Compton Museum Launches Expansion Drive
 |
| Kevin Sherrod, rendering of new Compton Museum of Art and History |
The 900-sf. Compton Museum of Art and History plans to increase its exhibition space by a factor of five. Kevin Sherrod of Gensler has produced renderings for a new building featuring more space for art and historical exhibitions, a theater, a roof deck, and a glass canopy that will cover an area adaptable for art installations. The museum will be moving from its mini-mall address (306 W Compton Blvd, #104) to a new location less than a mile away (961 W Compton Blvd.)
The project is expected to cost $350,000, not much in this age of billion-dollar museums but a lot for a shoestring operation staffed by working artists. Donations are welcome.
Comments
The city of Compton was founded in the late 1800s by Griffith Dickenson Compton. His first name sounds okay, middle name kind of iffy, the last name sounds rough----something about the consonant "C" and the "omp."
However, if sections of Southern Calif built over 70 years ago, such as around southeast LA, had been put together by people with greater ambition, that would have helped. See: Simon Rodia in Watts beginning in the 1920s.
As a counterpoint, when looking at a map of England, a lot of its listed towns or cities sound picturesque. Not sure why that is, but some of it may be due to portions of Europe experiencing waves of advancement since the days of ancient Rome.
The sound of the name "Compton" made me think of the following, which I also just saw...
KTLA . com, August 27, 2025: A new assessment to rank the dirtiest cities in America had a field day with Southern California, which took both first and second place while filling four of the top ten spots. The study conducted by the national lawn care company LawnStarter, analyzed several categories, including cleanliness, pollution, living conditions, waste infrastructure and resident dissatisfaction.
San Bernardino easily won the title for dirtiest city in both California and the US...Next in line was Los Angeles, which was also joined in the top ten by Ontario and Corona...