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| Venice Boardwalk Venice Beach, California apartments.com |
Welcome back from a long Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Blogger is rested and ready to go. The cold autumnal weather has yours truly thinking beaches. Warm, sunny beaches. Of course this being a blog dedicated to architecture, historic preservation, urban planning and design, that warm, sunny beach is a historic beach in California. Today, we turn our attention toward the history of African-American beaches in Southern California. Two beaches in particular: Bruce's Beach in Manhattan Beach and Bay Street Beach in Santa Monica. were popular places for Los Angeles County's African-American resident to seek relief from daily life. Lauren Weber, the field editor of Preservation magazine, shares with us the hidden history of African-American beaches in her article "Exploring Los Angeles County's Historic African-American Beaches."
The turn of the twentieth century, visions of endless sunshine brought people from the Midwest and East Coast seeking their own California dream. However, these romantic visions were not always available to everyone. In the early 1900, African-American migrants from the South struggled to find their own safe and comfortable place in the sun, despite laws, as early as the 1890s, that declared beaches were a public resources available to everyone, regardless of race.
Los Angeles-based historian and fellow USC alumni Alison Rose Jefferson (https://alisonrosejefferson.com/) told Ms. Weber:
Sometimes those laws were ignored....Sometimes they weren't enforced, and sometimes local officials allowed private individuals to inhibit certain people from using the beaches. And other times, individuals took it upon themselves to say certain people couldn't the beach simply because they didn't want them, to for whatever reason.
With the help of Ms. Weber and Ms. Jefferson, we are going to take a look at two historic African-American beaches in Los Angeles County: Bruce's Beach in Manhattan Beach and Bay Street Beach, also know as The Inkwell in Santa Monica.
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| Willa Bruce on the beach Bruce's Beach Manhattan Beach, California citymb.info |
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce purchased a parcel of land in Manhattan Beach, California and established a small resort for African-Americans. The parcel of land became known as "Bruce's Beach." The resort contained a bathhouse, lodge, a dance hall, and dining facilities, and spaces for outdoor activities. Ms. Jefferson noted,
They brought a lot of joy to people.
Despite the joy courtesy of the Bruces, many of Manhattan Beaches's residents were opposed to the resort, going so far as to file complaints with the city. The property owner next door enlisted police officers to patrol his land and set up ropes to block access to the water from Bruce's Beach, "...forcing visitors to walk nearly a mile down the coast in order to wade into the ocean." Ms. Jefferson added,
From day one, there was resistance to [Willa Bruce] opening her business.
Manhattan Beach eventually enacted an ordinance prohibiting public bathhouses along the beach, including Bruces's, "...which at the time was the only public bathhouse in the area." The city went a step further an later passed ordinances forbidding people from changing their clothes in their cars or in tents.
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| Bruce's Beach Park Manhattan Beach, California californiabeaches.com |
So they were trying to make it pretty difficult for the African-Americans at Bruce's Beach...There was nowhere for them to go to the bathroom or eat or change clothes.
In the mid-twenties, citing a need to create a public park on the Bruce's property, the city seized the land through eminent domain. Protests were launched "...and a group of African-American organized a 'wade-in.'" The protests and wade-in were to no avail, the resort was demolished and the property remained vacant for the next thirty years, changing names a few times, before the park was actually built.
If you visit this section of Manhattan Beach today, you will find a sign designating the area as "Bruce's Beach." Fixed to the sign is a plaque outline the site's history-though, Ms. Jefferson point out, with inaccuracies. The sign came after the City Council voted in 2006 to return the beach to its original name. The dedication ceremony was held in 2007.
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| Bay Street Beach "The Inkwell" c. 1924 Santa Monica, California alisonrosejefferson.com |
Bay Street Beach, or "The Inkwell"
Bay Street Beach was the name used by many African-Americans for the stretch of coastline south of Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. Others referred to it as "the inkwell." This was the pejorative term for the skin color of the beach goers, but some, according to Ms. Jefferson, "reclaimed the term and used it as a badge of pride." Ms. Jefferson said,
It's how it has become to be known...But there are some who went to the beach and never used the term.
Although the beach's boundaries shifted over time, it remained a popular place for African-Americans from the early 1900s to the 1980s. Lauren Weber writes, "It was accessible by streetcar, and it was near a thriving African-American community centered around the Phillips Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (built in 1908) at Fourth and Bay streets and a host of other African-American businesses that were eventually established." Bay Street Beach was a place to see and be seen, with a bathhouse, cafés and restaurants, tennis courts, volleyball nets, and other outdoor recreational activities. Ms. Jefferson said,
It became a place of refuge.
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| "The Inkwell" 1905-64 Santa Monica, California blacklist.org |
As similar results sprung up in the area, the boundaries of Bay Street Beach were moved further south. However, it continued to be a popular escape. This being Southern California, naturally there is a surfing angle to this story. It was at Bay Street Beach, where the earlier known African and Mexican-American descent, Nick Gabaldón, began his career in the forties.
Stroll through the area today, and you will find a commemorative plaque at Bay Street and Ocean Front Walk. Ms. Jefferson contributed the text on the plaque. There annual events like Nick Gabaldón and Coastal Cleanup Day, which annually take place around the marker. These events are organized by Heal the Bay (http://www.healthebay.org), the Santa Monica Conservancy (http://www.smconservancy.org), and the Black Surfers Collective (http://www.blacksurferscollective.org). Alison Rose Jefferson is also active in promoting these events, Blogger gets the emails. They also are active in promoting coastal conservation while raising consciousness and celebrating the historic beach.
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| Santa Monica Pier c. 1880 Santa Monica, California en.wikipedia.org |
Ms. Jefferson has this concluding thought:
What people think about when they look at African-American history is the political and economic struggles people had...But they forget about some of the other struggles-like getting space to sit and think for a minute. To enjoy yourself. To breathe...With enslavement and Jim Crow laws, people were trying to restrict African-Americans from everything, including going to the beach...I was really excited to discover [these stories] and share them with people. People are hungry to learn about these sites.
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