Kevin Costner was born there. George and...

Kevin Costner was born there. George and Barbara Bush once lived there while he peddled drill bits to local oil companies. And a hometown Olympic gold medalist is now interim president of the local community college.

But in recent years, bad news has come too--as the 1989 rap album by NWA put it--”Straight Outta Compton.” The city is beset by a high crime rate and persistent poverty. And there is some tension between blacks and Latinos, who have moved into Compton in large numbers since 1980. Latinos complain that there is little Latino representation in the school administrative system, although Latino students make up about 60% of the district’s enrollment.

Earlier this month, former Councilwoman Patricia Moore was convicted of extortion and failing to file tax returns. Former Compton Mayor and Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, who was found guilty of extortion and income tax fraud, is serving a 27-month prison term. The city’s debt-ridden schools were taken over by state officials three years ago and are still struggling.

A hopeful spot is the new Radisson Crystal Park Hotel and Casino, a card club that could signal a turning point. It is expected to generate 1,000 jobs and provide more than $4 million in city revenue in its first year.

The city is named after Griffith Dickenson Compton, who led a wagon train of 30 settlers here in 1867 to form a Methodist temperance colony. It was incorporated in 1888.

Like many area suburban cities, Compton’s demographics started changing after the post-World War II job boom. Middle-class white residents began moving out as middle-class blacks began moving in during the 1950s--doctors, lawyers, Dodger players, postal workers and other government employees.

After the Watts riots in 1965, many white business owners fled downtown Compton. No businesses replaced them and the once bustling community of frame houses and minor commerce began to struggle economically.

Over the years, other cities and unincorporated areas have tried to distance themselves from Compton and its troubles.

In the 1980s, Dominguez Medical Center moved its mailbox from one side of the hospital to the other so it would have a Long Beach address instead of a Compton one. Then Paramount erased the name of Compton Boulevard from its map. Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale and Redondo Beach followed suit. Then in 1990, unincorporated areas in East Compton put up signs renaming themselves East Rancho Dominguez.

Compton regained a measure of dignity in 1994 after an economic research firm ranked it No. 2 in the county as an “Entrepreneurial Hot Spot: The Best Places in America to Start and Grow a Company.”

Meanwhile, a local hero, Ulis Williams, has stayed in the community. Williams, who won a 1964 Olympic gold medal as part of the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team, is interim president of Compton College. He has helped the college win full accreditation and raise its enrollment to more than 5,000.

By the Numbers

CITY BUSINESS

Date incorporated: May 11, 1888

Square miles: 10 miles

Number of city parks: 14

City employees: 650

1995-96 operating budget: $52 million

ETHNIC BREAKDOWN

Latino: 44%

White: 2%

Asian: 2%

Black: 53%

PEOPLE

Population: 90,454

Households: 22,330

Average hopusehold size: 4

Median age: 25

MONEY AND WORK

Median household income: $24,971

Median household income/LA County: $34,965

Median home value: $107,100

Employed (16 and older): 35,539

Percentage of women in labor force: 50%

Percentage of men employed: 69%

Self-employed: 987

Car-poolers: 23

FAMILIES

Married couple families with children: 33%

Married couple families with no children: 16%

Other types of families: 36%

Nonfamily households: 16%

RETAIL STORES

Number of stores: 462

Number of employees: 3,885

Annual sales: $497 million

Source: Claritas Inc. retail figures are for 1995. All other figures are for 1990. Most percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.