Historic Ruling Clears Way To Return Bruce’s Beach To Descendants

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Los Angeles County can now return the Manhattan Beach property known as Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family following a historic ruling last week.

Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff issued the ruling Thursday in the case, Ryan v. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The litigation challenges the constitutionality of recently passed legislation that authorizes the County to return Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce.

“We have been patiently waiting to get our family’s property returned and are grateful to the Court for its decision," Chief Duane “Yellow Feather” Shepard, Bruce family member said. "We call on the County to act promptly, to take another historic step and return the property to the Charles and Willa Bruce family without further delay.”

The Bruces ran a successful hospitality business for Black people in Manhattan Beach during the 1920s. In an effort to stop Black people from accessing the beach, the City of Manhattan Beach forced the Bruces to sell their property through a racially motivated eminent domain action.

Local governments in California were complicit in stripping Black people of their wages and property, according to testimony collected by a statewide committee on reparations. These moves prevented them from creating and passing down generational wealth. In Santa Monica, and in other cities, Black families' homes were razed for redevelopment, and they were forced to live in predominantly minority neighborhoods and could not get bank loans that would allow them to purchase property.

Nearly a century after that injustice, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 796, the Bruce's Beach bill, to enable the County to return the beachfront property to the Bruce descendants. The bill passed unanimously and with overwhelming community support.

And on Oct. 5, the county began the process of returning Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce descendants.

To prevent the transfer, Joseph Ryan, a Palos Verdes attorney, representing himself, sued to stop the county from returning the property to the Bruce Family, arguing that the return of the property constituted a “gift” in violation of the California constitution.

The Court rejected the petitioner’s arguments and instead found:

“…where the appropriation of public funds and/or property is to address and/or remedy racial discrimination committed by the government, it serves a public purpose (footnote omitted). Righting a government wrong perpetrated in breach of our core and fundamental constitutional principles works to strengthen governmental integrity, represents accountability in government and works to eliminate structural racism and bias. The government’s act of rectifying a prior egregious wrong based on racism fosters trust and respect in government.”

By denying the petition, the court has now cleared the way for the county to proceed in returning Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family descendants.

“Judge Beckloff’s ruling affirms the right of the State and County to return the property to the Bruce heirs in recognition of the grave injustice committed 100 years ago," E. Martin Estrada, Munger Tolles & Olson LLP Partner and trial counsel for the Bruce family said. "We are heartened by the Court’s decision and hope that there will be no further delays in this historic and long overdue return of Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family.”

The descendants and their representatives wanted justice.

“It’s been almost 100 years since this property was wrongly taken from my clients’ family, and almost 30 years since the property was transferred to Los Angeles County," said George Fatheree III, Sidley Austin Partner and lead counsel to the Bruce family.

"It’s been over six months since California’s legislature unanimously approved a bill authorizing the return of the property which was promptly signed by the Governor," Fatheree said. "My clients have remained resolute and patient. We have been careful and diligent in every step of this process. But now, the time for delay is over. It’s time for the property to be returned so that the Bruces can have a measure of closure for the injustice done to their family."

Patch reached out to the firm representing the Bruce family descendants for more information about the timeline to return the property.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SEE MORE:

• CA Panel OKs Reparations Limit For Slave Descendants
• Bruce's Beach Bill Signed, Initiating Land Return To Black Family
• Lawsuit Seeks To Stop Bruce's Beach Land Transfer To Descendants