Bruce's Beach
The property, which was located at 26th Street and Highland Avenue, was owned and operated by Charles and Willa Bruce for the benefit of the black community when racial segregation prevented them from enjoying opportunities provided at other beaches in the area.
In 1924 the city of Manhattan Beach council used eminent domain to close it down as the area proposed was to be redeveloped as a public park.
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce bought a property in the strand area for $1,225 from Los Angeles real estate broker Henry Willard.
To reach the ocean, visitors had to walk an extra half mile around property owned by Peck, who had lined it with security and “No Trespassing” signs.
[12] In 2006 under the leadership of Manhattan Beach's Mayor Mitch Ward the city's first and only Black elected official, the Manhattan Beach City Council decided to rename the park, "commemorating our community's understanding that friendship, goodwill and respect for all begins within our own boundaries and extends to the world community.
"[13][15][9] The park is on a steep slope overlooking the ocean and includes rolling grassy terraces with benches and small trees.
[17] The group's work pressured the city council in October 2020 to create the Bruce's Beach Task Force, which consisted of 13 members.
The anonymous group paid for a two-page advertisement in The Beach Reporter, claiming the task force had used racism to "grab power.
[25] The city council disbanded the Bruce's Beach History Advisory Board, opting to work on the plaque language itself.
By 1916, the resort known as “Bruce’s Beach” was a thriving fixture for visiting Blacks, with a restaurant, dancehall, changing rooms, and showers.
"Soon after, several other Black families purchased property and built homes in the area where this park is now, including Major George Prioleau and Mrs. Ethel Prioleau, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary R. Sanders, Milton and Anna Johnson, John McCaskill and Elzia L. Irvin, and James and Lulu Slaughter.
"Unfortunately, not everyone in Manhattan Beach welcomed the Bruces’ enterprise and its crowds of Black patrons in that era of Jim Crow and racial segregation.
"The Bruces, their patrons, and the other Black property owners in the area faced harassment, intimidation, and discrimination by some, including City Hall.
"Enough White residents ultimately pressured the City Council to exercise its power of eminent domain to acquire the land for use as a public park.
[31] The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on June 28, 2022, to return the two oceanfront parcels to the Bruce family.
