Ganton



"Tough suburb. So tough I wished my Mother-in-law lived there. Serious social problems persist, including, but not limited to, drugs, gang violence, car crime, murder, stupidity and self-deception. Home to the Grove Street Families, once the toughest and most respected gang in south central Los Santos, now seriously in decline."

- San Andreas Official Website

Ganton is a deprived district located in the eastern part of South Central Los Santos, San Andreas.

Character
It is bordered by Idlewood to the west, East Los Santos to the north, Willowfield to the south, and East Beach to the east.

Ganton is a stronghold of the Grove Street Families, as Grove Street is located here, and is populated by many Grove Street Family gang members. These include Carl Johnson, Sweet Johnson and Lance "Ryder" Wilson. Former residents at the beginning of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas include Beverly and Brian Johnson (both deceased) and Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris (who moved to Idlewood).

Ganton has a very high crime rate, with prostitution, gang violence, car crime (especially carjackings), poverty and drugs (especially crack-cocaine) as the primarily problems. As you may notice, after dark many prostitutes, Grove Street gang bangers, and drug dealers will spawn.

As normal, you will see many Police Mavericks (also known as "ghetto birds") flashing spotlights on Gang members or even the player. These helicopters are not harmful to the player unless he has a 3+ star wanted level. Rarely, vehicles will drive into Grove Street itself but on rare occasions, random vehicles will drive to Grove Street and park there or make a U-turn.

On the bridge going over Grove Street, if your are driving fast enough you can crash through a particular section of the wall and land into the cul-de-sac (this happened to Frank Tenpenny in the final mission of GTA San Andreas, "End of the Line").

The name "Ganton" may come from a district in Edinburgh, Scotland (city where the Rockstar North HQ is located) named "Granton", or the city of Compton, South central LA, wich is well known for gang wars and high crime rates.

Ganton is structured as two different areas. The first area is highly residential, consists of many small, single-family houses, a bar (Ten Green Bottles), and contains a long street from the Ganton/Idlewood border which runs and ends into Grove Street. There are two turns here, a small bridge which takes you into East Los Santos and a small road that takes you into the 2nd area of Ganton.

The 1st area is primarily populated by walking pedestrians (especially Grove Street itself). The 2nd area is much busier, contains more driving pedestrians, and a long busy road which stretches from East Beach to Idlewood. The 2nd area also contains a housing projects area known as the Ganton Courts, a southern road which takes you into Willowfield, and a long high bridge which takes you over Grove Street and into East Los Santos.

There is a higher level of gang violence on the Ganton/Idlewood border. The two neighborhoods are separated by the Los Santos train tracks running through. This is because Idlewood is a Ballas neighborhood while Ganton is a Grove Street neighborhood. It is not uncommon to see Grove/Ballas shoot-out's from across the train tracks. Ganton had a population of 149 as of 1992.

Events of GTA San Andreas
Ganton is the main stronghold of the Grove Street Families, but begins to come under increasing pressure from Ballas gang members (especially through the crack cocaine spread), hoping to take the area for themselves. This is facilitated by Big Smoke, Ryder and Mark "B-Dup" Wayne, who are secretly affiliated with the Ballas through a drug/crack relationship. Drugs have become a large problem in Ganton, mainly through Smoke and Ryder buying drugs off of Mike Toreno, T-Bone Mendez and Jizzy B. (the Loco Syndicate).

Ganton eventually falls into the hands of the Ballas gang after Carl Johnson is taken to Whetstone by C.R.A.S.H. and Sweet Johnson is arrested and imprisoned during the mission The Green Sabre. The Grove Street Families disband with no leader or OG's, although former gang members continue to wear the green. They more than likely continue to reside in Ganton, although they are not visible on the streets during Carl and Sweet's absence, instead, Ballas will start to form a presence on the streets. The former Grove Street Family gang members, under the influence of Big Smoke, co-operate with the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos.

Carl and Sweet (released via Mike Toreno) later return to Ganton, which is disarray due to the influx of drugs and Ballas. They re-claim Ganton as Grove Street territory during the mission Home Coming (re-establishing the Grove Street Families), and use Ganton as a base for invading other districts (such as Idlewood). Ganton, along with the rest of Los Santos, is later plagued by riots following the acquittal of Frank Tenpenny, although Carl and Sweet manage to 'lock-down' Grove Street, and bring stability to Ganton as a whole. Ganton serves as the place of death for Tenpenny, who crashes a firetruck over a bridge and into Grove Street.

Influence
The name is a play on real life city Compton which is in Los Angeles county, north of Long Beach. However, the housing projects areas where B-Dup formerly resided is more based on and partly resembles the Imperial Courts Housing Projects of Watts Los Angeles. Likewise, the main road in Ganton primarily resembles Rosecrans Avenue in Compton.

Gang control
Since the gang was formed and at the beginning of the game, Ganton is a stronghold for the Grove Street Families and it remains one of the few territories in South Central Los Santos after the gang's decline, Ganton came under several attacks during the gang from the Ballas as the neighborhood is surrounded by Ballas and their allies Vagos territories.

In the mission Drive-Thru, CJ, Ryder, Smoke and Sweet went to a Cluckin' Bell in Willowfield, soon as they spotted a Ballas' Voodoo heading to the Grove Street, the four could successfully take down the Ballas and interrupting them to arrive at the hood.

Another attempt, depicted in the mission "House Party", three huge waves of Ballas tried to take the Grove Street during a house party, coming from all possible alleyways and bridges. Later on, the GSF lost a fight against the Ballas resulting in Sweet`s arrest and the GSF being completely disbanded of Los Santos, and Ganton falling into Ballas hands.

At the end of the game, Sweet is released from prison and orders CJ to get him and CJ back to the Grove Street, there, the two brothers alone, eliminate all the Ballas in the Grove Street within Ganton, taking the neighborhood back as a GSF territory again. However, the southern area of Ganton can still be attacked by the Ballas, but the Grove Street area cannot be taken over by any gang.

Notable residents

 * Carl Johnson (? - 1987, 1992 - Unknown) (left for and returned from Liberty City)
 * Sean "Sweet" Johnson (? - Unknown)
 * Kendl Johnson (?- 1992, moves to El Corona to live with Cesar Vialpando)
 * Beverly Johnson (? - 1992, killed) (Drive-By shooting).
 * Brian Johnson (? - 1987, killed) (Death unknown).
 * Lance "Ryder" Wilson (? - 1992, killed in the mission Pier 69)
 * Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris (? - 1992, moves to Idlewood and is killed in the last mission End of the Line.)
 * Mark "B-Dup" Wayne (? - 1992, moves to Glen Park)
 * Barry "Big Bear" Thorne (? - 1992, 1992 - ?) (moves to Glen Park, later returns to Ganton.)
 * Denise Robinson (Girlfriend of Carl after the mission Burning Desire. Can be killed, resulting in a possible death in 1992.)
 * Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross (unknown residence, seen hosting a party in Grove Street. It is unknown whether it is his house or a random GSF member's house.

Homes

 * Johnson House
 * Sweet Johnson's House
 * Ryder's House
 * Denise's House
 * Jeffrey's House (OG Loc's)
 * Ganton Courts

Businesses

 * 98¢ Store
 * Barber Salon
 * Binco
 * Botanica
 * Carniceria Panaderia
 * Dollar Discount
 * Homies Store
 * Laundry Cleaners
 * Liquor Mart
 * Live Nude Girls Girls Girls
 * Los Santos Gym
 * Oficina Postal
 * Pawn Shop
 * Ten Green Bottles
 * Uni-Tel
 * U.S. Mail

Collectibles

 * Two Gang Tags

Weapons

 * 9mm: Behind the second house down from Sweet's house.
 * AK-47: In the Johnson house after spraying over all rival gang tags.
 * Brass Knuckles: Under the overpass next to Ryder's house.
 * Camera: On the second floor of the Johnson House, in the bedroom.
 * Micro Uzi: Under the bridge adjacent to Sweet's house.
 * Molotov Cocktail: In the Johnson house after spraying over all rival gang tags.
 * Sawn-off Shotgun: In the Johnson house after spraying over all rival gang tags.
 * Shovel: Behind Ryder's House.
 * Spray Can: On top of the Pawn Shop and in the Johnson House after completing Tagging Up Turf.
 * TEC 9: On top of Sweet's house. Also spawns in the Johnson house after spraying over all rival gang tags.

Icons

 * Police Bribe (Appears in the alley behind Binco).
 * Info icon (underneath the bridge over Grove Street)

Spawning Vehicles

 * Black Boxville (spawns across street from gym, between blue town houses)
 * BMX (spawns in front of the house across from the Johnson House)
 * Boxville (spawns right outside B-Dup's old house after completing Home Invasion)
 * Clover (often spawns around Ganton, sometimes found in Liquor Mart parking lot)
 * Esperanto (sometimes spawns in 98¢ store back parking lot)
 * Greenwood (spawns in front Sweet Johnson's House)
 * Greenwood (spawns everywhere around Ganton)
 * Hustler (spawns in front Denise Robinson's House after she becomes your girlfriend; you must achieve 50% progress with her to gain access to this vehicle)
 * Hydra (spawns on the roof of Sweet's House after completing GTA SA 100%)
 * Newsvan (driving around, sometimes found in parking lot)
 * Perennial (spawns everywhere around Ganton)
 * Picador (spawns next to Ryder's house)
 * Primo (driving around)
 * Remington (often spawns around Ganton)
 * Rhino (spawns under the bridge on Grove Street after completing GTA SA 100%)
 * Sabre (often spawns around Ganton)
 * Stallion (often spawns around Ganton)
 * Virgo (often spawns around Ganton)

Other

 * Basketball Court (besides Sweet's house in Grove street, in his yard)
 * Ganton Gym (Off of the Ganton/Idlewood border near the train tracks - on the Ganton side)
 * Pool Table (inside the Ten Green Bottles bar)
 * Sprunk Machine (in front of Ten Green Bottles bar)
 * Video Game (inside the Johnson House in Grove Street)

Trivia

 * When drunk, Jimmy De Santa from Grand Theft Auto V, can say that his hood is from Ganton to Rockford Hills. This is strange, since GTA V takes place in different universe, where Ganton is not presented and replaced with Davis. It's possible that Ganton was called Davis in Beta, (similar to how places like Vinewood and Richman were still present) but was removed for unknown reasons.
 * Both the first and the final missions are triggered from within the area. Big Smoke's introduction mission is triggered from the Johnson House while the final mission is triggered, from Sweet's House. Ironically, both missions featured Big Smoke himself when he is the first to welcome CJ upon his return to Los Santos and in the finale, CJ confronts Big Smoke in his drug factory.

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