The county for will lease the land from the descendants for $413,000 a year, and the governing body has the option to purchase the land for up to $20 million.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to return ownership of prime California beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who built a resort for African Americans but were stripped of the land in the 1920s.
The board voted 5-0 on a motion to complete the transfer of parcels in an area once known as Bruce’s Beach in the fashionable city of Manhattan Beach that is now the site of the county’s lifeguard training headquarters and its parking lot.
Board chair Holly J. Mitchell, co-author of the motion, immediately signed the documents which allow the county to lease back the property with an option to purchase it for millions of dollars.
The land was purchased in 1912 by Willa and Charles Bruce, who built the first West Coast resort for Black people at a time when many beaches were segregated.
In 1995, the state transferred it to the county, with restrictions on further transfers.
Supervisor Janice Hahn launched the complex process of returning the property to heirs of the Bruces in April 2021. A key hurdle was overcome when the state Legislature passed a bill removing the restriction on transfer of the property.
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