LA Votes to Return Bruce’s Beach, Taken From Black Family

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to return the ownership of a beach to a Black family almost a century after it was taken from them.

The board voted 5 to 0 to return ownership of Bruce’s Beach to the great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons of Charles and Willa Bruce, who originally purchased the plot in 1912 in what would eventually become the city of Manhattan Beach, The New York Times reported. County officials released details about the return last week. The move has been supported by lawmakers across California, including Governor Gavin Newsom, who authorized the  transfer back to the original family last September.

“On one hand, it’s the answer to our prayers,” said Anthony Bruce, a great-great-grandson to the original landowners, according to the Times. “It’s the relief that we’ve been waiting for. But on the other hand, it’s a reminder of the terrible and tragic events that took place before this happened.”

The Bruces originally built the resort in that area so that Black families could enjoy the seaside, giving visitors access to changing rooms, a dance hall, and a cafe without dealing with discrimination that they faced at other beachfront locations, CNN reported. Sadly, the couple and visitors to their business would deal with harassment from white neighbors. They were also harassed by the Ku Klux Klan and real estate agents, the LA Times reported. The Bruce couple refused to back down. But in 1924, Manhattan Beach officials claimed the land through eminent domain, saying that they needed it for a public park.

The Bruce family tried to fight to keep their land but lost lawsuits and were paid $14,500 by the city of Manhattan Beach. City officials have admitted that the land grab from the Bruce couple had racist motivations and constituted an attempt to intimidate and eventually drive out a successful, Black-owned business.

Now that the land is back in the family’s hands, the county will rent the property from the Bruce descendants at an annual payment of $413,000 during a 24 month lease, and the family plans to sell it back to the county for the $20 million the land is worth, NBC News reported. The move to return the land was supported by pro bono lawyers who worked on the details of the deal for months. This effort was also supported by Justice for Bruce’s Beach, a grassroots group that worked to raise awareness of the historic injustice. “The good fight to obtain reparations for the Bruce family through restitution and restoration of their land,” the group’s Instagram bio reads.

Many of the homes around what used to be Bruce’s Beach are worth several million dollars and the area and the property is now estimated to be worth about $20 million, CNN reported. The county and the descendants of the original Bruce couple feel that this is just a start in righting the wrongs of history against Black Americans in the state. Some relatives hope to see other cases where elected officials work to return wrongfully taken land back to other families.

Local leadership across the U.S. has a history of creating public parks at the expense of communities of color. New York City’s iconic Central Park was created by displacing Seneca Village, a community that was predominantly land-owning African-Americans, from what is now the Upper West Side. The community built their homes away from downtown Manhattan to escape discrimination, but were pushed off their land when the park was developed, according to the Central Park Conservancy. Like the land grab at Bruce’s Beach, city officials used eminent domain to push out Seneca Village residents who felt that the compensation they received undervalued the land.

For many marginalized communities, especially for Black Americans, displacement robs several generations of potential housing and financial stability. The irony of the land being seized by the city, almost a hundred years ago to create a public park, is how many communities of color often have less access to parks and other green spaces compared to their white counterparts. This traps members of those communities in areas more prone to the urban heat island effect, contributing to worse health outcomes for members of that community during hot summers.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to return the ownership of a beach to a Black family almost a century after it was taken from them.

The board voted 5 to 0 to return ownership of Bruce’s Beach to the great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons of Charles and Willa Bruce, who originally purchased the plot in 1912 in what would eventually become the city of Manhattan Beach, The New York Times reported. County officials released details about the return last week. The move has been supported by lawmakers across California, including Governor Gavin Newsom, who authorized the  transfer back to the original family last September.

“On one hand, it’s the answer to our prayers,” said Anthony Bruce, a great-great-grandson to the original landowners, according to the Times. “It’s the relief that we’ve been waiting for. But on the other hand, it’s a reminder of the terrible and tragic events that took place before this happened.”

The Bruces originally built the resort in that area so that Black families could enjoy the seaside, giving visitors access to changing rooms, a dance hall, and a cafe without dealing with discrimination that they faced at other beachfront locations, CNN reported. Sadly, the couple and visitors to their business would deal with harassment from white neighbors. They were also harassed by the Ku Klux Klan and real estate agents, the LA Times reported. The Bruce couple refused to back down. But in 1924, Manhattan Beach officials claimed the land through eminent domain, saying that they needed it for a public park.

The Bruce family tried to fight to keep their land but lost lawsuits and were paid $14,500 by the city of Manhattan Beach. City officials have admitted that the land grab from the Bruce couple had racist motivations and constituted an attempt to intimidate and eventually drive out a successful, Black-owned business.

Now that the land is back in the family’s hands, the county will rent the property from the Bruce descendants at an annual payment of $413,000 during a 24 month lease, and the family plans to sell it back to the county for the $20 million the land is worth, NBC News reported. The move to return the land was supported by pro bono lawyers who worked on the details of the deal for months. This effort was also supported by Justice for Bruce’s Beach, a grassroots group that worked to raise awareness of the historic injustice. “The good fight to obtain reparations for the Bruce family through restitution and restoration of their land,” the group’s Instagram bio reads.

Many of the homes around what used to be Bruce’s Beach are worth several million dollars and the area and the property is now estimated to be worth about $20 million, CNN reported. The county and the descendants of the original Bruce couple feel that this is just a start in righting the wrongs of history against Black Americans in the state. Some relatives hope to see other cases where elected officials work to return wrongfully taken land back to other families.

Local leadership across the U.S. has a history of creating public parks at the expense of communities of color. New York City’s iconic Central Park was created by displacing Seneca Village, a community that was predominantly land-owning African-Americans, from what is now the Upper West Side. The community built their homes away from downtown Manhattan to escape discrimination, but were pushed off their land when the park was developed, according to the Central Park Conservancy. Like the land grab at Bruce’s Beach, city officials used eminent domain to push out Seneca Village residents who felt that the compensation they received undervalued the land.

For many marginalized communities, especially for Black Americans, displacement robs several generations of potential housing and financial stability. The irony of the land being seized by the city, almost a hundred years ago to create a public park, is how many communities of color often have less access to parks and other green spaces compared to their white counterparts. This traps members of those communities in areas more prone to the urban heat island effect, contributing to worse health outcomes for members of that community during hot summers.