Bruce Family to sell Manhattan Beach Property, Senator Bradford Issues Statement

SACRAMENTO – Following the Bruce family’s decision to sell their property to the County of Los Angeles, Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) released the following statement:

“I fully support the decision made by the Bruce family to sell the property to the County of LA. They are exercising a right that should have never been taken away from them. I understand why the Bruce family would want to sell the property.  The current zoning regulations would prevent the Bruce family from developing the property in any economically beneficial manner. Based on that fact it leaves LA County as the only logical purchaser of the property.

“The Manhattan Beach City Council stole the land under false pretenses nearly one hundred years ago and deprived the Bruce’s of generations of wealth.  I am proud to have authored the legislation (SB 796) and to help descendants of the Bruce family reclaim their land and to have the deed transferred back to its rightful owners.

“In no way does selling the property diminish the powerful example that the return of Bruce’s Beach represents in America. They were able to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.” 

Senate Bill 796, authored by Senator Bradford in 2021, cleared the way for the beachfront land to be returned to the Bruce family. In June of last year, the County of Los Angeles Transfer Documents detailed a 24-month lease agreement with the Bruce family and rented the property from them. The Lease Agreement also included the Bruce’s right to sell the property to the County for a purchase price not to exceed $20 million.

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Senator Bradford is Vice Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and represents the Los Angeles County communities of Carson, Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, San Pedro, Torrance, Watts, Willowbrook, and Wilmington.