Lawsuit Seeks To Stop Bruce's Beach Land Transfer To Descendants

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — A Palos Verdes-based attorney filed a lawsuit to stop the land transfer at Bruce's Beach, a beachfront property in Manhattan Beach that was once a seaside resort owned by Charles and Willa Bruce, a Black couple.

The lawsuit was introduced by Joseph Ryan, who is representing himself, Spectrum1 News reports. He disputes what the county says about Manhattan Beach's eminent domain seizure of the Bruce's land and he questions the constitutionality of restoring the area to descendants.

Patch reached out to Ryan for comment but did not hear back.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last month took legal steps to return the property to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce. Supervisor Janice Hahn and state Sen. Steven Bradford helped push the effort forward and now begin the next phase of the process.

"My goal over the next several months will be to transfer this property in a way that not only works for the Bruce family, but is a model that other local governments can follow," Hahn said. "Returning Bruce's Beach can and should set a precedent for this nation and I know that all eyes will be on Los Angeles County as this work gets underway."

In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law to give Los Angeles County the authority to return property once owned by a Black family to their descendants.

"As governor of California, let me do what apparently Manhattan Beach is unwilling to do, and I want to apologize to the Bruce family for the injustice that was done to them a century ago," Newsom said Thursday at a news conference at the location Manhattan Beach.

It's one of the first reparations bills signed into law in the U.S. and goes beyond symbolism, he added. Returning the land is part of economic empowerment.

In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce, a Black couple, purchased the beachfront property in Manhattan Beach and built a resort that became known as Bruce's Beach. It was one of the few places where Black residents could go to enjoy a day at the beach because so many other local beaches did not permit Black beachgoers. Only one other allowed Black people — the Inkwell in Santa Monica. The Bruces had a restaurant, dance hall, bathhouse and novelty shop.

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 Bruces' property as well as surrounding property using eminent domain in 1924, purportedly to build a park. The city of Manhattan Beach took possession of the property in 1929, and it remained vacant for decades.

The section of the seized property closest to the beach, including the lots owned by Willa and Charles Bruce, was years later transferred to the state and in 1995 transferred to Los Angeles County. The lots that the Bruces owned are now the site of the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Training Headquarters.

In April, Hahn announced her intention to return the Bruce's Beach property to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce and that she had asked Bradford to introduce legislation — now known as SB 796 — to remove state restrictions on the property and allow her to do just that.

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