Los Angeles County returns Bruce's Beach to Black heirs

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Los Angeles County has returned the deed to an oceanfront property seized from a Black family nearly 100 years ago during racial segregation.

Charles and Willa Bruce owned the thriving 7,000-square-foot resort for more than a decade before it was taken in 1924 following rampant racial intimidation and harassment from white neighbors. The Manhattan Beach City Council condemned Bruce's Beach before taking it via a process known as eminent domain, which allows governments to take private property for public use.

The land, which once featured a lodge, cafe and dance hall, sat idle for decades. It was transferred to the state of California in 1948 before it was transferred back to Los Angeles County in 1995.

On Wednesday, county officials held a beachside ceremony in which they returned the deed to the land to the great-grandsons of the Bruces, Anthony and Derrick Bruce.

“No government in this country had returned land that was taken from a Black family unjustly. They said the work ahead of us would be unprecedented. Now, we are sending a message to every government in this nation confronted with this same challenge: this work is no longer unprecedented," Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement.

"We have set the precedent and it is the pursuit of justice," she added.

The county is now slated to rent the property from the Bruce family for $413,000 per year and will maintain a lifeguard building on the site, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

The county maintains the right to repurchase the beach at a later date for a total not to exceed $20 million.