The LA County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to move forward with a plan to return two parcels of oceanfront property in Manhattan Beach to the heirs of its original Black owners.
The land, known as Bruce’s Beach, was condemned by city officials nearly 100 years ago and seized from its owners Willa and Charles Bruce, using eminent domain.
The County is also awaiting passage of state legislation that would allow the County to return Bruce’s Beach to its rightful owners. A report released by the County outlined the steps to return the property, including conducting any necessary land assessments, appraisals and analyses needed to transfer the property.
“We cannot achieve racial equity until we confront our past and make it right,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell. “We at the county are on an important road to set a precedent as we work to put actions behind our commitment to an anti-racist agenda and an anti-racist county.”
The Bruce family purchased the land in 1912 for $1,225, adding other parcels to create a beach resort catering to Black residents. The resort featured a bath house, dance hall and café and eventually attracted other Black families who purchased adjacent land and created what they hoped would be an ocean-view retreat.
The resort became a target of the area's white populace, leading to acts of vandalism, attacks on vehicles of Black visitors and a 1920 attack by the Ku Klux Klan.
Under pressure from white residents and business owners, the City moved to condemn the Bruces property in 1924, seizing it through eminent domain under the pretense of planning to build a city park.
The resort was forced out of business, and the Bruces and other Black families ultimately lost their land in 1929.
Supervisor Janice Hahn said it never should have been taken from the family.
“This was a racist attempt to drive out Black families and Black beach-goers,” Hahn said.
The County will need to identify the correct descendants of the Bruce family.
Hahn said the County Treasurer and Tax Collector are conducting an initial lineage assessment and then the county will bring on a third-party law firm to confirm the legal heirs through a transparent and unbiased process.