Within three months, the Central Valley city of 300,000 could become the nation's largest municipality to file for bankruptcy. The City Council is trying to slow or stop the bust by entering mediation.
By Diana Marcum, Los Angeles Times
March 10, 2012, 6:32 p.m.

Reporting from Stockton—

The name painted in the plate-glass window, "Bradley's," has a martini glass standing in for the "y."

The late-afternoon sun has turned the other windows into mirrors. Deep inside, in bar-appropriate shadow, patrons rest their drinks on 100-year-old mahogany and, as in many a neighborhood pub, consider hopes gone astray.

Across the way are a marina without boats and parking garages without cars. There are few people outside on downtown sidewalks.

This is what it looks like when a city is close to going under.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stockton-bankruptcy-20120312,0,1237230.story