I agree with their assessment of Bakersfield for California, although Fresno is right up there. Both are just awful.
I spent a week in Worcester, MA a while ago, for work. Stayed in what I thought was a nice enough hotel. When the office I was visiting asked me where I was staying they were like "Yikes, don't go out at night!'. I thought they were just giving me a hard time, being a hayseed from Iowa, until the boss pulled me aside later and said "Seriously, you should change hotels. They keep finding dead hookers in that one.".
And when I asked him which hotels were better, he recommended I stay out of town.