Nudity banned at San Francisco restaurants

Life in the culinary capital of Northern California is about to get a little less free and easy, after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to require all restaurant patrons to wear clothing while dining out.

Those predisposed to bare all must also place something between naked buttocks and public seating under the ordinance, which is up for a final vote next week. The measure would go into effect 30 days after it is signed by Mayor Ed Lee.

The plan to regulate -– rather than flat-out ban -– public nudity brought this famously liberal city international attention and became fodder for late night talk show hosts. But Supervisor Scott Wiener, who proposed the ordinance, said it was simply a matter of “common sense.”

“There’s not a lot to say about it except that it makes sense,” Wiener said in an interview after the board adjourned for the day. “There were no amendments to it, no discussion…. The clerk read it. There were some giggles from the audience. I spoke briefly, and it passed unanimously.”

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-- Maria L. La Ganga in San Francisco

Photo: Naturist George Davis hangs out in the Castro district of San Francisco. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to require all restaurant patrons to wear clothing while dining out. Credit: Kimihiro Hoshino / AFP/Getty Images