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By Tyler Shaun Evains
Legislation to help a family reap a portion of the benefits of their ancestors’ lost wealth could get approval from the state Senate this week.
Senate Bill 796 — which would allow L.A. County to return two parcels of oceanfront land it owns in Manhattan Beach back to the descendants of the original Black owners — is scheduled for a full Senate vote on Thursday, May 20, according to the office of the secretary of the senate.
The item is on the Senate’s consent calendar, office of the secretary of the senate said. And since the consent calendar is a set of uncontroversial items that get voted on all at once, the bill will almost certainly pass unless a senator pulls it off for discussion.
State Sen. Anthony Portantino, chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, determined the bill had no significant costs to California and sent the bill to the Senate floor on Monday, May 17, according to the office of Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Carson.
The two parcels at the heart of the bill were once part of a flourishing seaside resort owned by and operated for Black people in the early 20th century, during a time when African Americans had limited coastal access.
Willa and Charles Bruce ran a flourishing resort for Black people on that land in Manhattan Beach in the early 20th century, providing refuge for the people who at the time had limited coastal access.
But the original owners, Willa and Charles Bruce, as well as those who visited the resort and Manhattan Beach’s other African American residents, faced harassment and terrorism from some White neighbors who didn’t want Black people in the community.
Manhattan Beach leadership condemned the land, as well as that of other Black property owners, in 1924 and took it over through eminent domain.
The city still owns the largest portion of the former resort, which eventually became Bruce’s Beach Park.
But the two parcels closest to the surf became state-owned in 1948. The state gave those two parcels — and larger swaths of the beach — to L.A. County in 1995.
The county currently operates a lifeguard station there.
But under the 1995 transfer agreement, the county cannot sell or give the land to anyone else.
SB 796 would undo those restrictions and allow the county to return the land.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors last month directed county officials to come up with a plan to return the parcels.
The County CEO’s Office, County Counsel and the executive director of racial equality, in consultation with the county fire chief, have until June 19 to report back to the board with a plan for how to deed the property to the Bruce family.
That plan, which the supervisors would have to OK, will include a timeline, options for addressing property tax issues after the transfer and ways the county could either lease the property from the Bruce family or relocate the lifeguard facility there.
If the bill passes the state Senate with a two-thirds vote by June 4, it would then go to the state Assembly, which would have to vote on it by Sept. 10. After that, the bill would go to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.
Getting the land back, though, is only a part of what the family is seeking, said Bruce family historian and representative Duane Shepard.
“We wanted the land restored, punitive damages for the police department terrorizing our family and restitution from lost revenue those enterprises would’ve had right now,” Shepard, a distant relative, said in an April interview. “Giving back the land doesn’t replace generational wealth.”
