Bruce family to sell Bruce’s Beach property back to Los Angeles County for $20 million

 

COMPILED BY: JENNA WALTER/EXECUTIVE THEME EDITOR, CHARLOTTE LEVY/THEME EDITOR, AND LILY MITCHELL/EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR

It was made official on Jan. 3 that the Bruce family will be selling two parcels of the Bruce’s Beach property back to Los Angeles county for up to $20 million.

Nearly a century ago, Charles and Willa Bruce owned the land currently known as Bruce’s Beach. The property was a beach resort that catered to other black families that were banned from most public beaches. The resort faced attacks from the Ku Klux Klan and white residents who vandalized and destroyed the property of black visitors.

“What happened to Willa and Charles Bruce was a terrible reflection of a different time and different attitudes that have been well documented, not just here, but across the country in the 1920s,” city council member Steve Napolitano said.

In 1924, white residents who envied the success of the resort joined with the Ku Klux Klan to convince city officials to seize the beachfront property as well as 24 other properties through eminent domain. They did this under the pretense that they would build a park, which was not constructed until decades later.

“It makes you think that since this racial inequality wasn’t that long ago, some of those feelings may still exist in our community, even if we don’t know who those people are,” Costa psychologist Janet Allen said. “Although we’ve been through so much progress, it reminds us that there’s a lot of families who are still trying to get land back today. The Bruce’s story will be a part of our history of Manhattan Beach.” 

Historical records show that the intention behind the decision to seize the property in 1924 was to force black people out of Manhattan Beach. To eliminate the possibility of the Bruce’s purchasing another property, the city council prohibited the construction of any resorts. The Bruce family moved out of Los Angeles after its resort was torn down. 

“[As a community] we have made so much progress, so it is shocking knowing that history, reminding us that we still have more to do and improve,” Allen said. 

Twenty years after the city took control of the land, the ownership of the land transferred its ownership to the California state government. The state then gave the property to L.A. County in 1995 on the condition that the county could not transfer the property. It was not until Sept. 9, 2021, that Senate Bill 796 was passed, returning the land to the Bruce family. 

“The return of property to Willa and Charles doesn’t undo the systemic racism dealt by the African American Community,” Costa’s Black Scholars Union member Hailey Fisher said. “However it was definitely a step forward to acknowledge and attempt to right some wrongs on Los Angeles County’s part.”

     On July 20, 2021, more than 90 years after Manhattan Beach seized the property, an official ceremony was held to showcase the return of the land back to the Bruce family. With this, the family agreed to a two-year window in which it could sell the property back to the county, which it has recently fulfilled. 

“The decision to sell the property back to the county must have been a lot for their family and a hard conclusion they had to come by,” Allen said. “I would think due to their family circumstances, they had no other choice, but it will be interesting to hear why they came to that decision.” 

On Jan. 3, current owners of Bruce’s Beach, Marcus and Derrick Bruce, grandsons of Willa and Charles, formally announced that they will be selling the property, originally priced for $1,225, back to L.A. County for $20 million. 

“The Bruce family did what they thought was best for them, and I don’t feel it is for anyone else to question,” Napolitano said. “The sale doesn’t change the past, but it puts the Bruce family on solid financial ground for the future.” 

This racial injustice Willa and Charles Bruce suffered has affected many lines of their descendants, who were sure to be millionaires with their resort. The family’s decision to sell the land has allowed it to gain the generational wealth it was robbed of for nearly a century. 

“We must address the complete history of Bruce’s Beach, recognize the discrimination that took place there and bring attention to it,” Napolitano said. “It’s not just about changing laws but changing minds and hearts as well.”