Attorney George Fatheree said his entire professional career had prepared him for the type of experience and expertise it took to return Bruce’s Beach, a property in Manhattan Beach, to the African American family who owned it and lost it in the 1920s.
Los Angeles County officials on July 20 presented the deed to prime California oceanfront property to the heirs of a Black couple who built a beach resort for African Americans but were harassed and finally stripped of the land nearly a century ago.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion from Chair Holly J. Mitchell and co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn on June 28, that returns Bruce’s Beach to the great grandsons of Charles and Willa Bruce.
Foley & Lardner LLP secured a victory on behalf of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last week when Honorable Judge Michael Beckloff of the Los Angeles County Superior Court denied a County resident’s petition for a writ of mandate in an attempt to block the transfer of Bruce’s Beach back to the legal heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce.
Fire Chief Daryl Osby, who oversees the lifeguard division as well as fire service operations, was among the crowd cheering as Governor Newsom signed bill SB 796, which allows county officials to transfer the land – estimated to be worth $75 million – back to the Bruce family. “Being the fire chief of this department and coming to one of the facilities in my department, I always felt that sullied the L.A. County Fire Department’s legacy and today we were able to right that wrong,” he said.
The dialogue occurred on Thursday, September 30, following Newsom’s signing of legislation to return Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of the original owners of the resort. Brooks met with the governor on the Bruce family property in Manhattan Beach and questioned him on reparations, the recent gubernatorial recall and his future goals.
The story behind Bruce’s Beach tells a narrative of Black-ownership in America. Original property owners Charles and Willa Bruce had their land seized by the City of Manhattan Beach, California. The local government managed the rights to the land for almost 100 years.