Charles and Willa Bruce moved to California from New Mexico with son Harvey
In 1912 they bought land on Manhattan Beach and opened a resort
The resort was one of the first to welcome African Americans to the coast
In 1924 city officials seized two dozen properties through eminent domain
Bruces fought in court, lost, and left the area: the proposed park was never built
On Friday Los Angeles County officials announced the land was being returned
The family are yet to say what they will do with the land, worth around $72m
“The Bruces had their California dream stolen from them,” Hahn said. “And this was an injustice inflicted not just upon 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.”
After lying unused for years, the land was transferred to the state of California in 1948 and in 1995 it was transferred to Los Angeles County for beach operations and maintenance.
The last transfer came with restrictions that limit the ability to sell or transfer the property and can only be lifted through a new state law, Hahn said.
The sun bounces off of the water as waves crash onto the shore. (Courthouse News image via Pixabay)
LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles County plans to return prime beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who built a seaside resort for African Americans but suffered racist harassment and were stripped of it by local city leaders a century ago, a county official said Friday.
“It is the county’s intention to return this property,” Janice Hahn, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told a news conference at what was known as Bruce’s Beach in the city of Manhattan Beach.
Los Angeles County plans to return prime beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who built a seaside resort for African Americans but suffered racist harassment and were stripped of it by local city leaders a century ago, a county official said Friday. It is the county s intention to return this property, Janice Hahn, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told a news conference at what was known as Bruce s Beach in the city of Manhattan Beach. After multiple property transfers over the decades, a county lifeguard training headquarters building now sits on the property along some of the most coveted coastline in Southern California.
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