LA County returns Bruce’s Beach to descendants of Black owners

Bruce’s Beach, a beachfront property in Manhattan Beach seized from its owners nearly a century ago because they were Black, is being returned to their descendants.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to return two parcels of oceanfront land to the Bruce family 98 years after Manhattan Beach took the property through eminent domain, the Torrance Daily Breeze reported.

The return, pending escrow, marks the nation’s first apparent act of property-based reparations. It’s also the result of more than a year of legislative maneuvering to return the land.

The land once housed Bruce’s Beach Lodge, a seaside resort owned by and operated for Black people as a recreational haven in the early 20th century, when African Americans were barred from many public beaches. The Bruce family was harassed by the white community and the Ku Klux Klan.

The city of Manhattan Beach used eminent domain to take the land owned by Willa and Charles Bruce, who were Black, along with nearly two dozen properties, for a park that wasn’t built for decades. The 1924 seizure, historical records show, was initiated to force Black people out of Manhattan Beach.

With an arduous, legally complex process complete, the land will go back to the descendants of beach lodge owners Willa and Charles Bruce.

After a 30-day closing period, the Bruces’ great-grandsons, Marcus and Derrick Bruce, will own the 7,000 square-foot property, valued at $20 million.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time the government has returned property to a Black family after acknowledging it had been improperly taken,” Bruce family attorney George C. Fatheree, a partner at the Sidley Austin law firm, said. “And we’re hopeful that it will not be the last.”

After the Bruces receive the deed, they will lease the property back to the county for $413,000 annually for two years, according to an agreement. Once that lease is up, the family will have the option to sell the property back to the county for $20 million.

The county will transfer the land to the Bruces without restrictions on its use. Manhattan Beach still has the power to change zoning laws for what kinds of properties can operate on its coast.

Derrick and Marcus Bruce, the great-grandsons of Willa and Charles, will manage the property with help from Anthony Bruce, Derrick’s son. The Bruces must pay property taxes

“As a family,” Anthony Bruce said in a statement, “we are all very grateful to all the people involved who helped give momentum and hope to us in trying to get our land back properly.”

The effort to give the land back to the Bruces began in April 2021 with Senate Bill 796, which removed deed restrictions that prevented the county from transferring the property back to the Bruces.

The parcels now being returned to the Bruces are bordered by 26th and 27th streets, Manhattan Avenue and The Strand. In 1948, about 20 years years after Manhattan Beach took over that land, the city gave the property to the state. The state gave the parcels to L.A. County in 1995, on the condition the county couldn’t transfer the property. SB 796 cleared the land return.

[Torrance Daily Breeze] – Dana Bartholomew

Read more

Los Angeles

Governor’s signature means Bruce’s Beach transfer can move forward

Los Angeles

Bill would return Manhattan Beach land seized from Black couple century ago