Los Angeles County returns beachfront land taken from Black family in ceremony

On July 20, representatives of Los Angeles County gave the deed to a prime piece of oceanfront property in California to the heirs of a Black couple who had created a beach resort for African Americans but had been harassed and eventually evicted from the site nearly a century before.

The occasion represented the culmination of a lengthy process to right the wrong experienced by businessmen Charles and Willa Bruce, whose resort, known as Bruce's Beach, was located on the coast of the now-upscale Manhattan Beach.

Anthony Bruce, a great-great-grandson of the Bruces, was presented with a certified document of the land transfer by county Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan as waves crashed onto the bright Manhattan Beach shoreline.

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The state law that was required for the county to be allowed to transfer the land to the heirs was written by state senator Steven Bradford, who claimed that it would not undo the wrong.

The Bruces bought the property in 1912. In the 1920s, the Manhattan Beach City Council condemned the property and confiscated the land through eminent domain after they had experienced discriminatory persecution from white neighbours. However, the city did nothing with the land, and in 1948 it was given to the state of California.

It was given to Los Angeles County by the state in 1995, with restrictions preventing any more transfers. On the property, which also has a small parking lot, the county constructed the headquarters for its lifeguard training programme.

After speaking with county attorneys, Janice Hahn, a member of the county Board of Supervisors, learned about the history of the property and started the difficult process of handing the property back to the Bruces' descendants.

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