Sup. Hahn, Leaders Announce Legislation To Return Bruce's Beach

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —"I wanted to do what I could do to start righting the wrong," LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn said at a press conference held Friday morning, along with State Senator Steve Bradford, LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, and other prominent local leaders. The coalition gathered at the beachfront property known as Bruce’s Beach to announce the first step in the effort to return the property to the Bruce Family.

“The Bruce family had their California dream stolen from them,” Hahn said Friday. “This was an injustice inflicted upon not just Willa and Charles Bruce, but generations of their descendants who almost certainly would have been millionaires if they had been able to keep this property and their successful business. I strongly believe the right thing to do is for the County to return this property to the Bruce family.”

In 1912, a young Black couple named Willa and Charles Bruce purchased beachfront property in Manhattan Beach and built a resort that served Black residents. It was one of the few beaches where Black residents could go because so many other local beaches did not permit Black beachgoers. The Bruces and their customers were harassed and threatened by white neighbors including the KKK. Eventually, the Manhattan Beach City Council moved to seize the property using eminent domain in 1924, purportedly to create a park. The City took the property in 1929 and it remained vacant for decades.

The property the Bruce family once owned was transferred to the State in 1948, and in 1995 transferred to Los Angeles County. It is now the site of the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Training Headquarters.

"I learned very quickly that I just can't give the property back," Hahn said. "There's one little thing that has to happen because when the county got the property from the state of California, it came with restrictions which limited our ability to sell or transfer the property."

Returning the land to the family will require action by the State.

State Senator Steve Bradford announced legislation SB 796 that would exempt the Bruce’s Beach property from statuary restrictions on the transference and use of that land to enable the County of Los Angeles to transfer the land to the descendants of its rightful owners—the late Willa and Charles Bruce.

"Earlier this week, the Manhattan Beach City Council adopted a statement of acknowledgement condemning the history of Bruce's Beach, but I say it was tepid at best [and] far from a full-throated apology," Sen Bradford said. "Now is the time for major change, and the public wants to see justice done.

"Legislation like SB 796 will explore the possibility of operations in setting a powerful precedent for compensation that is owed to African American families in this country."

Senator Ben Allen, who was not in attendance, is a joint author of the legislation and Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi is a principal co-author.

"It's hard to believe that this beautiful beach was one of two so-called black beaches in Los Angeles County 100 years ago," Maratsuchi said. "What makes this all the more important is that this was their piece of the California dream.

"As the co-author of SB 796, we will be fighting for a measure of justice for the descendants of the Bruce family ... as well as the other black families who owned properties right here in the neighborhood."

Sup. Mitchell said she was proud to stand with Supervisor Hahn in shining a light on this important issue that is part of our history and future of LA County. "The county isn't gifting anything," she said. "The county is returning property that was inappropriately taken. We are returning to the Bruce family...property that they rightfully own."

In an impassioned speech, Chief Duane Yellowfeather Shepard, a Bruce family descendent lashed out at the Manhattan Beach City Council for their statement of acknowledgment and condemnation. "My family asked me to tell [them] that when you go low, we go toe to toe," he said. "We will not tolerate the insults that are coming from your council and we highly suggest you start revising your budget." He made it clear that the family would be pursuing legal action to be fully reimbursed for the seizure of the land, restitution for lost earnings from what the resort would have earned over the past century, and ``punitive damages for the institutional racism in this city that railroaded our family out of here.

Hahn said the county is in discussions with the Bruce family to discuss the future of the land, and the lifeguard training center. She said one possibility is that once the land is returned to the family, the county could then lease it back to house the training center.

The legislation, which will be introduced on Monday, is an urgency bill, meaning that it can go into effect as soon as it is passed and signed into law by the Governor.