Los Angeles County will PAY nearly $20 million for beachfront land that was taken from a Black couple in Southern California through eminent domain a century ago and returned to their heirs last year, according to officials.
State Senator Steven Bradford, who led local and state government efforts to redress the long-ago wrong and county Board of Supervisors chair Janice Hahn announced the heirs’ decision to sell the property formerly known as Bruce’s Beach.
“This fight has always been about what is best for the Bruce family, and they feel what is best for them is selling this property back to the County for nearly $20 million and finally rebuilding the generational wealth they were denied for nearly a century,” Hahn said in a statement.
“This is what reparations look like and it is a model that I hope governments across the country will follow,” Hahn added in a tweet.
The heirs’ choice to sell the land to the county was backed by Bradford, the author of the state legislation that made it possible for the land to be returned because the current zoning laws would make it impossible for them to develop it in an economically advantageous way.
Willa and Charles Bruce bought land at Manhattan Beach in 1912 and used it to construct a small resort for African Americans on the southern edge of Santa Monica Bay.
The Manhattan Beach City Council condemned the property and took it through eminent domain in the 1920s as a result of the discriminatory persecution the Bruces experienced from white neighbours. The property was given to the state of California and later to Los Angeles County after the city did nothing with it.
On the property, which also has a small parking lot, the county constructed its headquarters for lifeguard training.
For many years, the sole trace of the city’s complex past was a modest plaque in the middle of a lovely green park next to the original seaside property.
The beginning of this was amazing for our family. Following then, it became a horrible tale for my family, Anthony Bruce, the Bruces’ great-great-grandson, previously told NBC News.
“Back in the day, prejudice was rampant. And unfortunately, my family was the victim of a hate crime and the prejudice that was around during those times.”
Hahn discovered the history of the property and began the difficult process of returning it, which included establishing that the Bruces’ two great-grandsons are their legitimate heirs.
The transfer deal, which was finalized last June, stipulated that the property would be leased back to the county for 24 months at a rate of $413,000 per year plus all operating and maintenance expenses, with the option of selling it back to the county for an estimated $20 million.
