Regions of the US: The Wild West

The Wild West refers to western US, where many European settlers moved during the 19th century to establish new farms and new cities. It is thought of as a violent place where the law was not generally respected.
There are many films, stories and television programmes about the Wild West, especially ones that include gunfights between bad cowboys and the town’s sheriff or good cowboys. In westerns (= movies about the Wild West) the bad cowboys drink too much alcohol, shoot anyone who upsets them, cheat when they are playing cards and start fights in the town’s saloon. At the end of the story the good cowboy or the sheriff usually wins the last fight and the people of the town are safe again.
These stories are usually not based on fact,but they are how people imagine cowboys lived in the past. If someone describes a place as being like the Wild West, they mean that the place is very violent and exciting and that not many people there obey the law.

* Dodge City

Dodge City is a city in the US state of Kansas. In the 19th century, Dodge City was a place where many people came to drink and play cards for money, and there was a lot of fighting and shooting. People sometimes use the name Dodge City to talk about a place where there is a lot of fighting and there seems to be no law:
As the drug dealers and the armed gangs moved in, hte neighbourhood began to look like Dodge City.
If someone in the US compares a place to Dodge City, they mean that it is very dangeous and full of crime. The phrase “get out of Dodge” is sometimes used to mean to leave a very bad, dangerous or unpleasant situation.