Compton And Los Angeles Are Separate Cities

In the New York Times obituary (July 4, 2025) of the prolific hip hop choreographer for films and TV, Dave Scott, who grew up in Compton, California, and died in Las Vegas at age 52, Compton is described as "the city in South Central Los Angeles." I've lived and attended public schools in both places and know, if the obituary writer doesn't, that Compton is a city near Los Angeles, not in Los Angeles.

The obituary writer would have been on firmer ground if he or she or they had written that Compton is a city located in Los Angeles County.

Dr. Dre's Mom's Long Road Out Of Compton

It was about twelve years ago when I came across a copy of Verna Griffin's memoir, Long Road Outta Compton: Dr. Dre's Mom on Family, Fame, and Terrible Tragedy (Da Capo Press, 2008). Browsing through the book in the library, I learned she was born in the same year as me (she's three months older) and attended the same high school, Centennial, in Compton, California. I'm sure we were classmates in some of the classes but I don't remember her. I looked for her picture in a yearbook, but I was unable to find it. She may have dropped out due to giving birth to Dr. Dre at age 16 in 1965.

Now I want to track that book down, probably at New York's famous Strand Bookstore. They are sure to have copies in stock. When I get it, I want to read it from cover to cover. Perhaps I can gain some insights into how she managed to rise above the gangs and street violence of Compton and successfully raise a son who is rich and famous and who has helped put the city on the map as well as raise ten million dollars to build a performing arts high school in Compton.

Should Compton Become The New Brooklyn?

 I don't know if Aja Brown, a young African-American urban planner, is still the mayor of Compton, California. Assuming that she is, I will point to an article that appeared on Los Angeles magazine's website dated October 2, 2013. (I accessed the article on February 5, 2019 while looking for anything about the city I once called home in the 1960s.)

What caught my attention, you ask? It was Ms. Brown's prediction, her desire, her belief that Compton will be the new Brooklyn. Disheartened, she said, by "the impact rap has had over Compton for decades," she wants to "rebrand our community."

As any mayor worth his or her salt would do, Ms. Brown touted Compton's many assets: "We're 15 minutes from downtown [it's not clear if she's talking about Los Angeles or Long Beach or both], the port and LAX. We're surrounded by freeways and have light and heavy rail and great institutions....We're ready to have a renaissance."

Let's hope that that renaissance she favors doesn't displace the city's  current residents. I don't know if Ms. Brown has ever been to Brooklyn. But before Compton is turned into a hipster's destination, she should bear in mind the many longtime Brooklynites, like the African-Americans living in the Crown Heights section, who had to leave because the area became too gentrified, too hip, too expensive.

There's an old saying, be careful what you wish for, you may get it.