LA County Moves Forward With Plan To Return Land To Bruce Family

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —Two parcels of Manhattan Beach ocean-front land belonging to the Bruce family is a step closer to being returned to its descendants.

The LA County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on July 13 to direct county officials to pursue a plan, which the County CEO’s office and the Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative released earlier this month.

The report discusses transferring the land, assessing the property’s worth, determining who the legal heirs are, limiting the property tax burden on the family and the future of a lifeguard station on the land.

The plan includes identifying the Bruces' legal heirs. assessment of the property's value, and figuring out what to do with a county lifeguard station on the property.

"When I first realized that the county-owned the property that was once Willa and Charles Bruce's Beach Lodge, I knew that returning it to the Bruce family was the right thing to do, "Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. "But this is the first time a government has done anything like this and there were a lot of questions about how it would work. Now, this report outlines a clear pathway forward for us to transfer this land and addresses everything from identifying the rightful descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce, to the ongoing Lifeguard operations at the site, to mitigating the tax burden for the Bruce family. I am committed to getting this done and setting an example for governments nationwide for how we can begin to right the historic injustices committed against African Americans in this country."

Before the parcels of county-owned land can be transferred to the family, the state legislature will need to authorize the move. Locally, a return might have to include rezoning the property, which would require approval from local agencies, including the California Coastal Commission.
According to the plan, the County Treasurer and Tax Collector Department will work jointly with the County Public Administrator's office to determine the Bruces' legal heirs, possibly in conjunction with a third-party law firm.

The county will also have to negotiate an agreement for the land transfer and find land to relocate the lifeguard facility.

The county's CEO's Office and Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative is expected to get back to the board in about four months.

The plan did not specify a date by which the land would need to be formally transferred.
Since the parcels of land owned by the county and targeted for transfer are deed-restricted, the effort to return land to the Bruce family requires final approval of state legislation authorizing the move. But there are local issues as well, including possible rezoning of theproperty that would need approval from local agencies including theCalifornia Coastal Commission.

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 years later transferred to the State and in 1995 transferred to Los Angeles County. It is now the site of the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Training Headquarters.

Supervisor Hahn announced her intention earlier this year to return the property to the Bruce family but found that she needed state legislation before the county could transfer this property. When the property was transferred from the state to the county in 1995, the state-imposed restrictions that limit the county's ability to transfer the property.

SB 796, legislation introduced by State Senator Steve Bradford, 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.

SB 796 passed the California Senate overwhelmingly on June 2, moving the bill one step closer to becoming law. It will next move to the California State Assembly. Should it pass there with a two-thirds margin and subsequently be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, it would take effect immediately.

City News Service contributed to this report.