Editing Manhattan Beach, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Manuel Domínguez of California.jpg|thumb|left|Don [[Manuel Dominguez|Manuel Domínguez]], owner of [[Rancho San Pedro]], which included modern-day Manhattan Beach]]
The sandy coastal area was likely inhabited by the [[Tongva]] tribe of Native Americans. Archeological work in the nearby [[Chowigna]] excavation show evidence of inhabitants as far back as 7,100 years ago. The Tongva Village of Ongovanga was located near neighboring [[Redondo Beach]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-tongva-map/ |title=Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past |first1=Sean |last1=Greene |first2=Thomas |last2=Curwen |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 9, 2019 |access-date=April 27, 2020 |url-access=limited }}</ref>

In the mid-18th century, the [[Portolá expedition]] was the first European land exploration of present-day California. It traveled north from San Diego to the San Gabriel Valley, [[Los Angeles Basin]], San Fernando Valley, Monterey Bay, and San Francisco Bay. In 1784, the [[Charles III of Spain|Spanish Crown]] deeded [[Rancho San Pedro]], a tract of over {{convert|75,000|acre|km2}}, to soldier Juan José Domínguez. It included what is today the entire [[Port of Los Angeles]]; [[San Pedro, Los Angeles]]; [[Harbor City, Los Angeles]]; [[Wilmington, Los Angeles]]; [[Carson, California|Carson]]; [[Compton, California|Compton]]; the [[Dominguez Hills]]; [[Lomita]]; the [[Palos Verdes Peninsula]]; [[Redondo Beach]]; [[Hermosa Beach]]; Manhattan Beach; and [[Torrance, California|Torrance]].

In 1863, a Scottish immigrant, Sir Robert Burnett, purchased [[Rancho Sausal Redondo]] and [[Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela]] from [[Cornelio Avila#Antonio Ygnacio Avila|Avila]]'s heirs for $33,000. Ten years later in 1873, Burnett leased the ranch to a Canadian, Daniel Freeman (not the American [[Daniel Freeman|of the same name]], who was the first to file a claim under the [[Homestead Act]] of 1862). Burnett returned to Scotland. Freeman moved his wife and three children onto the ranch and started growing various crops. On May 4, 1885, Freeman bought the ranch from Burnett for $140,000. At some point after this the location was informally called "Shore Acres." Shortly thereafter, in 1888 the area's first freight and passenger railroad tracks were built by the Santa Fe Railroad company. The tracks ran through today’s Manhattan Beach and spanned all the way to Redondo Beach with a substation constructed in later years at Center Street, which today is Manhattan Beach Boulevard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brianpetruzzelli.com/history-of-manhattan-beach-california/|title=The History of Manhattan Beach|work=Brian Petruzzelli Real Estate |date=November 8, 2022 |access-date=March 2, 2023}}</ref>

[[George H. Peck]] owned the land that became part of the north section of Manhattan Beach. A coin flip decided the town's name. Around 1902, the beach suburb was named "Manhattan" after developer Stewart Merrill's home, the [[New York City]] borough of [[Manhattan]].<ref name=":0" /> "Beach" was appended to the city's name, in 1927, at the behest of the postmaster.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Capsule History of Manhattan Beach, 1912 - 1975|author=Judson Grenier|url=http://manhattanbeachhistorical.org/history/|access-date=December 27, 2017|archive-date=July 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704101548/https://manhattanbeachhistorical.org/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Incorporation of the City of Manhattan Beach won in a vote held on November 26, 1912.<ref name= togs>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380219491/ Manhattan Beach Dons New Municipal Togs]". ''The Los Angeles Times''. November 27, 1912. p. 26.</ref> 

Mrs. W. A. Bruce, a landowner of property near the coast, created the first beach resort for Black Americans in Southern California, [[Bruce's Beach]].<ref name= meets-with>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/380258227/ Colored People's Resort Meets with Opposition]". ''The Los Angeles Times''. June 27, 1912. p. 16.</ref>{{r|KCET}} Bruce set up a small portable cottage with a stand in front where soda and lunches were sold.<ref name= meets-with/> There were two dressing tents with showers, and fifty bathing suits were available for rent.<ref name= meets-with/> Peck's land was located between Bruce's land and the beach itself, and Peck erected "no trespassing signs" on his land, which required beachgoers to walk a half-mile around his land in order to go to the beach.<ref name= meets-with/> Many beachgoers did so, which made the nearby white landowners unhappy.<ref name= meets-with/> In the 1920s, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] began violently harassing the resort's visitors, the Bruce family, and four other Black families that bought lots. In 1924, the city used [[Eminent domain in the United States|eminent domain]] to seize the land from the Black property owners under the pretense of building a park.<ref name=fights>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/692881690/ Bruce's Beach Fights Condemnation]". ''California Eagle''. December 26, 1924. p. 1.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Resort Was an Oasis for Blacks Until Racism Drove Them Out|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-21-me-then21-story.html|date= July 21, 2002 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=May 16, 2020 }}</ref><ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/866713730/ Attempt Made to Force Sale of Cal. Beach]". ''The New Era'' (Omaha, Nebraska). January 16, 1925. p. 1.</ref> Bruce's attorney noted that there was a lot of vacant property located on both sides of Bruce's Beach that could have been used for a public park, and that the city's insistence in seizing Bruce's property was a ruse to carry out the city's racist objection to Black people using the public beach.<ref name=fights/> In 2021, California Governor [[Gavin Newsom]] signed legislation authorizing the transferring of the property to descendants of the family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Xia |first=Rosanna |date=2021-09-30 |title=Bruce's Beach can return to descendants of Black family in landmark move signed by Newsom |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-30/newsom-signs-law-to-return-bruces-beach-black-family |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Bruces Beach, espropriata alla famiglia afroamericana, torna agli eredi 109 anni dopo|url=https://luce.lanazione.it/bruces-beach-espropriata-alla-famiglia-afroamericana-torna-agli-eredi-109-anni-dopo/|date=October 3, 2021|newspaper=La Nazione|language=it|access-date=October 4, 2021}}</ref>

The land in Manhattan Beach was formerly sand dunes. During the 1920s and 1930s, Kuhn Brothers Construction Company leveled uneven sandy sites and some excess sand was sold and shipped to [[Waikiki, Hawaii]], to convert their reef and rock beach into a sandy beach.<ref name="HM 2009-02-20">{{Cite magazine|last=Bailey|first=Chris|date=February 20, 2009|title=Where's the beach? Seeking the origins of Waikiki sand.|url=https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/wheres-the-beach-seeking-the-origins-of-waikiki-sand/|access-date=June 21, 2021|magazine=Hawaii Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> 

The [[McMartin preschool trial]]s, an example of [[day care sex abuse hysteria]], started with investigations of a Manhattan Beach preschool in 1983. The trials ran from 1987 to 1990 and resulted in no convictions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained|title=The history of Satanic Panic in the US — and why it's not over yet|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=October 30, 2016|work=Vox|language=en|access-date=November 25, 2019}}</ref>  [[HBO]] dramatized this case in the [[Emmy]]-winning ''[[Indictment: The McMartin Trial]]'',<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/indictment-mcmartin-trial |title = Indictment: The McMartin Trial}}</ref> which was partially filmed in Manhattan Beach.<ref name=I95>{{cite AV media |title=Indictment: The McMartin Trial |year=1995 |people=Jackson, Mick (Director} |medium=docudrama |publisher=HBO}}</ref><ref name=imdb>{{IMDb title|qid=Q1962727|title=Indictment: The McMartin Trial}}</ref>

[[Image:Manhattan beach pier photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg|thumb|The [[Manhattan Beach pier|Manhattan Beach Pier]] in 2013|437x437px|centre]]