MASmovement Radio

This is Charles & Willa Bruce. In 1912 they bought prime beachfront land in Manhattan Beach, LA County and built a Black resort community. In 1924 the county took it and refused to pay its value. In 2021, worth $72 million, it was returned to their descendents by Senate Bill 796. In 1912, Black Californians Charles and Willa Bruce bought a small slice of Manhattan Beach real estate for around $1,200. They built a resort for fellow Black families in the area who found themselves unwelcome at Whites-only beaches, even renting out bathing suits and selling snacks — and they were almost immediately subjected to racist attacks. Everyone from neighbors, the police, the city council, and even the Ku Klux Klan tried to close the beach down. The city imposed 10-minute parking limits near the beach to try and discourage visitors, and finally in 1924, the Manhattan Beach city council just seized the property entirely, offering the Bruces a fraction of their asking price. Today, the stretch of beach is worth around $20 million — and Los Angeles County voted to finally return it to the Bruces' descendants in 2021.