper Plaza, Coopers Grant or Parkside....because that would not fit the narrative.
@@teephillips468 exactly
Being a longtime NJ resident, a couple points regarding Camden: don't blame companies for leaving, blame unions. Campbell's would have stayed if not for the absurd, near automaker's wages demanded. The main employer in Camden was NY Shipbuilding that left after WW2 for obvious lack of demand. Now, let's say joe potato and his handlers gave Camden that $40 billion they just threw away on the lost cause of Ukraine. Camden would be cleaned up. Then, if you came back 5 years later, it would be exactly what it is now - a disaster. As long as welfare prevails and these people are continually given everything, they will never take pride or care about their surroundings. This is the fate of joe potato's America.
Those companies became rich off the employees’ labor. Management didn’t create that wealth. Unions wouldn’t exist if there were no need for them because management would nickel and dime every employee if they could.
@@geraldobrien7323 uh, management or the owners did create that wealth, and it's mobile...
and the workers? they eventually left Camden as well since they couldn't create that wealth you're talking about.... plus who would pay to modernize the plant and still deal with higher wages?..... and yes, I have worked union and enjoy a pension after years of paying for an
education....
Welfare was well meaning, but, promoted dysfunctional behavior. People who have no parenting skills have lots of babies. Kids end up as immature and mentally ill as their parents. You see it in every city in America.
Seems every city has its rough side, is this entire city the rough side? Detroit gets a lot of bad press but wow this place doesn't look like its in the richest country in the world
I used to live in North Camden, pretty much it's all bad. Back in the late 80's when mischief night October 30th came around you would've been dodging empty 40 bottles & bricks while driving your whip smh
As a person who lives in New Jersey, now you see why we Jerseyian avoid Camden at almost all cost.
I lived in Camden in the mid 70's as a kid. I use to love that city, and still do. But it's a shame what's happened to it. It's really corporate greed that doomed this city. When businesses leave, there's not much of a recourse for a city like Camden. The sad thing is that it's prime real estate, and right across the river from Philadelphia. Many businesses are taking advantage of tax abatements, and setting up shop there. Subaru, L3, Holtec, and others. One day Camden will come back and become a Hoboken type of town. But that's going to take some serious time, and a group with a serious vision. What's going to be interesting is with more and more people being able to work from home, the suburbs becomes more attractive and location isn't as important. It's sad, but I hope Camden returns strong one day.
or youll find people move from spot to spot with maybe a homebase but no permanent address. Sorta like Joe and Nic.
You can't solely blame cooperate greed for what happened to Camden, NJ. Unions, Taxes, Politics, Corruption, Solely Relaying on Manufacturing Jobs & Crime, are what killed places like Camden, Gary, Detroit, Central - Western NY State, PA, and Illinois.
@@jamescabral2756 I agree. There’s more to it. But if you take away the income bases for residents, there’s not much that can do to save a city.
I was there a couple years ago to visit the Battleship New Jersey and was surprised how bad the roads to the ship were! Would not want to walk around town as the feeling even in the Uber car was unsafe! Ship is excellent though!
I have travelled through many countries of the European Union, and I love living in the EU, but there are areas (not whole countries, but areas) in the EU, where Camden would be a really nice place to live.
Especially in Greece, Spain and Croatia I have seen much poverty.
I myself am from the Austrian countryside. There are some areas inside my own country, that almost look like Camden. I wasn't even aware of that until last year, when I moved to a 200k city for university.
Thank you the comment. Interesting.
Even places outside of Kampala look much better to live than Camden, your comparison is a little bad.
@@enthusiastisch1922 Dude was I talking about some place in Africa? I have looked up Kampala. Being poor in Camden is much better than being poor in Kampala.
I know what you mean, but all these run down areas in Greece, Spain, Croatia or Austria - the crime rate there is nowhere near as high as in Camden or Baltimore or...that is the difference.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Exactly why you made the comment of Camden being the worst place you have seen was confusing to me because I've seen other videos you've made in Other States that look worst, more destitute and pretty bad. Maybe you should review some of your own footage!
It was a HELL HOLE in the early 90's. Appears nothing has changed.
No national food or restraints because they are contently getting held up.
After the unites states cease to be and north America become more like today’s Europe, mark my words: New York and Pennsylvania will fight each over for influence over New Jersey and new Jerseyans will fight both sides and rise in a neutral independence. The land is too valuable and important, it’s basically the only safe way to go from New England to the south.
Imagine this place at night 😳
Whew! Scary!
It’s a lil scary especially if your not from here
What a scary looking town.
The night life is even better 😂
That's what happens when corporations care about profits and stock price more than their workers and communities they used to operate in. Camden, NJ., Bridgeport, CT, Detroit, MI, and a host of many others.
Yup, you nailed it.
Whose worse than corporations? Wanking fucking bankers.
So true. Capitalism at its best. Sold out to china
You’re free to start your own corporation and run it the way you see fit. If you need additional capital, convince potential investors that your corporation is a “good” investment. If profit is not very important to you or them, then go for it.
@@Observe555 That’s not the point. I remember when Hostess asked its’ employees to take a pay cut to “help” the company. The employees agreed and then corporate gave the executives big bonuses. When the primary focus of a company becomes stock price and profits at the exclusion of all else, the workers and the communities in which they live, are the ones to suffer.
Great information 👍 great video as always.
Yes, a lot of companies moved overseas for cheaper labor - but that's only party of the story. The other part is automation. In my kicking around days years ago, I did a lot of dead end factory jobs, like standing in front of a drill press or a lathe. All those jobs are gone now, and a lot of grunt work is now done by robots.
Residents are responsible for their towns and neighborhoods - a reflection. No business wants to be in a dumpster-fire.
What a dumb comment - you act like FAMILIES collapses before the jobs dried up.
I’d put hands on folks like you if you were in front of me just for saying that.
Exactly white neighborhoods dont look like this because the citizens take care of the grounds and city ordinances are strictly enforced
@@GP4288 yeah you’re way off.
This has nothing to do with ordinances - Smdh. Clearly you’ve never been to Appalachia. ALL WHITE!
When industries leave there is not tax base, let alone income to maintain anything. What type of MATH are YOU doing.
That is the stark truth. Corporations are legal persons, but they are not citizens. They don't vote. When the people who do vote are irresponsible, the corporations are the victims.
This was once a beautiful place. Ship building .. the soup factory.. and the record player builder all left or went out of business. It was also home the one of the first mass shootings in USA. Also this what happens when you have a massive welfare state and let criminals do what ever they want. It's been like this since the 60s . I think there was a police shooting that sparked riots.
Rare to see someone correctly pointing out the welfare state as a major contributor to the downfall of these once great cities all over the US.
As someone who spent the first 23 years of their life living in the Gloucester/Camden Country area I can agree...yes it's a dump one hundred percent.
There is no redeeming quality in that place whatsoever, the fact that there's a prison in the middle of it says it all. Street after street of nothing but misery and trash.
The prison was was torn down 12 years ago, so you are lying..... Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if Camden wasnt the dumping ground for suburban drug addicts, the prison for surrounding counties, public assistance agencies, the dumping ground for rehabs (suburban towns pay Camden to house the suburban druggies.)....sad you think there's "no redeeming qualities" but Subaru, American Water Corp, Rutgers, Cooper Hospital, etc....disagree.
Yea, I worked in the prison once. It is a medium security one. The jerks put the cable head for the phone lines in the secured area. What a pain that was. Also worked in the country jail before it opened. They went from one person to a cell, that it was designed for. then put in three more. Two had to sleep on the floor.
gloucester and camden county are quite well-off. Camden the CITY itself is a dump
My grandma grew up in Camden. My grandpa moved there.. Camden was beautiful. Grew up there during the great depression. My grandmas father (my great grandpa) was a cop. They never wanted for anything. (Turns out he was a bookmaker too). Seeing their address on old letters and whatnot looked upon Google maps... Horrible now. And this isn't a bad section (lake shore).. Not sure what my Grandfather did before or after his service but he worked for the city at one point. His position was filled by Walter Rand. Found that interesting.
Not a zombie apocalypse, just another day living under the best economic system on Earth. I love when you can see the clear effects of capitalism, the declining rate of profit and eternal search for cheaper labor gutting American manufacturing and cities, people describe it as apocalyptic. If so, it's suffering of our own creation, and a more just world can be built in its ashes. Camden, Philly, Detroit, St. Louis, the entire East Shore of Indiana... all gutted in the name of increased profits and to hell with the people and communities they used for labor for decades.
Just to be clear, I totally agree with you.