The only time I feel unsafe anywhere in Los Angeles is when a cop comes nearby, I try to ride a bike outside of a park, the cloud of tear gas the cops shot starts blowing towards me, when I am too close to orange county, when when I see someone who looks like they're from orange county, when I pass a Tesla, when its 3 am (7 pm in Venice beach) and the taco trucks are all closed and I'm hungry and a little drunk and there's just nothing to be done.

Or when the feds jump out and try to disappear somebody. That's pretty jarring.

Edit: also when the utility company given a state enforced monopoly decides to set half the city on fire and its really pretty but you know the carcinogens in that smoke be craaaaazy. Or when there's a lot of wind and I think for a split second it might be another earthquake. Or when the cops spam the emergency alert channel with 'please do our jobs for us' even though I set it to 'serious fucking danger only'. Or when the cops just blow up a fucking neighborhood. They do that sometimes. And I wasn't here for it but when the CIA was flooding the city with crack and having the cops move it around for them I bet it was legit scary.

I like how your example of "well beyond the US" is a city which is physically visible while still standing in the States.