Never hitchhiked on purpose, but I have been offered rides twice while walking. One was from someone I knew and I accepted. The other was late at night by some random guy, and I politely declined.
I used to, sometimes.
When I was 23 or 24, I lived in Chatsworth and worked at the Beverly Center on the Beverly Hills/West Hollywood border - about a 3 hour bus ride each way, with 3 connections one way and 4 the other.
If I missed the bus in the morning, or missed my connection, I would sometimes hitchhike either all the way to work or else to a place I could catch my next bus. I would never hitch at night, since my night route went through some scary areas, but the day route was fairly respectable.
I never had anything too scary happen. A couple guys hit on me, and I politely turned them down. Some of them said they’d pay, same answer, never any trouble. One guy asked me if I “party” - I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but I figured it was either about sex or drugs and I probably didn’t want to find out. (My answer, with my best Valley Girl intonation: “I like to go to parties!? With my friends and stuff, like for a birthday? My friend Cheryl? She, like, throws these awesome parties, every one has a different theme, like one? Was a white party? Everyone had to wear only pure white, and like all the food was white and everything…blather blather blather…” He didn’t press the issue.)
I used to hitchhike a lot when I was in the army (1993-1996), back when they still allowed it. No real interesting stories to tell, but I still remember the 3 basic hitchhiking safety rules:
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Always ask them where they’re going. Never tell them where you want to go.
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Never sit up front if someone’s sitting in the back.
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If anything at all looks or feels even remotely suspicious, don’t get in.
Oh, and the 4th rule, which sort of goes without saying:
- Don’t forget your rifle in a stranger’s car.
I used to hitch back home in NZ a lot, between about 16 and 25. A couple of experiences with well-heeled looking middle aged men who got a little too touchy led me to start travelling with a Gurkha knife strapped to my back. In general there were great experiences though. Got handed a fair bit of weed, got a bed for the night a few times. There were a couple of drunk drivers and one memorable time where I got in a car full of gang members who were busy cleaning sawn-off shotguns in the back next to me.
One summer in the late 1980’s I worked guiding rafts on a whitewater river in North Carolina. I would often hitch to and from town, to and from my dorm, etc. In that area hitchiking was commonplace and pretty-much expected. No one ever solicited sex.
I used to hitch a lot in the 1970s, when I was in college. I calculated once I had hitched something like 10,000 miles.
The longest single trip was from New York to Oregon with my girlfriend in 1973, which took eight days, sleeping under bridges and in fields. Our longest ride was with a trucker driving a semi from Nebraska to Utah, a huge guy with a bald head and handlebar moustache who popped reds and talked continuously to us through the entire night. I also hitched from Boulder Colorado to El Paso once, plus a lot of shorter trips.
I also hitched a lot in Australia and New Zealand when I was there in 1974. Probably the most memorable ride was with three drunked aboriginals outside of Perth.
I repeat the question: Does anyone still hitchhike in the U.S. today? I haven’t seen a hitchhiker for years.
my college days were only a few years ago, and like i said, we always hitched too and from campus. I would still see people hitch hiking on occassion around town before I moved to Japan. It’s not common, but you still see it every now and again. I lived near a lot of hippies, though… 
Saw one just a month or so ago when driving my daughter to college when I got off the interstate. Gave thought about picking him up on my way back, but realized he was heading a different direction than I.
I always smile when driving past a jail or mental hospital, and see signs warning against picking up hitchers! 