Ganton is a deprived district located in the eastern part of South Central Los Santos, San Andreas. The name is a play on real life neighborhood 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. However, Grove Street itself takes influence from Spruce Street in Compton. Likewise, the main road in Ganton primarily resembles Rosecrans Avenue in Compton. Ganton is an African-American neighborhood.

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 primariy problems. As you may notice, after dark many prostitutes, Grove St gang bangers, and drug dealers will spawn. As normal, you will see many Police Helicopters (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 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".

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 smal 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 more busy, 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 seperated by the Los Santos train tracks running through. This is because Idlewood is a Ballas Stronghold while Ganton is a Grove Street Stronghold. It is not uncommon to see Grove/Balla shoot-out's 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 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.

Notable residents

• Carl Johnson (1968 - 1987, 1992 - Present) (left for and returned from Liberty City)
• Sean "Sweet" Johnson
• Kendl Johnson ( 1971 - 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 (1968 - 1992, killed in the mission Pier 69)
• Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris (1958 - Early 1992, moves to Idlewood and is killed in the last mission End of the Line.)
• Mark "B-Dup" Wayne (1976 - 1992, moves to Glen Park)
• Barry "Big Bear" Thorne (1984 - 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 residence, seen hosting a party in Grove Street.) (Lives a few doors down from Carl And Sweet)

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
• Pawn Shop
• Ten Green Bottles
• U.S. Mail
• Uni-Tel
• Oficina Postal

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.

Spawning Vehicles

• BMX (spawns in front of the house across from the Johnson House)
• Boxville (spawns right outside B-Dup's old house)
• Clover (often spawns around Ganton)
• 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 (after completing GTA SA 100%)
• Perennial (spawns everyhere around Ganton)
• Picador (spawns next to Ryder's house)
• Remington (often spawns around Ganton)
• Rhino (after completing GTA SA 100%)
• Sabre (often spawns around Ganton)
• Stallion (often spawns around Ganton)
• Virgo (often spawns around Ganton)

Icons

• Police Bribe (Appears in the alley behind Binco).

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)

Gallery

The Ganton district on the map, boxed in red.

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

A view of Grove Street.

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