I've seen the opposite, if anything.
There's this bridge, the Willis Ave Bridge, between Manhattan and the Bronx, that we'd often end up on returning from Downtown, and since childhood I always though it must have been the ugliest place on earth. You just had a good time, now going back home, it's night, and the area is just desolate - grey buildings, grey concrete, with a yucky overlit gas station to break up the monotony of grey.
Real downer coming home. You know things are bad if that makes Hunts Point look (almost) good in comarison,,,