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...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“...cauliflower is all cauli and no flower.”

That’s a shame. Sorry for your ‘off’ year. i’m having a pretty good one, all things considered. We DO need a string of 90 degree sunny days and everything will catch right up.

Right now it’s a few hours of sun, then rain. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Well, that’s a HUGE relief, LOL!