Bruce's Beach was stolen a century ago. It's finally been returned.
When Kavon Ward walks onto Bruce’s Beach in Manhattan Beach, a wealthy, predominately white coastal enclave in southern California, she keeps her focus on the ocean. Looking elsewhere gets her blood boiling.
“I feel disgusted. When I look straight ahead into the water I am fine, but when I look right or left and see all these big homes owned by white people, I get mad,” she says.
Her anger stems from last year’s movement to return Bruce’s Beach to the heirs of Willa and Charles Bruce. The couple had purchased the property in 1912 as a haven for African Americans barred from swimming at or enjoying seashores designed for whites only. In its heyday, the property included a resort called Bruce’s Beach Lodge, with a hotel, beach house, restaurant, and dance hall.
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Last September, California Governor Gavin Newsom fulfilled Ward’s wish, by signing a law authorizing Los Angeles County to return the three-acre property to the Bruce family after nearly a century—a first in United States history. And last week, the county agreed to an unprecedented two-year lease with the family, including the option for the county to purchase the property for $20 million.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/bruce-s-beach-was-stolen-a-century-ago-it-s-finally-been-returned/ar-AAYUygF