U really call Compton a ghetto? (Los Angeles, Imperial: apartment complex, safe neighborhood, shopping center)

[agnt.starling]

Originally Posted by christianguitarist27

Dude, I went walking through Skid Row once- Had no idea it was skid row I'd be walking through. I went into Mc'Donalds to eat. The Dirtiest Mc'Donalds I've EVER!! BEEN IN!!! in My LIfe!!!!

Originally Posted by christianguitarist27

I told the Cashier & other dude behind the counter. They just took a glampse at it & looked back at what they were doing. As if that were totally normal.

Which Mickey D's are you talking about? There are 2 centrally located in Skid Row, Alameda behind the Missions, & sweatshops and Broadway right before the Missions & much more closer to DT. Both occasionally swarm w/hobos, but its really not that bad (ok granted, not that great either).

Like the rest of us subjected to the daily grind, the employees are probably use to it as well.

The MD's on Fig near USC isn't all that grand either & is not too far from South Side of LA.....

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by agnt.starling

Which Mickey D's are you talking about? There are 2 centrally located in Skid Row, Alameda behind the Missions, & sweatshops and Broadway right before the Missions & much more closer to DT. Both occasionally swarm w/hobos, but its really not that bad (ok granted, not that great either).

Like the rest of us subjected to the daily grind, the employees are probably use to it as well.

The MD's on Fig near USC isn't all that grand either & is not too far from South Side of LA.....

I have heard some pretty bad things from friends about this one.

[goldenchild08]

this is true. California Ghettos are very deceiving. and that is WHY they are so dangerous. during the day youd think youre in a normal neighborhood. but at night is when most of the crime happens, and if you are in the wrong part of time, you will likely realize when you are in the wrong neighborhood.

I slightly disagree. I grew up in what was very much the hood in San Francisco. Yes, San Francisco. Although SF, as a whole, doesn't have a reputation as being a hard ghetto city, it has some of the most dangerous run-down hoods on the West Coast. Most of the projects in SF are visibly dilapidated and in terrible shape with boarded up windows and such. However, San Francisco's economy is based solely on tourism and the most run-down dangerous projects in SF are tucked away and remote. Since SF is a tourist city, the ugly impoverished side of the City by The Bay is swept under the rug by the media. The ghettos of SF are not like the popular hoods of Compton, Long Beach and South Central that have been iconified in American pop culture by mainstream rap music (i.e. NWA, Dr. Dre, Snoop) and award winning classic movies that romanticize ghetto life (i.e. Boyz 'N The Hood, Menace II Society). But this doesn't mean that the ghettos in SF aren't worse than L.A. You aren't going to accidently stumble into the hood in SF unless you know where you're going. Take a look at the infamous 200 Block Randolph projects in my old neighborhood in Lakeview, SF. I used to live less than a block and half from these jects. Many of SF's homicides in the 80's and early 90's were centered in around these projects. Look at the boarded up windows and trash strewn all over the balconies. This building looks like it is going to collapse in on itself in a few years. These project buildings stand as an undeniable eye sore in what is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

200 randolph san francisco - Google Maps

If you think that is bad, take a look at the Potrero Hill projects in SF. This looks like a poorly maintained prison/military complex in a third world country. Can you believe people still live in these buildings? If these ghettos/projects were heavily publicized in the national media, the national reputation of San Francisco would forever be changed.

turner terrace san francisco ca - Google Maps

Many people should be amazed that ghettos that look this bad exist on the West Coast. Not even the projects in Oakland or L.A. are this run down and shoddy looking. The projects in SF are mostly populated by poor Black folks. Although Blacks only make up 6% of SF's population, they account for over 60% of the City's homicide victims every year. The homicide rate for Blacks is actually twice as high in San Francisco as it is in Oakland. This is very sad considering that Oakland is consistently in the top highest homicide rate cities in the nation every year and already has a very high homicide rate for Blacks.

San Francisco is more deadly for African Americans

[Harrier]

San Francisco is a compact, walking-public transit oriented, east coast style city. Furthermore, it is an old city -like the east coast/midwest cities(Los Angeles, San Jose, and possibly Sacramento may be older but they did not develop as rapidly as S.F. did in the 1800's.) My point is that San Francisco can be compared to the cities back east and in the midwest that everyone on this thread has been touting as having "real" ghettos. Goldenchild just illustrated this. Los Angeles on the other hand is a spread out, car oriented, 20 th century city, which is the epitomy of suburban sprawl effect. The Craftsman ranch style bungalow, the family car, and factories/refineries(metal shops, aerospace, tires, oil rigs) build near the "bedroom communities are what built the place in the post war boom. And before the war, it the physical image of the city had already been influenced by the automobile. So of course the economically depressed/crime ridden areas of the metropolis don't look like San Francisco. San Francisco has no place in the comparioson between eastcoast/west coast "ghettos". It is in a category of it's own. I always feel when I am in SF, that I am no longer in California. That is not meant to disparage SF, it is just it's nature being a city that developed in the 19th century.

[No attitude]

Welfare can do "wonders",not just palm trees,It keeps people "sedated" which helps deter crime.When the welfare stops watch out.

[Observation]

Just cause it looks nice means nothing.
Compton is where the Bloods & Crips originated from, and has been on the top 10 most violent cities list for over 20 years. I agree it looks like the suburbs and looks nice, but it is no joke.

[Harrier]

According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram - the current percentage of Caucasians living in Compton is approximately 12% - I read the print version of the paper - will add the link when I find it.

Originally Posted by matt_sfl

Do you think there could be one white person living somewhere in Compton? Not a mixed Hispanic but a pure anglo. With 95,000 people odds are there would be at least one right?

[raaa]

Originally Posted by the one

wish i could rep you.

this is true.

people forget (or dont know) that compton and inglewood were very nice "suburbs". filled with white people. then the 5o's, 60's and 70's changed that. the area was still nice, but by the time the crack 80's came, a lot of LA (and its surroundings) took a dive.

all in all, compton is not bad. it has its pockets of bad, but its not like other parts of LA, historic south central particularly. and it defintely does not compare to detroit or St. Louis.

just remember, looks can be deceiving.

Wow ! I thought Compton was bad becase of Dr DRE and nwa but I looking at the house prices and they are 2 times higher then in Ypsilanti MI were I'm from but compton still has a much higher murder rate were I live. it has to be compton apartment that give it a bad name,your average gang banger cant afford a home in Compton. Also the U OF m '"ghetto"looks worst then compaton and is a lot mor offorable.

[TechieGeek]

I'm sure this thread has already had these types of replies, but as someone from LA let me tell you- COMPTON is A GHETTO. It was common knowledge to LA residents that you DO NOT drive through Compton. Yes, that says DRIVE not walk. It might look okay, but that is because all of LA is a newer area so you don't have the weathering of ghettos in older places. But people in Compton are in gangs. I might be wrong, and have never been to Compton but I am willing to bet most of Compton is gang families. If you are wearing the wrong color in Compton or even doing sign language because that looks like gang signs, I hope you have a will.

[Agnapostate]

I'm in Compton right now, at school, and am still breathing. I ride through Long Beach and Compton every day on a red bike, and am not dead yet. I find that Compton is one of the bicycle-friendliest cities because of the bike lanes on major boulevards. Being safe comes of riding on major streets during the daytime or early evening, and not antagonizing gang members by throwing up hand signs or shouting at them, since I know well enough that Compton's not my hood.