The apology – Mayor Steve Napolitano apologizes to the families of Bruce’s Beach
by Mark McDermott The phone rang Saturday morning at Anna King Gonzales’ house in Los Angeles. She picked up to unexpectedly find Manhattan Beach Mayor Steve Napolitano on the line. Napolitano was calling from Bruce’s Beach Park, and he was excited. The two had spoken for the first time only three days earlier. Gonzales is the 90-year-old matriarch of a family directly descended from George and Ethel Prioleau, one of the African American families who a century ago were forced by the City of Manhattan Beach to leave the homes they’d built on the very land Napolitano was standing on. In about 30 minutes, the City would unveil a new plaque, replacing a plaque erected in 2006 that miscast the park’s history to make a city founder who’d been hostile to Bruce’s Beach resort appear to have been welcoming, a literal whitewashing of history: “In 1912, Mr. George Peck, one of our community’s co-founders, made it possible for the beach area below this site to be developed as Bruce’s Beach, the only beach resort in Los Angeles County for all people,” the 2006 plaque read. In fact, Peck had roped off the beach and erected “no trespassing” signs” the weekend Bruce’s Beach resort opened. The…
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