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The Ebony Beach Club and Mid-Century Legal Battles Silas White, Rex H. Minter, and J. Gordon Macker Silas White and the Ebony Beach Club In 1957, businessman Silas White purchased the former Elks Lodge at 1811 Ocean Avenue to open the Ebony Beach Club. The club attracted approximately 2,000 members, representing a bold assertion of Black leisure in Santa Monica. Within months, the City Council condemned the property under eminent domain, claiming it was needed for municipal parking. ¹ ¹ White immediately challenged the action, noting that alternative parcels across the street remained untouched. His filings argued that the condemnation was selective and discriminatory, and that “Civic Center purposes” served as a pretext to block Black ownership on prime beachfront property. ² ¹ The Ebony Beach Club fight exposed how Santa Monica’s legal tools of redevelopment—particularly eminent domain—could be deployed not neutrally, but in ways that reproduced earlier patterns of exclusion pioneered by covenants and the Protective League. ________________________________________ Rex H. Minter’s Lawsuit Against the City Council (1956) Just a year before White’s purchase, City Councilman Rex H. Minter had filed suit against his own colleagues, alleging that they had been holding secret meetings in violation of the Brown Act and Santa Monica’s charter. ³ ¹ The complaint named Mayor Ben A. Bernard and Councilmen Jack J. Guercio, Russell K. Hart, Fred M. Judson, Thomas M. McCarthy, and Wellman B. Mills as defendants. In his pleadings, Minter alleged that policy discussions were taking place at private banquets and offices, outside the public eye. ⁴ ¹ Depositions and court filings confirmed who attended: developers such as Richard Graves; state officials, including E. T. Telford, District 7 State Highway Engineer; and members of the Parking Commission, including Fred Osborne—the exact figure later central to the Macker bribery case. ⁵ ¹ In a 2006 oral history interview, Minter admitted the closed sessions were used “to put on a good face to the public” while real decisions were made in private. ⁶ ¹ Minter’s case links condemnation, redevelopment, and freeway routing to illegal closed sessions—sessions that gathered the same men later connected to White’s condemnation and Macker’s scandal. ________________________________________ Gordon Macker and Proof of Collusion Journalist and political aspirant J. Gordon Macker was arrested in 1957 for soliciting a $200 bribe from Fred Osborne, boasting that he could use his “friends at City Hall” to condemn the Elks building for redevelopment. ⁷ ¹ At trial, Macker’s claims proved credible. His close friend Thomas M. McCarthy, a sitting City Councilman (and defendant in Minter’s lawsuit), wrote a character reference letter on his behalf. In that letter, McCarthy conceded that a “proper investigation” of vendettas and insider dealings was needed—effectively admitting the toxic political climate. ⁸ ¹ Other letters described collusion between the City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and Merchants Association, confirming that condemnation was being discussed not as a neutral policy but as a coordinated campaign among civic and business elites. ⁹ ¹ Macker’s boast of having “friends at City Hall” was substantiated. The participation of a sitting Councilman in his defense shows that condemnation powers were embedded in webs of personal loyalty and political favor. ________________________________________ Rex Minter’s Reform as Mayor (1961) When Minter became mayor in 1961, his first act was to strip the Parking Authority of its independent power to condemn property, replacing its members with those appointed by the City Council itself. Several long-serving commissioners resigned in protest. ¹ ¹⁰ In speeches to Black community audiences, Minter went further, acknowledging that realtors systematically devalued Black neighborhoods—a frank admission of structural racism in property valuation. ¹ ¹¹ ¹ Although Minter had earlier been entangled in the politics of secrecy and condemnation, as mayor, he attempted reforms. His actions recognized the corrosive effect of collusion between the Council, Parking Authority, and real estate interests. ________________________________________ Analytical Conclusion The battles over the Ebony Beach Club, Minter’s lawsuit, and Macker’s bribery case reveal a continuity of exclusionary governance: •Condemnation suppressed Black enterprise (Silas White’s club). •Secret meetings mapped redevelopment and freeway projects through Black neighborhoods (Minter suit). •Bribery and influence peddling exposed the reality that “friends at City Hall” were real and active (Macker trial). At the nexus sits Thomas M. McCarthy, simultaneously a defendant in Minter’s lawsuit, a participant in secret sessions, and an author of Macker’s defense letter. His involvement proves that condemnation and collusion were not abstract concepts but concrete practices tied to specific city officials. By the time Minter reformed the Parking Authority in 1961, the damage had been done: the Ebony Beach Club was destroyed, and the freeway had cut through Santa Monica’s Black neighborhoods. ________________________________________ Footnotes (ESM Style, Individual) 1.Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, White v. City of Santa Monica, Complaint (1957), case files; Los Angeles County Courthouse; transcription in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal. 2.Ibid., White’s amended complaint, 1957. 3.Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Minter v. City Council of Santa Monica, Complaint (1956); Los Angeles County Courthouse; transcription in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal. 4.Ibid., pleadings, 1956. 5.Ibid., list of attendees at closed sessions, including Richard Graves, E. T. Telford, and Fred Osborne. 6.Rex H. Minter, oral history interview, 2006; transcript in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal. 7.Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, People v. J. Gordon Macker, 1957, indictment and trial transcripts; transcription in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal. 8.Thomas M. McCarthy to Hon. [Judge’s Name], character reference letter for J. Gordon Macker, 1957; Los Angeles Superior Court case file; transcription in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal. 9.Ibid., additional letters describing collusion between City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and Merchants Association, 1957. 10.“Parking Authority Members Resign After Council Appointment,” Evening Outlook [Santa Monica], Mar. 1961, Santa Monica Public Library. 11.Rex H. Minter, speech to Black community event, reported in Evening Outlook [Santa Monica], May 1961; transcription in African Americans in Santa Monica Journal.