Bay Street Beach Historic District

Bay Street Beach Historic District is a historic beach in Los Angeles County.

History

The beach was a place of recreation and leisure for African Americans during the Jim Crow era. The beach was located at Pico Boulevard and two city blocks south of Bicknell Street, near Phillips Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1922, the Santa Monica Bay Protective League was organized to attempt to fence the beach to exclude African Americans. In 1927, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People challenged restrictive covenants at Manhattan Beach, south of Santa Monica, which were overturned by the Supreme Court of California.
Alison Rose Jefferson and Michael Blum documented the history of the district. In 2008, Santa Monica officially recognized the district.