Compton meaning Compton in LA.
As in one of the most dangerous suburbs for gang violence in America.
Yeah, that one.
Let’s be real, being a white girl from Australia, I have little to no idea about what gang culture is and what it looks like in the US, so how was I supposed to know when I accidentally stumbled into it?
Let me start at the start…
So on my way back from Central America I had a 12hr stopover in LA. I was exhausted, sick and just wanted food (Kathryn gets hangry, ya know?).
When I got off the plane in LAX I was like, sweet I’ll find myself some overpriced sandwich bar and chill in the aircon with wifi until I can check my bags for my LAX-SYD flight home. Lo and behold, there was no such thing as a sandwich barro any other food establishment in LAX before security.
Lame.
I knew that I couldn’t survive the 8 hours until I could check my bag in and go past security so I sighed frustratedly and bundled myself up ready to get back on the train to find some kind of civilisation/food establishment. (Read here to find out about my other LA train experiences!)
Now on my way TO Central America I had stopped in LA for long enough to go all the way to Hollywood and Santa Monica- so I knew where I had to change trains to get myself to the city area.
At the first stop on the train line, I noticed that I could see, reasonably close, a sign which said ‘MacDonalds, Denny’s, Taco Bell’ and I was like, ‘ YES! This is my place!’ (I even snap chatted it- I was that excited). So I got myself out of the train station, so proud of myself for navigating through another country to take care of hangry Kathryn.
I first walked under a bridge, with quite a few homeless people sleeping/ living there and walked through the dusty streets for about 5 minutes until I saw those glorious Golden Arches! I noticed that the parking lot and the shops were all deserted but that didn’t phase me, I was on a mission.
As I approached the Macdonalds, I noticed three young men also approaching the door and, naturally, I let them go first. These three young men were stereotypically dressed as if they were in a gang: corn rows in their hair with pants sitting at their knees, shiny boxers hanging out, muscle t’s and huge gold jewellery. Of course I thought nothing more of this because
I had no idea where I was.
The three men walked into the Maccas and slammed the door in my face. Should have been a warning sign right? Like, leave now, you’re obviously not wanted.
Nope. Of course I didn’t leave, that would be the smart thing to do.
I walked into the Macdonalds where these three guys were yelling about how the place smelt like shit. At this point I noticed that there were several homeless people in the Macdonalds, but homeless people come to Macdonalds in Brisbane too, so I just shrugged it off.
I ordered my Big Mac and sat down at a table. I was so happy. Macdonalds in America tasted exactly the same as in Australia-but was bigger! 🍟🍔
I took some time to take in my surroundings: 2 security guards, 6 homeless people, a family, the 3 guys, locks on the toilets… wait what, why are the toilets locked? Weird. But I guess this is America, it at least explains the security guards. I hooked into the wifi and dug into my burger! YUUUUUM! 🍔
I was messaging my boyfriend and telling him all about how great I was at navigating public transport in another country and telling him about how I didn’t realise that America was so multicultural, as there were only Hispanic and African American people around and in this Macdonalds. He immediately freaked out and asked me where I was.
I checked my maps.me (GREAT APP for offline maps while travelling!) and realised
I was in Compton
Whoops.
By this point I had finished my burger and I hightailed it back to the train station-pretty much running the entire way. Police at the entry to the train station check if I was okay and encouraged me to get on the train ASAP.
Look, there were so many warning signs I should have noticed, but I was so driven by hunger (a theme which is common in all of my stories like this) that I ended up in Compton.
Oh! And I almost forgot! I was doing some research on Compton after the fact and found out the gang which work out of there is the bloods and I was wearing blue (the opposing gang colours). Lil but surprised I didn’t get shot.
Have you ever had an experience like this?
Happy Travels!
