I had an anxiety attack there once. My wife worked for an airline and we decided to do a day trip to SF from Seattle. This time we decided not to rent a car. We arrived at the airport and the bus took us to an Oakland Bart terminal where we could catch bart to SF.
The scene was right out of Book of Eli or any other post-apocoliptic movie, and the croud was just as scary (I bicycle commuted through Seattle’s central district without fear, btw.)
We took the next bus back to the airport and never did that again. My view of Oakland is similar to the picture of LA in the beginning of Demolition Man. And I’ve walked the streets of downtown Detroit at 1:00 in the morning just a few years ago...