Saturday is usually a busy day at Alma’s Place, a soul food restaurant across from the Compton city courthouse.
But about an hour after the store opened on June 22, Corina Pleasant, who runs it with her mother, Alma, noticed no customers. The parking lot, which it shares with other small businesses in the strip mall, was filled with cars and chaos as hundreds of people flocked to the courthouse hoping to catch a glimpse of rap star Kendrick Lamar.
Alma’s Place and other nearby businesses say they lost thousands of dollars that day. Business owners accuse city officials of not giving them any notice about the video shoot, ultimately forcing them to close. They are now seeking compensation for their losses from Lamar, the production company pgLang, or the city.
“It was really disappointing because the electricity was on and the gas was on,” Pleasant said, “and I was just running everything and not getting paid. I was literally there doing nothing because I had to pay my staff with the little money I made.”
Pleasant said if they had been informed ahead of time, they might have been able to close earlier for the day or set up a pop-up tent with a special menu.
She estimates she lost between $1,800 and $2,200 that day.Other business owners in the area told similar stories in testimony to the City Council and in interviews with The Times.
A Compton spokesperson said in a statement that the city will identify “opportunities for more efficient film permit communication to the community” in the future.
“Compton businesses, especially small businesses, are the backbone of our city,” the statement said. “We want to maintain open lines of communication and do all we can to support economic growth.”
Representatives for Lamar and pgLang did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Rumors of Lamar’s video shoot have been circulating since at least June 17, building anticipation that he might make a highly publicized local appearance.
Compton officials issued film permits on June 21 for several locations in the city center, including Rosecrans Street, Compton College, Central Street, Willowbrook Street, the courthouse on Compton Boulevard, Compton Courtyard and a memorial in a parking lot.
More than 700 people arrived at the courthouse the next day to appear on video, with the nearby parking lot filling up and some even parking on the lawn.
Lamar began filming at Tam’s Burgers and other locations in the early afternoon, and headed to the courthouse around 3 p.m. where a large crowd was waiting for him.
Pleasant closed her restaurant hours ago. Crowds flooded the shopping center’s parking lot, creating one-way traffic, blocking access to fire breaks and trash cans and trapping vehicles that were already parked there, she said. Customers, many of whom often drive from Riverside and Orange County on weekends to dine at Alma’s Place, turned back and left.
“One day doesn’t matter,” Pleasant said, “it doesn’t matter when you’re there, it’s a waste of time. It doesn’t matter if your Edison bill is $1,000. It matters when two weeks’ pay for three people is close to $3,000. It doesn’t matter if your gas is $800. You’re there and all this stuff is running and you have nothing to show for it.”
Adelfo Antonio Garcia, co-owner of Sunny Express Gourmet Fast Food, said he also lost about $2,000 that day, and customers still believe he is closed on Saturdays.
Garcia said the situation is frustrating because his restaurant was already struggling, and he said the city’s lack of communication is unacceptable.
“It’s the small and medium-sized businesses that will suffer,” he said in Spanish.
Alma Pleasant attended the following Tuesday’s city council meeting, where she shared her disappointment with city officials and said they needed to “put an end to this.”
“I’m here because three things affected me on Saturday,” she said in public comments. “And when those three things affect me, I’m all in. One, my kids. Two, my money. Three, my food.”
Production companies are not required to pay affected businesses, said Kathryn Arnold, a producer and entertainment consultant who is not related to Lamar, but filmmakers sometimes compensate companies as a gesture of goodwill.
“Everyone works better when there’s clear communication,” Arnold says. “Nobody likes being blindsided by something like this.”
