Land of Our Own

Land of Our Own. . Owning property is considered a sign of success. And so it was for Manuel and Julia Murrell. In the 1920s they purchased land at Pico Boulevard and 4th Street, across from the Belmar Triangle and Santa Monica High School. There they erected a building, living in one part of it and renting out the rest to Black businessmen and professionals. , Manuel had arrived in Santa Monica with his brothers from Kentucky around 1910. He worked various jobs in a laundry and in 1923 became the first African American employed by the U.S. Postal Service in Santa Monica. , The Murrells owned their building for about fifty years. During this time, they rented space to African American businessmen, such as Lloyd C. Allen, who started his janitorial business there in 1949 and ran it for fifty-six years. , (Sidebar) , Lloyd C. Allen (right) , Small business owner and civil rights activist Lloyd C. Allen moved from Louisiana to California in 1939. He became Santa Monica's first Black recreation and parks commissioner. When this photograph was taken in the 1970s, he was helping to develop Virginia Avenue Park at 20th Street and Pico Boulevard in a multiethnic neighborhood. , A Neighborhood Landmark , Allen Janitorial Supply and Equipment was located at 400 Pico Boulevard in a Black-owned building on the southeast corner of Pico Boulevard and 4th Street. Lloyd C. Allen rented space for his operations there for twenty-six years. He included this drawing in an advertisement in 1975, when he purchased the building at 400-404 Pico Boulevard from Manuel and Julia Murrell. Allen owned the property until 2005. , Photo credits: , . Left: Santa Monica Evening Outlook, May 17, 1975. Santa Monica Public Library , . Right: Lloyd and Norma Allen Collection