get these nets
Veteran
November 13, 2021
A marker notes the location of Bruce's Beach park in Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Spectrum News/David Mendez)
POLITICS
Lawsuit arguing constitutional overreach seeks to stop Bruce's Beach land transfer
LOS ANGELES — A Palos Verdes-area attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the transfer of Bruce’s Beach, the former site of a Black-friendly resort, from Los Angeles County to the Bruce family descendants.
The latest complaint — which amends his original complaint and was filed subsequent to a motion for preliminary injunction — was introduced by Joseph Ryan, who is representing himself in the lawsuit. Ryan’s case raises two issues: First, he disputes the facts as accepted by the county regarding Manhattan Beach’s original eminent domain seizure of the Bruce family’s land; and second, he questions the constitutionality of the county’s plan to restore the land to the family.
When reached by Spectrum News 1, Ryan declined comment.
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce purchased the first of two land plots that would eventually become “Bruce’s Lodge,” an ocean-front resort catering to Black beachgoers. The Bruce family’s business soon became central to an enclave of Black Angelenos and visitors who came to enjoy a holiday at the beach.
But the Black community would suffer aggressions and indignities — ranging from flattened tires to attempted arson to ordinances apparently targeted at their businesses — until Manhattan Beach’s Board of Trustees set out to seize two blocks of city land through eminent domain, ostensibly to build a park. (Decades later, one trustee would write in a local newspaper that he and his colleagues had acted to prevent the “Negro problem” from stopping the city’s progress.)
In the process, the city would acquire both of the Bruce family lots, as well as lots owned by four other Black families, and nine white landowners. Only the lots owned by Black families had been improved with construction. None of the other lots had structures built upon them, according to a tract map of the property included for the condemnation proceedings.
.
In a September interview with Spectrum News 1, Bradford reiterated the intent of the bill.
“It’s not a gift, it’s returning that which was stolen. The city used the law of eminent domain to commit a crime, and steal property that was rightfully owned by Charles and Willa Bruce,” Bradford said. “We’re returning it, just as if your car was stolen and found and it’s returned to you; nobody’s gifting your car to you, they’re returning your car.”
Ryan, who was appointed to the State Bar in 1974, was described as a “retired lawyer and Civil War buff” in a 2018 article by the Daily Breeze newspaper, centering on his use of the Confederate battle flag. In the article, Ryan said that he flies the flag about four times a year as an acknowledgement of the war and a reminder of the country’s racial history.
“I don’t really give a damn about the politics of liberal idiots who want to look at that flag and say, 'Oh that’s racist,'" Ryan told the Daily Breeze. “The last person you can call a racist is me.”
A hearing on Ryan’s motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for January.
