Welcome to Historic Belmar Park

Welcome to Historic Belmar Park. . The site where you are standing was once a neighborhood called the Belmar Triangle. For more than fifty years, African Americans lived here and in other multiethnic areas of South Santa Monica. They built homes and businesses, attended school and church, rented and owned property – all in pursuit of justice, equality, and happiness. Some of these neighborhoods no longer exist, but their stories survive. , The stories told in this exhibition reveal a search for self-discovery and equal opportunity during a time of anti-Black racism, from the 1900s to the 1960s. They describe the places where African Americans lived, worked, and prayed and what they valued. , For over half a century, these stories remained hidden. Telling them breathes new life into our understanding of the historical African American experience in Santa Monica and what it means to be an American. Making them public renews our sense of community pride and our broader collective identity as Californians and Americans. , The Brunson Family , Charles and Selena Brunson lived at 1745 5th Street with their sons Donald and Vernon, fifty chickens, and two horses. Selena worked at a hand laundry in Ocean Park. Charles transported goods around the region with a horse and wagon. He also actively fought for civil rights. In 1907, they posed on the Santa Monica Pier with Donald, one of the first African American children born in the city. , Belmar History + Art is a project of the City of Santa Monica, commissioned through its Percent for Art Program, and made possible by Santa Monica Cultural Affairs and the City of Santa Monica's Public Works Department. A commemoration and celebration of the African American neighborhoods of South Santa Monica and their contributions to the city's history and cultural heritage, Belmar History + Art includes a history exhibition, sculptural artwork, educational program, and website. The project was inspired in part by a mandate of the California Coastal Commission to “integrate the principles of environmental justice, equality, and social equity.”