Ganton

Type	LOCATION
Ganton
Grove Street, with the Johnson House (bottom left) and Sweet Johnson's house (bottom right), looking onto East Los Santos, as depicted in GTA San Andreas.
Appears in	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Location(s)	Los Santos, San Andreas

“

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

Character

Ganton is the main 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 revealed 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 in 1989). The area is majority African-American.

Ganton has a very high crime rate, with prostitution, gang violence, car crime (especially carjackings), poverty and drugs (especially crack-cocaine) as the main issues. As you may notice, upon nightfall many prostitutes, Grove Street gangbangers, and drug dealers will spawn.

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

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

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 the player into East Los Santos and a small road that takes the player into the second half of Ganton.

The first area primarily consists of pedestrians (especially Grove Street itself). The second area is much busier, containing more traffic, and a long busy road which stretches from East Beach to Idlewood. The second area also contains housing projects known as the Ganton Courts, a southern road which takes the player into Willowfield, and a long, raised bridge which takes the player over Grove Street and into East Los Santos.

There is a higher level of gang violence at the Ganton/Idlewood border. The two neighbourhoods are separated by train tracks running through. This is because Idlewood is Ballas territory while Ganton is Grove Street Families territory. It is not uncommon to see Grove Street/Ballas shootouts from across the train tracks.

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 epidemic), hoping to take the area for themselves. This is enforced by Big Smoke, Ryder and Mark "B-Dup" Wayne, who are secretly affiliated with the Ballas through a clandestine deal. 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, after Carl Johnson is taken to Whetstone by C.R.A.S.H. and Sweet Johnson is arrested and jailed during the mission The Green Sabre. The Grove Street Families disband with no leadership, although former gang members continue to wear the green colors. 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 gang members, under the influence of Big Smoke, cooperate with the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos.

Carl and Sweet (released via Mike Toreno) later return to Ganton, which is in disarray due to the influx of drugs and Ballas. They reclaim Ganton for the Grove Street Families during the mission Home Coming (reestablishing the Grove Street Families as a major force in the Los Santos gang underworld, and use Ganton as a base for attacking 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 Tenpenny met his maker, who crashes a firetruck at the flyover bridge and onto Grove Street.

Influence

The name is a play on real life city Compton, California, located within Los Angeles County. 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. The name "Ganton" may come from a district in Edinburgh, Scotland (city where the Rockstar North HQ is located) named "Granton".

Gang Control

Ganton is a stronghold for the Grove Street Families and it remains one of the few territories in eastern Los Santos after the gang's decline. Ganton is often attacked by the Ballas and the Vagos as the neighbourhood is completely surrounded by their territories.

In the mission Drive-Thru, CJ, Ryder, Smoke and Sweet were dining at a Cluckin' Bell in Willowfield, and spotted a Ballas' Voodoo heading to Grove Street, the four successfully gave chase to the invading Ballas and destroyed their car, killing the intruders.

Another attempt, depicted in the mission "House Party", three huge swarms of Ballas tried to attack Grove Street during a house party hosted by Jeffery Cross aka OG Loc. Going through all possible alleyways and bridges to take the Families by surprise. Later on, the GSF lost a fight against the Ballas resulting in Sweet`s arrest and resulted in the GSF being completely disbanded in Los Santos, and Ganton falling into the Ballas control.

Near the end of the game, Sweet is released from prison and orders CJ to take him back to Grove Street, there, the two brothers in a cooperative effort 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 (1968 - 1987, 1992 - Unknown) (left for and returned from Liberty City)
• Sean "Sweet" Johnson (1966 - 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 (1967 - 1992, killed in the mission Pier 69)
• Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris (1958 - 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.)
• Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross (? – Unknown)
• Dope

Homes

• Denise's House
• Ganton Courts
• Johnson House
• OG Loc's House
• Ryder's House
• Sweet's House

Businesses

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

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/Collectibles

• Two Gang Tags
• 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)
• Hermes (driving around, and it's driven by Vagos members, when the turf is under them control)
• 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%)
• Majestic (only when the turf is under the Ballas control)
• Newsvan (driving around, sometimes found in parking lot)
• Oceanic (only when the turf is under the Vagos control)
• 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)
• Savanna (spawns everywhere around Ganton)
• Stallion (often spawns around Ganton)
• Tahoma (only when the turf is under the Ballas control)
• Tornado (only when the turf is under the Vagos control)
• Virgo (often spawns around Ganton)
• Voodoo (spawns everywhere around Ganton)

Other

• Basketball Court (besides Sweet's house in Grove street, in his front garden)
• 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)

Gallery

GANTONDISTRICT123-1.jpg

The Ganton district on the map, boxed in red.

Ten Green Bottles.jpg

The Ten Green Bottles bar with a Sprunk vending machine at the right of the building

Ganton2.jpg

A view of 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 a different universe where Ganton is not presented and is replaced with Davis. It's possible that Davis was called Ganton in V's beta, (similar to how places like Vinewood and Richman are also present in V as well as San Andreas) 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 feature Big Smoke in the beginning when he is the first to welcome CJ upon his return to Los Santos, and in the finale when CJ confronts Big Smoke in his drug factory.
• Some female residents who sit on the stairs outside their homes will often ask CJ to have sex with them. No matter what's the response, CJ will reject saying he's "too busy".

See Also

• Davis - Grand Theft Auto V equivalent to Ganton

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