Women, Downtown At Night, And Weapons
I don’t know how to soften the truth, but having a woman walking with you downtown at night can cause problems- nothing different than in a bar or in Tiajuana, but there are usually more people around those places. Most of time I can walk by 2 or 3 gang-bangers with nothing more than a nod of “mutual respect” to each other, especially when I have Isis.
Adding a woman into the equation makes things very different.
Coming home from Sushi Gen at 2nd and Central (4 or 5 blocks) my friend (a very capable and military self-defense trained lady) crossed paths with 3 little “bangers” that uust have been all of 21 at most, and acting all tough. Of course we ignore them as we pass (hell, I don’t know what they are saying) but as soon as we pass them she says “So did you get any pepper spray yet?” No, I didn’t (see below) and as chance would have it we were going around the same block and then I could hear them talking shit to us, but not getting in front of us. I hate the feeling knowing that I could probably have broken all 3 of their 5′3″ 130lbs bodies at once (well, with a few swift kicks from my friend) but the street was totally deserted and you know they are carrying something.
The problem with weapons is when you need one, you don’t have it available. And mace/pepper spray can spray back on you and just get someone madder if they are really in a bad mood. I’m researching, but I don’t think I’ll be doing too many more nightly walks, especially with a woman, without some type of lethal protection. Until then, Isis (White Dog) will have to do 
I think I’m leaning towards a multi-use taser / cattle prod kind of thing, but a good disguised switchblade might be part of the artillery too. I really don’t feel in any more danger here than Hermosa Beach. The drunks at the bars at the beach are similar to the psycotic street people that yell at you here, you try to ignore them. But there are more seriously bad people here than the beach punks that just want to mouth-off. And I honestly have no problem “throwing out some garbage”.