In the city, the city of Compton

I've always been intrigued about places I was not allowed to go. As a kid I wasn't allowed to ride my bike across a main road to go to 7/11, but my curiosity would take over and would go anyway. As I got older, went to college and visited new places I learned there were areas you weren't supposed to go to as an adult. My freshman year I went to college in North East Philadelphia, and I was warned not to explore the area. I was told a young white girl is not ever supposed to be wandering around “the hood” alone. That always just made me want to see what it was like even more. When I can’t wander as I please though somewhere, I feel like my freedom is taken away and I don’t like that at all.

When I moved to Los Angeles, a friend lent me a car to explore the city. She warned me to not go to certain areas because how dangerous they were and it wasn't a joke. Compton is a city that is well known in many rap songs and where many famous rappers grew up. My mind of course raced that I wanted to just drive through and see what it actually looked like. Was is that bad or dangerous? I didn't push my boundaries and like a good girl I stayed in the areas I was supposed to.

This summer a friend a met in Australia was passing through LA. On his was to Hollywood to meet me, Jacob had one of his bags stolen on the metro with all his valuables including a Mac book, credit cards and his passport. Jacob was one of the most cool, calm and collected people I had ever seen handle a situation like that and I so admire him. I would be crying, cursing and throwing a tantrum. He cancelled all his cards and filed a police report with the LA Sheriff. We then went for dinner when his phone made a strange noise. His Mac book had been located! We both cheered in excitement and then I asked sarcastically “where is it, Compton?!” and laughed. “Kristin!” he excitedly replied, “how did you know?!”

my awesome friend Jacob seeing something other than a police station in LA

Jacob called the police station to find out what to do. We headed over to the LAPD in Hollywood and the officer told us since we had already filed a report with the Sheriff that he could not help us. I can see how the different departments don’t want to step on each others toes, but we had an exact location of his stolen laptop and the LAPD officer would not help us. Jacob then called the Compton Sheriff and he was much more helpful. By this time though, too much time had passed since the original location of the Mac book. By the time we would get to Compton from Hollywood it would be too late. He told us next time we get a location to come straight to him in Compton. We went back to my apartment and put the case to rest for the evening.

The next morning we headed Santa Monica for brunch. As soon as we sat down and we got our Bloody Marys, Jacob’s phone got another location of the Macbook! This time it was across the street from the last location. He ran to the host stand and yelled “I need a cab to Compton quick!” Everyone was a little confused so he started explaining the situation. Our cab arrived but was reluctant to take us to where we wanted to go. He drove very slowly and kept telling us in the 25 years he has lived in LA, he has never been asked to go to Compton. I was getting a bit nervous myself since I had been warned several times not to go, but we were going to the police station, the safest place you could be. 

As soon as we got off the freeway there were bars on all the windows and doors. There were all sorts of garbage and broken down cars on the lawns. It seemed pretty deserted and gloomy. I’m still new to California so palm trees amaze me and they seem to make everything prettier. So if ever a ghetto to be in, there were palm trees that made it a little brighter. We finally arrived at the police station and bolted for the entrance. In the 10 seconds we were outside I heard several people yelling something directed at us, but was just concerned with getting us inside safely. 

When we walked in we were greeted by a woman moaning on the floor. The Sheriffs were all very nice but they couldn't help us for awhile because they were very busy. It was father’s day and they said they were especially busy with assaults today. After a couple of hours they had time to free up an officer and they went to the address to see if they could find the laptop. When he returned he explained that it was a house full of “Mexican Gangsters” and they claimed to know nothing about Jacob’s Mac book. Even though we had a location, there weren't allowed to go searching through the house without a warrant, which is so ridiculous.

police station greeter

anxiously waiting our turn

I looked at the clock and realized I had to be at work soon and started to panic that we had to go. The officers asked how we were getting back and I told them (kidding in my mind) that we were going to take the metro across the street back to Hollywood. Jacob looked terrified and officers asked where we were going. I told them Hollywood and they said we were not taking the train and to follow them. They let us in the back of the cop car, which was pretty exciting since we were just getting a lift and not arrested.

The Sheriffs were so cool and shared interesting stories. I asked them about the worst crime scenes they had encountered. And one officer showed us pictures of some of the most outrageous ones.  I could see Jacob was over the moon about it. I thought it was a pretty awesome experience that we found ourselves in, minus Jacobs things being stolen.

back seat of the police car getting a lift from Compton to work 

Unfortunately, Jacob never got his belongings back. It wasn't your typical sight seeing tour of Los Angeles but we had a pretty cool adventure. I can now cross Compton off my bucket list of destinations and forbidden places!