State cleared to clamp down on nude beaches

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/21/9 | Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

[SmithL]

Keep that towel handy. California parks officials can enforce a ban on nudity at any state beach, even in areas that have been informally designated as "clothing optional," a state appeals court says.

The new policy will take effect immediately, although officers will decide whether to warn, cite or arrest violators, said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Parks and Recreation Department.

"I'm pretty sure that we will try to tread lightly to get compliance at first," he said Monday, three days after the appellate court in Santa Ana published its ruling as a statewide precedent. "We're not in the business of hassling people. ... Officer discretion will play a role."

Still, he noted, the ruling overturned a 30-year-old policy that had allowed sunbathers and swimmers to bask unclothed in isolated sections of state beaches from San Diego to Eureka. Park rangers intervened only if someone complained, and then would merely tell the nudist to don a swimsuit or leave.

The ruling doesn't apply to federal parkland such as the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes San Francisco's North Baker Beach and several other Bay Area sites frequented by the unclad, or private land such as a portion of Muir Beach in Marin County. The National Park Service does not prohibit nudity on its land, said Chris Powell, spokeswoman for the national recreation area.

But some popular clothing-optional state beaches, such as Gray Whale Cove south of Pacifica and Red Rock Beach in Mount Tamalpais State Park, will be affected.

Lawyers for the Naturist Action Committee, which sued unsuccessfully to preserve a clothing-optional zone at San Onofre State Beach in Orange County, said they would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court and lobby the Parks and Recreation Department to exercise its long-unused authority to designate...

[Red Badger]

TTIWWP!..............

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I say we make FR ‘clothing optional.’ What? It already is? LOL!

(I can think of ten guys that most likely post here nekkid...)

[SmithL]

Back when I was a new Cub Scout leader, a Boy Scout Troop invited our Webelos to camp with them at San Francisco’s Battery Chamberlain. I wish someone had warned me that it overlooks clothing-optional Baker Beach.

[dirtboy]

The National Park Service does not prohibit nudity on its land,

A regulation promulgated in response to incidents in the White House during the Clinton years.

[dblshot]

First they tax the shirt off my back and everything else they can get from me and then they bust me at the nude beach.

[Joe 6-pack]

I usually FReep in my asbestos undies.

[dblshot]

However the cub scouts probably thought it the best campout they ever had.

[Lurker]

Officer discretion will play a role."

I expect a rash of shootings of nude beach patrons by cops exercising their discretion to start very soon.

[dblshot]

definition: Posting nekkid... posting without a spell checker.

[relictele]

And we all know the elephantine government cannot ‘tread lightly.’ On anything.

[CaspersGh0sts]

“
However the cub scouts probably thought it the best campout they ever had.”

I don’t know... Seems gay beaches were always gay cruising grounds when I was in California.

[stormer]

Would you have packed the bigger binoculars?

[jwparkerjr]

Reminds me of the story about the NY secretary who saved her money for a Florida vacation. When she got to the hotel she asked the desk clerk where would be a good place to get some sun. He replied the roof was nice and there was seldom anyone up there. So that afternoon she goes out on the roof, spreads out her stuff and spends an hour or so, turning over from time to time. Later that evening she notices she's getting a bit red from the sun but also that has some very obvious tan lines.

Next day she goes up on the roof and since no one’s around she takes off her bathing suit top and bottom and folds them carefully on a towel right next to her. In a few minutes she hears someone running up the stairs to the roof. She calmly reaches out, takes her towel and covers herself with it. A very red-faced bell hop comes up to her, out of breath, and says, “M’am, the manager says you got to put your clothes back on, right now!” She responds, “Why? There's no one up here and I've this towel to cover myself if someone comes around?” The bell hop tells her, “I know that, M’am. But you're lying on the skylight to the dinning room!”

[Global2010]

I was thinking about the headline Clamping Down.

[Just another Joe]

(I can think of ten guys that most likely post here nekkid...)

Why are you thinking of me, Diana? ;^)

[newheart]

definition: Posting nekkid... posting without a spell checker.

More definitions

Naked: You have no clothes on.

Nekkid: You have no clothes on and you're up to something.

(Lewis Grizzard)

[r9etb]

Why are you thinking of me, Diana? ;^)

Pssst... hey, Joe: we're all nekkid under our clothes.

[Global2010]

Good One.

and one I never heard.

[tlb]

What happened to the constitutional right to bare arms?

A few years back I visited the nude cove at Malibu a few times. It wasn’t bad since the oldies and fatties were discouraged. The surreal part though was watching a series of tour boats troll by the beach full of badly dressed pervy tourists.