Felony Flats is the name of crime-ridden neighborhoods of several cities in the Western United States. They are usually near a river or creek. In some Western cities, similar neighborhoods are known as skid road.
Aberdeen, Washington's Felony Flats, beside the Wishkah River, best known as the childhood home of Kurt Cobain46.981°N 123.809°W / 46.981; -123.809 (Felony Flats, Aberdeen)
Apple Valley, California neighborhood, near California State Route 18 34.5315°N 117.2235°W / 34.5315; -117.2235 (Felony Flats, Apple Valley)
Portland, Oregon's Lents neighborhood, beside Johnson Creek, plagued by crystal meth addiction 45.475°N 122.562°W / 45.475; -122.562 (Lents, Portland, Oregon)
Part of Spokane, Washington's West Central neighborhood, near the Spokane River 47.663°N 117.445°W / 47.663; -117.445 (Felony Flats, Spokane)
Vancouver–Camas, Washington, near the Columbia River
North side of Wasilla, Alaska near Mile 49 on the George Parks Highway 61.582°N 149.608°W / 61.582; -149.608 (Felony Flats, Wasilla)
The similarly disparaging term "Poverty Flats" was bestowed on many Western towns, including what later became Dunsmuir, California, Redding, California, Lee Vining, California (was Poverty Flat), Grant, Idaho, Wolf Point, Montana, and Moab, Utah. A fictional Northern California mining town called Poverty Flat was depicted in the 1915 movie The Lily of Poverty Flat, based on the Bret Harte book of the same name, and shot near Santa Cruz, California.
