Santa Monica Will Pay $350K to Family of Silas White After Blocking His Black-Owned Beach Club in the 1950s
Santa Monica is finally owning up to part of its racist past. The city just approved a $350,000 settlement for the family of Silas White, a Black entrepreneur who tried to open a members-only beach club back in the 1950s. His dream never got the chance to shine because the city stepped in and snatched the property through eminent domain. More than sixty years later, the city is calling this payout a step toward repair.
White planned to launch the Ebony Beach Club, a rare space created for Black travelers who were not welcomed at most coastal venues at the time. He leased a building on Ocean Avenue and was already putting down payments toward owning it. Signs were up. A grand opening date was set. The vision was real. Then the city swooped in and said they needed the land for the new Santa Monica Civic Auditorium project. The building was seized and demolished, and White never received a single dollar for the massive financial hit.
City leaders now admit that Santa Monica actively shut Black residents out of opportunity for decades. Mayor Pro Tempore Caroline Torosis spoke on it directly and said that apologies do not mean anything unless money and actual repair follow. The settlement comes after White’s daughter, Constance, reignited attention on the case and pushed for justice not just for her family but for countless others harmed by the same policies.
The Ebony Beach Club would have stood on what is now part of the property next to the Viceroy Hotel. A small portion of that land sits directly on the area White paid for and prepared to turn into a thriving Black business. That history has been buried for years, but the city says it will now publicly acknowledge White’s work. Plans include renaming part of Vicente Terrace to Silas White Street and creating an exhibit dedicated to him inside the Main Library.
This settlement is also part of a larger reparations effort Santa Monica is trying to build. The city previously launched programs for families displaced during freeway construction, but those efforts helped very few people. Officials say this next phase will be more intentional. A new restorative justice fund of $3.5 million is being created to support Black residents who experienced displacement or discrimination. Applications will open in 2026, starting with residents who are ninety years old and older.
For Constance White, this fight has always been about more than a check. Her father’s story reflects a history of systemic barriers that robbed Black families of generational wealth and erased Black spaces across California’s coastline. She has said repeatedly that this work is about justice and making sure the truth is not forgotten again.
And now, at long last, the city is preparing to honor Silas White publicly each year through Silas White Day on October 12.
More than six decades after his dream was snatched away, his name is finally being uplifted the way it always should have been.
