From my experience at 10+ years in Boston (on Mrytle street and then on Joy street), at playing flute, etc., 1) go to wherever you feel comfortable, 2) pull out some sheet music, or not, 3) play, and, 4) just for the fun of it, leave your flute case open, in front of you.
Unless you are in extreme circumstances, you will be perceived as a musician, while playing for a living, which frankly is not seen as prostitution, per se, and your open flute case just could be crossed with silver.
If you like the sound,
Stick around.
If you gotta split
Please leave a bit.
Dear Jim, I haven’t heard that since about 1970 or so.
Wow, so much has changed since then!
Well, maybe not so much the music…
Fiddling is totally different from violinning. I would think that the type of music would have a huge affect on your financial intake. Folks get “folk” music(what we call trad). Not so much classical.
I have played my flute down by the bike path, where there is a stretch of grass right next to the ocean. I was in Santa Barbara for the day. There were quite a few homeless laying around, when I was there… It doesn’t seem like a very dangerous area, not like downtown LA!
heh, I saw the Bongo man when I was there 
Well, you’re probably right. And maybe SB is more busker friendly than I’d guessed. La Jolla Cove here might different, especially if your bongos bothered the seals.
Balboa Park in SD issues performer permits on a monthly lottery basis. With paper in hand, you’re entitled to your designated spot and some measure of park security protection, which could be a plus for female performers. I did once play impromptu on the plaza near the House of Ireland without a permit and without being rousted, but music in and around the international houses is fairly common.
There are/were quite a few female buskers in NYC that I recall - one somewhat masculine folk singer, one college-age fiddler I used to see underground at Times Square.. Cute, that one, and good; never occurred to me, or anyone else that I saw throw her a buck or three, that she was a prostitute.
Playing music with an instrument in a public area is hard to confuse with prostitution, which is generally done without (visible) instruments, and deliberately not visible in general traffic areas. Women dress differently, too, and subtlety is not part of the trade.
Safety is the main issue, or should be. If you want to try to busk, and are worried for safety’s sake, then a) stay in a very visible area, with heavy traffic (people, not cars!), and b) think about playing with another person – it’s more fun, takes some of the physical demand of non-stop playing away from just you, and – even though it’s easier, musically, you will more than likely make more money, as people tend to like watching/listening to several musicians more than one, almost no matter how brilliantly that person may play.
He’s the worst, isn’t he? Can’t keep any time at all.
I wouldn’t say Santa Barbara is a dangerous place. But you do get a bit of unwanted attention sometimes. Fortunately as I get older it’s less often, but it is enough to ruin a day every once in a while.