Black Historian Jefferson Talks Bruce's Beach, Manhattan Beach

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — In the spirit of responding to a push from the public to deal with the city's Bruce's Beach park and its unsavory history, the Manhattan Beach City Council is set to hear a presentation from city staff at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 18.

"We started to receive emails concerning Bruce’s Beach after the article in the Daily Breeze about the Juneteenth event," said City Council member Nancy Hersman. "After the [city held its] July 9th forum on policing and racial issues within the City, we received additional requests to discuss Bruce’s Beach."

Now, nearly two months after the Juneteenth article in the Daily Breeze, city council will either begin or attempt to conclude their public examination of the city's early racist history tomorrow night. Many voices in the city want the true factual history of Bruce's Beach to emerge and the plaque at the park to accurately reflect the history. For now, the words on the plaque fall far below what actually happened to the Bruce family the park is named after.

"These past few months have forced all of us to think deeply about how we engage in the discussion about social justice," said council member Hildy Stern, "and specifically the treatment of Black people and all people of color in this country. I'm glad to see us participating in this important discussion. Bruce's Beach is one piece of that conversation that is specifically applicable to us in Manhattan Beach.

"This is certainly a topic that is important to many people here, as we have received countless emails, comments and phone calls, calling on us to address this. At the very least, it is our responsibility to respond to the concerns of our community. We absolutely should understand how the Bruces and others were treated when they owned property or were visiting MB and how that has shaped the MB we know today. I welcome this conversation and know that I, too, have a lot to learn," said Stern.

City Council had been ready to hear the history of Bruce's Beach at its August 4th meeting, however, historian Alison Rose Jefferson, whom the city believed had agreed to deliver it, surprised Hersman by deciding to decline the offer, which included a $2,000 honorarium. Hersman reported publicly at the August 4th council meeting that Jefferson "cancelled because she didn’t want us to include [Robert] Brigham’s thesis [a historical account of Bruce's Beach written in 1956]" in our staff report and have it available for download as a resource.

Jefferson sees what transpired a bit differently, telling the Daily Breeze the disagreement that led her to decline was over whether or not the city staff report and resources would include a link for the public to use to buy her newest book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, which contains a chapter on the history of Bruce's Beach.

Manhattan Beach Patch spoke at length with Jefferson today to touch base, hear her thoughts and gain insight into her perspective. She told MB Patch she declined to speak August 4th over the resource list because the city "changed it at the last minute." She noted much of the conversation between herself and the city was via email and the day she learned what was going to be on the official resource list, "I was not feeling very respected. Sometimes you just have those days..."

She explained, "They were engaging me as a professional. And I thought, 'If that's what they want [the official resource list she saw], I really don't have to'" be involved in the conversation and meeting. "If I'm the expert, and I'm being paid to come speak to you, that should be respected. They've [the city] had 50 years" to address the Bruce's Beach history publicly, she notes, adding that opportunities to tell the true story have presented themselves several times over the years but the city has not taken any steps to make any changes to the Bruce's Beach plaque nor to accurately have the history told in public. "The city has never engaged anyone professionally to manage the situation," she said.

That "situation," as far as she sees it, is to publicly disclose the full history and help the community move forward through whatever needs to happen so the plaque can be updated and the history of Bruce's Beach be told in its entirety and used to educate people about African Americans in Manhattan Beach in the early 1900s. "I'm here to help. I have professional expertise I can offer. I want to be involved," said Jefferson. "As somebody who has studied the whole thing over a century, I want to help you solve your problem," she said of herself and the juncture Manhattan Beach finds itself at during a time of great reckoning over the treatment, historical and present, of Black people.

Jefferson is thankful to Bob Brigham for his work, stating that without it, it "would be harder to piece together the history" of Bruce's Beach. "He had the courage to do the research on this story in the 1950s," she said.

Jefferson, who has been working with the City of Santa Monica and other Santa Monica community organizations for some 10 years to properly tell and acknowledge that city's history of Inkwell Beach, also once a place where Blacks could go to be at the beach or take a dip in the Pacific Ocean, said Manhattan Beach city officials are "very sensitive about this [Bruce's Beach] history."

"If we'd [the city and Jefferson] been a little more deliberative, we might not be having this conversation," she told MB Patch of our phone interview. In retrospect, she feels the city may have been pushing itself too fast to deal with such a complicated topic in which some community voices are calling for reparations to be made to the Bruce family for their land which was seized by eminent domain by the city. "They were trying to expedite this thing.

"I saw this as the beginning of a relationship in which I could work with them [the city] on how to get the plaque [wording] changed and how to move forward," she said. Jefferson points to three times in the last 20 years the city could have opted to have addressed the history of Bruce's Beach. One of those times was in 2006 and 2007 when the city renamed the park Bruce's Beach and installed a plaque with a distinct narrative that is not factually correct, she says.

As recently as 2015, city council discussed relocating George Peck's house to Bruce's Beach. However, by "default," the city did not have to dig into the history of Bruce's Beach when they decided to let Peck's house be demolished instead of relocated. "George Peck was not a supporter of the African American community," said Jefferson, despite reports to the contrary.

She says historical newspaper records have been muddied up by the constant retelling of untruths, with reporters drawing on previously reported articles and that the "story [of Bruce's Beach as laid out in Brigham's thesis] wasn't complete. He [Brigham] doesn't talk about some of the issues around Peck."

She said a 1912 Los Angeles Times article "is one of the key things" left out of Brigham's work. She said the article gives a context to the times and quotes Peck saying he's "not happy" with the African Americans being in Manhattan Beach. She also notes that in the 1920s, Peck's son-in-law, much as Peck had done, was moving "to keep African Americans contained in a space" on the beach. Before that, Peck had a constable in rope off the beach right in front of the Bruce's resort so that African Americans could not get on the beach. Given that Manhattan Beach was incorporated in 1912, she fathoms Peck had other business that kept him from being involved in additional acts of racism designed for the Bruce family. "Peck may have been a benevolent figure," she told Manhattan Beach Patch, "but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved in blatant acts of racism against African Americans."

She also acknowledges that the city has had different city managers and different council members during the 20-year period she believes Bruce's Beach could have been acted on. However, right now, she sees Bruce's Beach and it's unacknowledged history as something the Manhattan Beach community "can learn more about and share it with people."

She notes that when it comes to voices calling for more beyond changing the wording on the Bruce's Beach plaque and perhaps educating people on the history, she's not involved. She told MB Patch those voices are "talking about the community. I'm not. That's not on me. That's on your [city] council."

Jefferson acknowledges, too, that the property once owned by Willa Bruce is now home to a Los Angeles County Lifeguard building with the address of 2600 The Strand. Said Nicole Mooradian, public information officer, with the LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors.

"According to our research, the parcel at 2600 The Strand, the Lifeguard Training Center, was initially owned by the California Department of Parks and Recreation; however, it was part of an operating agreement between State Parks and Los Angeles County for the beaches. In 1995, State Parks transferred ownership of several beaches, including Manhattan Beach and the parcel in question, to LA County.

"The building was initially owned by the state. It was transferred to the county [and Beaches and Harbors] along with the parcel in 1995. Ownership of the structure was transferred from Beaches and Harbors to the LA County Fire Department in 1997," said Mooradian.

Jefferson also told Manhattan Beach Patch that another African American family outside of the Bruce's Beach area but nearby and close to the ocean has been owned by that family for at least 100 years. "I have a lot of information about this [Bruce's Beach and African American] history," she said.

"We got here because of white supremacy," she told MB Patch, being inculcated in the American system. Racism is an economic system." She explains that after enslavement had ended, African Americans were not equalized in a more equitable way," hence the decades of oppression and racism.

"I really think the whole situation is bigger than us in terms of the city [of Manhattan Beach]. We're in a moment in time right now in terms of our society. We have an opportunity for this to be a meaningful moment."

She believes that "illuminating the African American history at Bruce's Beach, social justice initiatives, and educational programming help to make our American identity inclusive. This is our collective history, our collective identity."

She notes that countless people in Manhattan Beach have contacted her to make it clear "they want to make sure my voice and their voice is heard. I hope the city will choose to work with me to solve their problem. If they don't address this city history now, they're going to continue to have a problem."

It's clear Jefferson harbors no ill will toward city officials. "It's OK if you don't want to work with me on this," she said of the city and any future actions on the history of Bruce's beach after tomorrow night's council meeting. She will be watching; she wants to hear what is said. "I hope it works out well for them tomorrow," she said.

For council member Stern, who organized the city's first forum on policing and racism in Manhattan Beach held in July, the meeting is a launching point. "I can only answer where I would like to see the discussion lead," she said of tomorrow night's meeting. "Tuesday's meeting is only the starting point. As we have heard time and again, in general, people did not really know very much about the history of Bruce's Beach, myself included. We all have access to the few publications that include the history. We certainly would have benefited from having Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson share her expertise and be available to answer any questions. There are several options as to how to proceed after the meeting - for instance, continue this discussion at another council meeting, a community forum or create a task force. I will remain open minded as we continue to learn, ask questions, receive input, hear from experts, and discuss options to address this important topic."