This Black Family Ran a Thriving Beach Resort 100 Years Ago—They Want Their Land Back
Willa and Charles Bruce were among the first Black people to settle in Manhattan Beach, California, but the city shut down their resort in 1924. Now, the county is considering returning the land.
Margie Johnson and John Pettigrew in Manhattan Beach in 1927. Credit: LaVera White Collection of Arthur and Elizabeth Lewis, via Alison Rose Jefferson and The New York Times.
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce bought a plot of land on the Southern California coast.
It was an oceanside lot in an area dotted with sunny blossoms of evening primrose and purple clusters of lupine. The land, made accessible by red trolley cars that trundled to and from the growing metropolis of Los Angeles, was ripe for development.
The Bruces and their son, Harvey, came from New Mexico and were among the first Black people to settle in what would become the city of Manhattan Beach. They built a resort where other Black families could swim, lounge, eat and dance without being subject to racist harassment.
The harassment came anyway, and the resort thrived despite it. But city officials shuttered the enterprise by condemning the land in 1924, claiming to need it for a public park. The Bruces fought the move through litigation, but failed. The city paid them $14,500, and they left their beach and lost their business.
Nearly a century later, their descendants are still seeking restitution.
“I just want justice for my family,” said Anthony Bruce, 38, a descendant of the Bruces who lives in Florida and has childhood memories of visiting the California land his relatives once owned.