Drawing a (tan) line in the sand: nudists vow to fight for San Onofre beach

They looked the other way for decades, but now officials say they're going to start enforcing the law on a clothing-optional stretch of San Onofre State Beach.

Citing ongoing complaints from park visitors and the fear of workplace harassment lawsuits from employees, officials say they will begin citing skinny dippers who refuse to cover up after Labor Day. New large signs warning that nudity is prohibited have recently sprouted up throughout the park, and rangers are telling nude sunbathers that their endless summer is about to end.

"Times have changed," said Rich Haydon, acting superintendent of the California Parks and Recreation Department's Orange Coast District. "The population growth within a two-hour drive of San Onofre has grown tremendously through the years. It can no long be considered a remote beach."

Angered naturists say they intend to fight the move lying down -- in the sand, as hundreds of nude sunbathers do every summer weekend.

"Do you think one or two rangers could cite all those people? No way," said R. Allen Baylis, who heads Friends of San Onofre Beach, a naturist group. "There's going to be no way to effectively enforce this policy."

The full story is here. And for a photo of the father of California nudism, click on our previous blog post here.

--Veronique de Turenne

Photos: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Tyler]

I'm no nudist but certainly feel that if we have the right to own handguns then we have the right to be naked on the beach.