Charles and Willa Bruce

This is Charles and Willa Bruce of Bruce's Beach. In 1912, these gloriously elegant folks bought prime beachfront land in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County, and built a Black resort community much like Mary McLeod Bethune did outside of Daytona Beach, Florida (see yesterday's post).

You see, at the time, most Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles beaches, indeed most accessible and serviceable beaches around the nation, were reserved for white people. We literally could not go spread a towel. We were banned from the ocean. We could see that sparkling blue beacon of peace and tranquility that beckons all humanity, but we couldn't access it. We couldn't put our feet in the sand, soak up the sun, or go for a swim. A notable exception was the Inkwell in Santa Monica at Pico, but I digress.

In 1924, L.A. County took Bruce's Beach by eminent domain and shut it down. They did this not because they wanted to do anything in particular with it. I believe it became a parking lot and a park. They just didn't want Black people to have it and because it was 1924, they were very upfront about that fact. On September 30, 2021, the location, still undeveloped and now worth $72 million, was returned to the descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce through Senate Bill 796 and in large part due to the exceptional work of our dear friend George Fatheree, family man, art lover, lawyer, and hero.

Now if we can get only get the City of Santa Monica to give back the land slated as facilities for the Inkwell including the current location of the Viceroy and Shutters Hotels. These properties were also seized by eminent domain after lovely well-to-do Black folks sought to create beaches accessible to Black people.

Happy Black History Month. Justice, though much delayed and with considerable harm in tow, was ultimately done Mr. and Mrs. Bruce. Rest easy.