3.13.24 Returning the Ebony Beach Club Property to Its Rightful Owners In 1957, Silas White, a Black entrepreneur and Santa Monica resident, set out to transform his dream — opening a Black beach club on the Santa Monica shores — into reality. Records indicate that he acquired site control over the old Elks Club building at 1811 Ocean Avenue. He planned to call it the Ebony Beach Club, and he pictured it becoming one of the finest establishments in America for “the accommodation and comfort of my people,” he wrote in a letter to prospective members.
Here, Black members could lounge in luxury in the main entrance’s bar, be entertained at the jazz stage or take a leisurely dip in a crystal-clear pool, which was not always publicly available to the Black community due to segregation. White had plans for an arts and entertainment venue where Black residents could indulge in the “social enjoyment, recreation, and entertainment” that they were denied at “white” beach clubs like Santa Monica’s famous Casa del Mar and Edgewater, and attracted the attention of famous artists such as Nat King Cole.
He hoped to become one of the many successful Black-owned businesses in Santa Monica catering to the area’s growing African American community. These pioneers of America’s “frontier of leisure” thrived in Belmar Triangle, the Bay Street Beach and other Californian coastal communities, including “Bruce’s,” an African American owned resort in Manhattan Beach. The dream of business and land ownership, and an opportunity to build generational wealth and economic opportunity for the White Family and the larger Black community was quickly pilfered the City of Santa Monica a year later.
Santa Monica City officials used eminent domain to take the Ebony Beach Club Land before Silas White’s dream could be realized. Under the guise of “urban renewal,” the City of Santa Monica is reported to have declared the property blighted and claimed it was needed for a parking lot. These urban renewal policies, which also razed the nearby Belmar neighborhood to build the Civic Center, intensified racial segregation, displacing Black communities and dividing neighborhoods along race and class lines.
3.13.24 The property seized by eminent domain is still owned by the City of Santa Monica today. Not only is the property not being used for a parking lot, it comprises a portion of the land being leased to the world-class Viceroy Hotel, in exchange for which the City of Santa Monica enjoys annual revenue coming directly to the City. This puts the City of Santa Monica in the unique position to right this historic wrong by further investigating the seizure of the Ebony Beach Club Land and establishing a process to potentially return the land to the living heirs of those from whom the land was taken and compensate their descendants for wealth lost over the last 60 plus years.
The City has underscored its commitment to racial equity, including the adoption of a Black Apology in November 2022 and the adopted City priority of advancing equity and inclusion with a Citywide equity strategic plan well underway. However, if the City is to truly repair past harms, it must take the meaningful next steps of advancing reparations by putting forward a plan to return the former Ebony Beach Club property to its rightful owners.
This process must start with determining those who had an ownership stake in the original property, an analysis of their closest living descendants, and a recommended path forward to right this historic wrong.
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Therefore, a request of Councilmembers Torosis, Zwick and Davis to direct the City Manager and City Attorney, in consultation with relevant departments, to report back to the Council in 90 days with:
1) Historical records documenting Silas White’s interest in the Ebony Beach Club Property at 1811 Ocean Avenue including chain of title and a record of any leaseto-purchase agreements that may exist, as well as the record of actions taken by the City of Santa Monica to seize this property by eminent domain. 2) Contemporaneous public writings, government communications, court documents, and other evidence that indicates the City of Santa Monica exercised racial animus in its decision to seize the property at 1811 Ocean Avenue.
3.13.24 3) Recommendations that include, at a minimum, steps the City of Santa Monica should take to repair past harm that the City perpetuated against Silas White and his descendants related to the Ebony Beach Club property at 1811 Ocean Avenue. Recommendations could include, as appropriate:
a. Options for financial compensation for the closest living descendant(s) of Silas White inclusive of wealth lost since the property was seized by the City of Santa Monica; and
b. An outline of steps that may be required to transfer the parcel(s) of land referred to as “Ebony Beach Club” at 1811 Ocean Avenue or equivalent parcels in the portion of land within the area currently occupied all or in part by the Viceroy Hotel. Priority factors to be analyzed as part of the next steps should include:
i. Any needs to amend the deed to the property to allow for such a transaction;
ii. Identifying and addressing land and zoning restrictions; iii. Performing due diligence to determine the rightful legal heirs; iv. Understanding the tax implications upon the heirs in the event of transfer; and
v. Assessing the operational and fiscal impact to the City and the Viceroy hotel, if any.