[2] and is the last major tributary to enter the Los Angeles River before it reaches the Pacific Ocean.

Compton Creek passes through Willowbrook and runs 8.5 miles (13.7 km) in total.

Shortly after it passes under West Greenleaf Boulevard, it changes to an earth-bottom section with riprap banks.

A 2009 study conducted at the University of Southern California's Dornsife School's Department of Earth Sciences noted Compton Creek's marked water contamination and unprecedented quantity and variety of pollutants.

A seminal study at the intersection of Earth Sciences and Critical Studies, Professor Gustafson reports that the Watts riots of 1965 came in part as a response to oppressed people's inability to find housing outside of polluted areas, whence the creek was cited as a prime example.