Under an agreement approved by the Board of Supervisors in late June, the land is officially being transferred to Marcus and Derrick Bruce, great- grandsons of Charles and Willa Bruce. Print Issue Archive. US beach returned to black owners after 98 years. Derrick and Marcus Bruce declined to comment on Wednesday through George Fatheree, a lawyer for the family. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to return the property to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce. Historical documents proved the act was perpetuated by racism, and last year the city returned the property to the couple's descendants. Shepard said in a telephone interview with the Timesthat the Bruces are "very satisfied" with the sale price and wanted to sell the property because it is zoned for public use only. William Redmond III, a visitor from Atlanta, takes a photo of the historic plaque marking Bruce's Beach in April in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Willa Bruce ran the popular cafe and entertainment offerings while her husband worked as a chef on a train dining car. "Im ecstatic," said Kavon Ward, who started a movement to return the land to the Bruce family. Another element to this incident would be a harbinger of the decade to come. Up north in Santa Monica, on Memorial Day weekend in 1920, a young Black man named Arthur Valentine and his family had the temerity to picnic on a beach outside the area segregated for African Americans. Married couple Willa and Charles Bruce began purchasing land along the shoreline in the city of Manhattan Beach, just outside Los Angeles, in 1912. Mrs. State law required that the county use Bruce's Beach for public recreation, and prevented it from transferring or selling the property. What happened at Bruce's Beach - Easy Reader News The property's original name, Bruce's Beach, was officially restored by the Manhattan Beach City Council in 2006, with Mayor Mitch Ward, the city's first and only Black mayor, leading the renaming campaign. Please check your email for further instructions. Willa ran the place while Charles Bruce continued to work on the Pacific Union railroad. Los Angeles County officials gave the deed for the Bruce's Beach property to Bruce family members during a ceremony held on the land, where the L.A. County Lifeguard Training Center is now located, toward the end of July. The Pacific Electric Railway (Red Car)ran between the two, on what is the bike path today. Getty Images Almost 100 years after the government took their land, it has been returned. January 4, 2023 / 9:28 AM In June, the county returned the land to the family, and agreed to keep leasing it from them for $413,000 a year in order to continue operating a county lifeguard training centre located on the beach. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Since the city could not provide monetary restitution with public funds, officials began considering how to restore the property to the original owner's descendants. The Prioleaus, in particular, were pillars of the Black LA community. [1] They established a resort and named it for Mrs. Bruce. The bill also notes that the city council voted to block any new resorts from opening to prevent the Bruces from relocating their business. Bruce's Beach was one of the few beaches in Southern California in the 1920s that was open to African Americans. She only left a few sentences etched in the historical record, but she fashioned them with might, so they might last: Mrs. Because the action against the Bruces involved government bureaucracy, it's not as easy as simply turning over the property to the descendants. Mike Ives is a general assignment reporter. Two years ago, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted, 4 to 1, to adopt a statement of acknowledgment and condemnation that did not include an apology. Nashville music executive Jerry Bradley, who signed Alabama and Ronnie Milsap and helped brand the outlaws style of country music during a 40-year career, has died. The situation, as described by Mrs. Bruce, has a pathetic side, for she avers that negroes cannot have bathing privileges at any of the bathhouses along the coast, and all they desire is a little resort of their own to which they might go to enjoy the ocean., Whenever we have tried to buy land for a beach resort, we have been refused, Bruce said. Neither Willa Bruce nor her patrons, however, were daunted by this show of power. A photo of Charles and Willa Bruce is attached to a plaque marking Bruce's Beach in April in Manhattan Beach. In 1927, the family moved out of Bruce's Beach, and the city demolished the buildings two years later. It sat below the crest of a dune, near developer George Pecks precarious wooden pier and pavilion, neither of which would survive the decade. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Recently, the family decided to sell the property back to Los Angeles County. Despite the city claiming the land was needed for a park, the property sat vacant for decades. It was not until 1960 that a park was built on a portion of the seized land, with city officials fearing the evicted families could take new legal action if the property wasn't used for the purpose for which it was seized. "We haven't always had a proud past.". Lines were being drawn in the sand over the issue, and it wasnt entirely white against Black. First published on January 4, 2023 / 9:28 AM. "I want to apologize to the Bruce family for the injustice that was done to them," Newsom said at the time, as reported byNBC Los Angeles. Willa and Charles Bruce purchased their land in 1912 for $1,225. If approved, the transfer would realize a call to action that began more. Instead, the property languished until it was transferred to the state in 1948, then transferred to Los Angeles County in 1995. . / CBS/AP. Big Joe had run Race papers in Kansas and Montana and had been lured by the promise of greater freedoms in California. Listen Update Required To play audio, update browser or Flash plugin . Other properties were seized through eminent domain proceedings commenced in 1924. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Illustrated | AP Images, Getty Images It's been almost 100 years since the city of Manhattan Beach, an ocean-side community outside of Los Angeles, seized Bruce's Beach from the Black. Shepard believes that Willa and Charlotta Bass, of the Eagle, may have formed a particularly strong bond. Can US and China set aside rivalry for climate action? "Can we just take a moment to feel the energy of the ancestors present here today?" A photo of Charles and Willa Bruce is attached to a plaque marking Bruce's Beach in April in Manhattan Beach. A police source . But 12 years later they were forced off their property as it was seized by the city. Bruce's Beach at sunset, in Manhattan Beach, Calif., in March. The Los Angeles County Lifeguard Training Headquarters is currently located on the land. SACRAMENTO, Calif. California lawmakers unanimously moved Thursday to allow the return of prime beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who were stripped of their resort for African Americans amid racist harassment a century ago. "This fight has always been about what is best for the Bruce family, and they feel what is best for them is selling this property back to the County for nearly $20 million and finally rebuilding the generational wealth they were denied for nearly a century," Hahn said in a written statement. Photo from Manhattan Beach Historical Society via the History Advisory Board report. Los Angeles County returns seized beachfront property to Black family's The resort was forced out of business, and the Bruces and other Black families ultimately lost their land in 1929. I wish they could see what has happened today," he said. They were also well aware that the racist practices of the Jim Crow South were increasingly spreading to Southern California. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Manhattan Beach site once housed Bruces Lodge, a resort established in 1912 by the propertys owners, Willa and Charles Bruce, as a place where Black tourists could go to avoid harassment at a time of rampant discrimination against Black people in California and beyond. Hahn learned about the property's history and launched the complex process of returning the property, including determining that two great-grandsons of the Bruces are their legal heirs. Sand was a symbol and a problem for early Manhattan Beach residents, writes historian Alison Rose Jefferson. Reportedly, a deputy tossed aside a small child who was part of the Valentine party, and Arthur moved to confront them. It's been almost 100 years since the city of Manhattan Beach, an ocean-side communityoutside of Los Angeles, seized Bruce's Beach from the Black couple who owned it. It was an act of freedom. Bruce's Beach: Los Angeles to pay $20m for land seized from black Theara Coleman January 7, 2023 It's been almost 100 years since the city of Manhattan Beach, an ocean-side community outside of Los Angeles, seized Bruce's Beach from the Black couple. The city officials offered the couple $14,500 and claimed they needed the land for a public park. The heirs' decision to sell what was once known as Bruce's Beach, a portion of what is now Manhattan Beach, was announced by Janice Hahn, chair of the county Board of Supervisors, and state Senator Steven Bradford, who led local and state government efforts to undo the injustice. "I'm elated, walking on water right now," Duane Shepard, a Bruce descendant and family historian, said Thursday, according to the Southern California News Group. hide caption. So he did a lot of the networking with the business people and the politicians and the entertainers and gangsters there and actually drummed up business for the resort.. However they met, the Prioleaus arrival at Bruces Beach was significant. Hahn said the move will allow the Bruces' descendants a chance "to start rebuilding the generational wealth that was denied to them.". "I was prepared to fight for years if not decades," said Kavon Ward, who started a movement to return the land to the Bruce family. As the wind would spread the sand in drifts, dunes shifted, boardwalks and streets were inundated, and homes were destabilized.. A modern line with every safety device will be installed. As Flamming notes in Bound for Freedom, the owner of the LA Times, General Harrison Hudson Gray Otis, was an old-school Reconstruction Lincoln Republican who aggressively attacked white supremacy. The story of Bruce's Beach highlights the loss of generational wealth and property that's happened across. Southern California beachfront property that was taken from a Black couple through eminent domain a century ago and returned to their heirs last year will be sold back to Los Angeles County for nearly $20 million, officials said Tuesday.