By Jorge Casuso
March 28, 2025 -- The family of a Black entrepreneur that claims his Civic Center property was taken by the City in the late 1950s is not entitled to the land, City officials have determined.
The City's decision comes one year after the family of Silas White claimed before the City Council that the property was taken in a racially motivated eminent domain action after White planned to build a Beach Club for Black members on the site.
The family is seeking financial compensation or the return of the land near the beach currently occupied by surface parking spaces at the northwest end of the Viceroy Hotel property at the corner of Pico Boulevard and Ocean Avenue.
The family has compared their situation to the Bruce’s Beach case, where an oceanfront property in Manhattan Beach was returned to the family. The Bruce family subsequently sold the property back to Los Angeles County for nearly $20 million.
Directed by the City Council, staff examined "city records, court records, title records, property legal descriptions and historical news reports spanning the past 60 years," City officials wrote in an update Wednesday.
The City found that "on May 15, 1957, a group of investors called Silas White & Associates signed a lease-to-purchase agreement for land at 1811 Ocean Ave., which was owned by a white man named Bennett Dorsey."
The following year, White formed the Ebony Beach Club as a nonprofit corporation "and began soliciting memberships for the planned private club."
Under the purchase agreement, White would pay $200,000 in monthly installments of $2,700 for 15 years, with a second 15-year option.
Court records show that "White completed one rental payment of $2,700 on behalf of the Ebony Beach Club, Inc. before the site and surrounding properties were seized through eminent domain," according to the update.
"It's the city’s understanding that White, through Silas White & Associates and his nonprofit Ebony Beach Club Inc., entered into the lease-to-purchase agreement with the intention of ultimately owning the property, but didn’t have the capital or capability to buy it outright at the time."
Interim City Manager Elaine Polachek and City Attorney Doug Sloan noted in the update that "this was common for entrepreneurs of color at that time, as they didn’t have access to business loans or other sources of capital."
On August 29, 1958, the City filed an eminent domain action to "seize five parcels of land that included the Ebony Beach Club site and several surrounding parcels.
"The complaint named the owner of the Ebony Beach Club property as Bennett Dorsey, and the Dicksons, a family that had loaned Dorsey money to make improvements to the property."
On October 15, 1959, "the court awarded $74,000 to Dorsey and the Dicksons, and issued a final judgment stating that Ebony Beach Club, Inc., had no right, title, interest or estate in the property."
After providing the White family's legal representatives with the findings, "the family presented an estimated value of economic loss at $125,000."
"The city requested additional documentation on this claim and is waiting for a response," according to the update.
Polachek and Sloan added that the City "remains engaged in conversations with the White family about how to redress this historical wrong in a way that is both meaningful and fiscally responsible."
