Two presidents, George W. and George H. W. Bush also lived in Compton, in an apartment at the corner of Santa Fe and Myrrh. The apartment house was still standing in 2002, but it has since been razed. While she was living there, Barbara Bush described the town as "lovely."
My aunt grew up in Compton and was there when the Long Beach Earthquake took place. The temblor hit Compton hard, killing 17 residents, and she had to evacuate her home for several days for fear of aftershocks.
Did not know that George Bush had lived in Compton. The Long Beach Earthquake you mentioned was 1933, right? Many cities in California (and elsewhere) had much different populations in the 30’s and 40’s.
My great aunt, who was blatantly racist, lived for some time in Compton in the 50s. Liked it quite well. She and my uncle later moved up to L.A. and as time passed, Compton became a black city. During the riots of the 60s people back east were shocked to see how nice Compton looked compared to eastern slums—nice homes, yards, etc.
As more time passed, blacks found themselves being pushed out of Compton by Mexicans. They didn’t like it one bit, all talk of ‘people of color’ notwithstanding. Compton was ‘theirs’ historically. Only problem with that was that Compton was whites-only at its founding.