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Bruce's Beach
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
6 reviews for Bruce's Beach
On the list of other great places to fly a kite in Los Angeles. You really can't ask for anything better. You have the whole elevated terrain and a lot of open space to let that kite fly high and over the ocean.
Since the park is separated in tiers, you can easily roll down one and stop without hurting yourself too much. Which is fun if you just want to roll around on the grass and get all itchy by the end of the day.
From here you get to see the nice condos of the MB area as well as a great view of the ocean/beach from a slightly higher place.
There's basketball courts there so you can get your B-ball on while the smarter folks are flying their kites on this elevated area. Just be careful not to hit the nearby expensive homes. Parking is also pretty easy.
In all, this spot is one of the better secrets that MB hides. It's not known by all and since it's tucked away between all the wonderful homes around here, you can really relax and not be around too many crowds.
I used to use this as a starting point to run to the pier and back. A good work out on a sunny day. A great spot for a Sunday afternoon picnic.
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First of all, the park is awesome. Grassy area with some basketball courts overlooking the beach. A great place to have a picnic or take a rest on a bike ride. Check it out-it rocks. Enough said about that.
But how many times have I ridden past Bruce's Beach, formerly known as Parque Culiacan, and earlier as City Park and Bayview Terrace, and said to myself, "What the heck is this park doing here? It's surrounded by apartments and condos, why did they not keep building here? Did something burn down that the original owner couldn't afford to pay for?" Don't get me wrong-I love parks...but I've always felt that Bruces Park looks like it was never intended to be there, like it was something else and was made into a park.
One rainy day earlier this week on a bus ride to work I got my answer. An elderly woman sitting next to me who had lived in Manhattan Beach her whole life told me the story of "Bruce's Beach" and how the KKK and eventually the City got rid of an entire African American Community in 1924. The African American bus driver confirmed this statement.
I found it hard to believe so I jumped on the internet. There I found many links including one yelp thread from Cheri A about Bruce's Beach http://www.yelp.com/to... and one Wikipedia article http://wikimapia.org/2...
Bruce's Beach was one of the few beaches in Southern California in the early 1900s that was not off-limits to African Americans.(What?not everyone could go to the beach???) Developer George Peck established the area in 1912 as a beach for African Americans,This was so against the conventional wisdom of the time, when most beaches in Southern California were white only beaches.
In 1912 Mrs. Willa Bruce bought one of the first lots on George Peck's site and began to establish a beach resort for African Americans.
The local Manhattan Beach Community reacted to the Bruce's arrival with disapproval to say the least. The KKK often harassed African American beach goers, burnt crosses on their property and the Manhattan Beach City Council began to push for the Bruce's removal from the city. Indeed, if you were an African American and you were seen at Manhattan Pier at night, you risked getting arrested or worse. The city eventually declared eminent domain and paid the Bruces $14,500 to leave Manhattan Beach-an amount well below market value. This left Mrs. Bruce financially ruined.)
After the Bruce's left their beach, the cottages were burned to the ground (the KKK actually had tried to burn them to the ground when the Bruces still lived there.) The city then tried to build a whites only resort but the NAACP intervened and fearing negative publicity, the city backed down. For years from the 1930's to the early 1960's the area was just an unused sand dune, a constant desolate reminder of an unresolved past.
By 1962 though, the city took a renewed interest in the area calling it Bayview Terrace and a park was built. Later it became known as Parque Culiacan, after Manhattan Beach's sister city in Mexico.
By 2006 a renewed interest in the park's roots began to emerge and the Manhattan Beach City Council was forced to dig into the city's not so pretty past. The Council renamed the park 'Bruce's Beach' and eventually celebrated this change in a ceremony on March 31st, 2007 http://www.youtube.com... .
Many have suggested that Interpretive panels and public art should faithfully, completely, and accurately celebrate the proud legacy of Bruce's Beach and African-American Los Angeles so that all who visit it can learn of it's past. Seems to be a reasonable request to me. (I wonder, do the kids of Mira Costa High learn about the history of Bruce's Beach in their History classes?)
The City of Manhattan Beach has declared that "Friendship, goodwill, and respect for all begins within our own boundries and extends to the world community." If that is truly the case, why not just give the property back from who they took it from, or at the very least make a better effort to communicate the Park's history and culture?
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The ocean is big, I've yet to find something it can't handle.
I ended up here by accident, after a long and aimless drive. I needed to pull over, get a handle on things, think for a minute. The universe stepped in, and bam, all I could see was grass, trees and an unobstructed view of the big blue.
Perfection.
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Another park review for my ongoing series.
Bruce's Beach is not a beach at all, it's a park. A memorial park dedicated to the beach area it watches over.
And it turns out that this park site, the oldest in Manhattan Beach in fact, represents quite a powerful history.....namely one of racial discrimination.
Yesterday, when I read the story on the commemorative plaque (see photo), I was so saddened that I just stood there for a long time. Just stood there.
I was thinking that I have driven past this park a zillion times and never knew the sad history of the surrounding area. Isn't it amazing what we discover when we pause to take a closer look?
The park was renamed about a year ago. I recall that Cheri had posted a thread about the dedication, and I found the link on Google (http://www.yelp.com/to...). Ah yes, now I recall.........
It's about time, I say, that an acknowledgment has taken place. Seems like very little, however, a lot late.
The park itself is a beautiful spot, especially for watching sunsets. It's on a steep hill overlooking the sea. It's almost all grassy, and it's laid out in tiers, so there is ample flat land to walk on. Quite unusual.
I was humbled not only by the story I just mentioned, but also by a commemorative stone bench shaped like a surfboard (in photos). The plaque on that bench is dedicated to that Manhattan Beach resident who was killed on 9/11.
Ah yes, I remember that too.
Isn't it amazing what humans are capable of doing to hurt one another?
Back to the park itself.
It's directly above the Lifeguard Training Center, which sits on the walking path along the beautiful stretch of oceanfront north of Manhattan Beach Pier. I think this is one of LA's best beaches, vast and mostly unpopulated.
The homes on the Strand have flower gardens, and there are vintage lamp posts, and old stone stairways leading down to the sand. I often walk here, it reminds me that we live in Paradise. It takes my breath away every single time.
Bruce's Beach park has metered parking lots that are also in tiers (see photos). I can tell you that on summer weekends, spaces are at a premium, and the surrounding residential area offers very little if any street parking. It's a densely-populated place.
But on a weekday, clear sailing, plenty of room.
The park has no playground and no facilities other than the basketball court in the photo.
And there is no restroom either, but there are some down on the beach if you walk in either direction.
Dogs (on leashes) are allowed in half the park only, the lower half. See photos of the signs.
If you drive by Bruce's Beach, stop and pause to reflect on how precious life is, and how fragile it can be. Feelings are precious too, and this park site generates many.
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This park is the new name here in Manhattan Beach. A nice break from all the tall and skinny mini-mansions of the area.
i love this park. i always go here instead of the main hustle of downtown. this place is peaceful, perfect to a enjoy a day view or the sunset, perfect to take kids and do semi serious exercise on the odd basketball courts....its great to go lie down and look at the beach, or lie down and talk, be with your dog, with a friend, or a date...and the beach down below is generally empty.
i love the rolling little hills of this park...kids love it too.
it has diff levels and plenty of benches for diff people to enjoy.
it is surrounded by manhattan beach residences, each with their unique architecture. dog owners here seem respectful.
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