In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce, a young Black couple, purchased prime ocean-view property in Manhattan Beach. They built a resort and created one of the few small strips of beach in the Los Angeles area where Black visitors could enjoy the sand and water as well as hang out, eat and dance.
But some white residents, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, were unhappy with minorities coming to their area, and started to threaten and harass the Black beachgoers. Eventually, the Manhattan Beach City Council concocted a plan to take the property by way of eminent domain in 1924, under the guise of building a park. The city seized the two parcels of land in 1929, giving the Bruces only $14,500 after they fought it, and the city demolished the resort. The land sat empty and no park was built for decades.
Now an effort is underway to return the land, which is worth millions of dollars, to the Bruce family nearly a century after supporters say the property was wrongfully taken from its rightful owners.
“This is the story of a crime, it was fraud,” said Chief Duane “Yellow Feather” Shepard, a distant relative and spokesperson for the Bruce family. “They defrauded our people and they denied them their civil rights and their right to the pursuit of happiness.”
Shepard told Yahoo News that “all Charles and Willa Bruce wanted to do [was] have a legacy to hand down to their children and grandchildren.”
Shepard showed a newspaper clipping from June 27, 1912, that described the poor treatment of Black visitors who simply wanted to enjoy the beach.
“The establishment of a small summer resort for negroes at North Manhattan has created great agitation among the white property owners of adjoining land,” the article read.
But despite the harassment and roadblocks sent their way, the Bruces thrived, and visitors continued to come.
Charles and Willa Bruce were very proud of what they had created and what they were doing for the African American community,” Shepard said. “And when I look out there, I see that beautiful view and I realize this was a remarkable thing, a remarkable place. And we’re hoping that it will be again.”
Led by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and California state Sen. Steven Bradford, there’s a strong push to return the property to the Bruce family. When the land was taken by the city, it was passed on to the state of California. Then, in 1995, it was transferred to Los Angeles County, but with the stipulation that it could not be given away for private use.
Hahn, like many others in the Los Angeles area, said she never knew her hometown had its own story of injustice.
“I feel a little embarrassed about how long it took me to learn the story of Bruce’s Beach,” she told Yahoo News. “Willa and Charles Bruce, who owned this property, turned it into a beach resort for African Americans, and then it was literally stolen from them under the guise of eminent domain.”
A bill that’s pending in the state Legislature, SB 796, would lift the restrictions on the county, allowing it to transfer the property back to the Bruce family. The measure unanimously passed the Senate in June and is awaiting approval from both chambers.
Supporters are confident that it will pass and head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. But they’re hoping that will happen before the September legislative recess and Newsom’s recall election.
What sits on the property now is the Los Angeles County lifeguard training headquarters, with a stunning view of the ocean in a location that could be worth $75 million.
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