MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – After wrangling with legalities over the illegal use of eminent domain to seize land owned by a Black couple, the heirs of the waterfront property, known as Bruce’s Beach, are in the process of selling the land back to Los Angeles County.
Bruce’s Beach is located in the city of Manhattan Beach and is located adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. It is mostly a park with a portion being used as a lifeguard training station for LA County. The land was owned by Charles and Willa Bruce and the City of Manhattan Beach seized the land from them in the early 1900s.
After much wrangling between the state and County, the land was deeded back to the heirs of the Bruce family with nationwide fanfare. California Gov. Gavin Newsom even came to town for the signing of the historic property transfer.
“In 1912, Charles and Willa Bruce created the West Coast’s first beach resort owned by and meant for Black Americans. Under their leadership, Bruce’s Beach became a lively and flourishing resort. But their success was unjustly stolen. When harassment, hostility, and violence by the Ku Klux Klan weren’t enough to coerce them to leave, the City seized the land,” said Senator Steven Bradford. “The property that the Bruce’s purchased for $1,225 is now worth $75 million. We stand here today to introduce a bill that will correct this gross injustice and allow the land to be returned to the Bruce family. It is my hope that this legislation will not be the last in a series of actions by the state to address centuries of atrocious actions against Black Americans. I commend Supervisor Hahn for her continued dedication to this issue. She exemplifies a true profile in courage. I look forward to working with all the LA County Supervisors to finally right this wrong.”
Related: Transfer of Bruce’s Beach Includes Clause for County to Lease, Buy Back Land
The family is now exercising a clause to resell the land back to the County.
Despite Bradford’s assertion that the land is worth $75 million the clause puts the selling price at a substantially lesser amount.
The agreement also includes clauses that would allow the Bruces to later sell the property to the county for a price not to exceed $20 million. The plan was developed in concert with the LA County Executive Director of Racial Equity Dr. D’artagnan Scorza who previously served on the advisory board for Inglewood Unified School District.
Transfer of Bruce’s Beach Includes Clause for County to Lease, Buy Back Land
Two months ago this author drove by the beachfront property and noticed the Bruce’s Beach marker was removed under the guise of replacing it with a more updated sign which hasn’t happened yet.
Related: Bruce’s Beach plaque removed to create a replacement
The family’s attorney is set to appear on a local talk show on Jan. 3 to discuss the matter.
The station is marketing the show as an “unexpected” turn in the family’s action, however, if they read the documents they would know this was most likely the intended direction all along.
The transfer of the property was heralded as a “model” for reparations. Is it?
8 Comments
BRUCES BEACH — More “Presentism”
This is such a dishonest situation.
1/3/23
• How it comes out has great relevance to Palm Springs [Section 14], where the same legal team is seeking $2 billion from the city.
• The press continues to imply that the entire Manhattan Beach 30 lot parcel belonged to this one family when, in fact, they only owned four lots and they were paid for them at a much higher rate per lot than the other 26 property owners; all of them were taken by eminent domain, which is a legal process.
• Racism was alleged and certainly that was true at that time in the 1920s in the USA, but they never successfully proved that the racism was the dominant reason for eminent domain. Either way, they were paid.
• County Supervisor Janice Hahn virtue signaled her way to get two of the four lots back for the family and they are now leasing them to the county for the lifeguard station.
• The family now wants to sell them back to the county for $20 million which means that something that happened 100 years ago, for which they were paid, is now going to enrich heirs, who had nothing to do with the original situation. And Janice Hahn is costing taxpayers $20 million…and should have to pay it out of her own damn pocket.
• Not only that, why aren’t the other 26 lot owners being compensated?
• Also, by way of history, the City of Manhattan Beach still owns 16 of the lots and the county still owns 12.
The Bruces owned TWO lots in the condemned area — lots 8 and 9 in Block 5 — which are located between the Strand and Ocean Drive, not on Highland. They did not own any others there. Four other Black families (not related to the Bruces) owned and built dwellings on three lots in Block 12.
The remaining 25 lots in the condemned area were owned by White entities (individuals, families and/or businesses) and were not developed, i.e. they were only sand, which is why they were not paid as much in the condemnation. Some never even contested the complaint when it was filed.
No, they owned four lots. The negotiation was to get two of them back.
Sorry, but that’s incorrect. Mrs. Bruce first purchased lot 8 in Block 5 in 1912 from Henry Willard. She then purchased lot 9 in Block 5 in 1920 from Charles and Anna Krause and Jessie Carson Drake. Each lot was approximately 33 x 100 feet. That was all that they owned there. The map on page 23 of the Bruce’s Beach History Report details the other landowners and can be found here: https://www.manhattanbeach.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/50404/637916667376600000.
Exactly! Why aren’t the others being treated the same? To pay current 100 year extended bloodline family for something that occured to members of their bloodline they never met nor do they even know and probably never hear of is absolutely ridiculous and asinine. If that’s the case, I’m native American, shouldnt I be compensated for the land that was taken by the settlers? 🙄 This whole thing is absurd and nothing more than the latest government Performances… Gavin goes Hollywood 🤨😒🙄
Also – regarding the plaque at Bruce’s Beach Park: The new plaque has already been manufactured and it is currently sitting in the city yard while they finish the design for the meditation garden that will surround it.
It was supposed to be installed by June 2022. Why the delay?
What an interesting turn of events. Looking forward to hearing from the Bruce Family’s Attorney on January 3rd to make sense of what on the surface makes no sense.