For practically 60 years, a windswept shoreline alongside the San Mateo County coast close to San Gregorio has been identified for greater than its beautiful cliffs and crashing waves.
It has additionally earned a repute as one of the crucial well-known nude seashores in California, with a colourful historical past of birthday go well with bathers and au naturel aficionados that dates again to 1966. Now the 195-acre property, San Gregorio Ranch, positioned at Freeway 1 and Freeway 84, will enter a brand new chapter.
A non-profit Palo Alto environmental group, the Peninsula Open House Belief, has signed a deal to purchase the scenic property — which incorporates rolling pastures, a pond and practically a mile of picturesque driftwood-strewn seaside — from household of Walter Bridge, a former dairy farmer who owned it for many years till his dying in 2005.
“It’s a beautiful, iconic part of the San Mateo County coastline, with stunning bluffs and a long beach,” stated Gordon Clark, president of the land belief, which generally referred to as POST. “It’s a very rare opportunity.”
The land belief’s leaders need to protect the land for wildlife, just like the badgers, red-winged blackbirds and shorebirds that stay there. Additionally they need to proceed public entry. Clark stated the group plans to work with California’s state parks division to attempt to add the property to San Gregorio State Seaside, an adjoining, well-liked state park that touches its southern border.
What which means for the nude sunbathers will not be fully clear.
Till the deal closes and POST takes possession in Could, 2026, the present homeowners will proceed charging a parking price to entry the property (presently $7 per automobile), as they’ve for generations, and permitting people who find themselves joyful to put on nothing however a smile sunbathe there. Due to the form of the cliffs, it’s solely doable to stroll from San Gregorio State Seaside to the nude seaside at low tide, so the 2 are sometimes separated.
“It’s a remarkable piece of Bay Area history,” Clark stated. “In the near term we want to sustain that use.”
What occurs after that isn’t absolutely clear.
State parks officers affirm they’ve been in discussions with POST concerning the land. Including it to the state park system would develop the 452-acre San Gregorio State Seaside subsequent door, a park that already has trails, restrooms, and a self-pay machine to cost guests a parking price.
“We’ve been supportive of their efforts to secure the property,” stated Chris Spohrer, Santa Cruz District superintendent of state parks. “We will continue to have dialogue with them to explore future possibilities.”
POST, which has preserved 90,000 acres of open area since 1977 in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, additionally plans to lift $4 million to check wildlife on the property, improve trails and assist pay for staffing whether it is transferred to the state.
Legally talking, nudity isn’t allowed at California’s state seashores. However rangers often solely write citations or arrest individuals if others complain and so they refuse to placed on garments.
Because of this, there are quite a few state seashores in California the place individuals disrobe, often in out-of-the-way coves and secluded areas, together with at San Onofre State Seaside in San Diego County; Grey Whale Cove State Seaside close to Satan’s Slide in San Mateo County; Bonny Doon Seaside in Santa Cruz County and Garrapata State Park in Massive Sur.
There are additionally a number of federally owned seashores which are a part of the nationwide park system that are well-liked with beachgoers-in-the-buff. These embody Baker Seaside in San Francisco, and Stinson and Muir seashores in Marin County, additionally on an off-the-cuff, often low-profile approach.
On a latest weekday afternoon, San Gregorio Ranch had fewer than half a dozen beachgoers.
Peninsula Open House Belief President Gordon Clark, Public Entry Mission Supervisor Bryanna Whitney, Chief Advertising and marketing Officer Ben Huang and Senior Supervisor of Media & Communications Marti Tedesco, from proper, stroll alongside the San Gregorio Ranch Seaside in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The massive tree stump to the left marks the northern boundary. The belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
1 of 6
Peninsula Open House Belief President Gordon Clark, Public Entry Mission Supervisor Bryanna Whitney, Chief Advertising and marketing Officer Ben Huang and Senior Supervisor of Media & Communications Marti Tedesco, from proper, stroll alongside the San Gregorio Ranch Seaside in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The massive tree stump to the left marks the northern boundary. The belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
Broaden
“I love this beach. It’s very private,” stated Varinka Muldawer of Santa Cruz, who was strolling down the path towards the sand the place she deliberate to disrobe. “If there’s a divide where you could still be nude, that could work.”
Muldawer, who stated she has been coming to the property for about six years, stated she’s joyful it gained’t turn out to be the gated property of a billionaire, and that the wildlife shall be protected. However she stated that the seaside ought to stay clothes non-compulsory.
“You feel more connected with nature,” she stated. “I had stress. I thought how I do I get rid of it? Get naked! I get to be myself in nature. Nobody is here. Some people frown upon it. But a lot of people respect it. We aren’t hurting anybody. This beach is a calm place in nature. People have a choice.”
Though the property is quiet now, that hasn’t all the time been the case.
In 1966, Darrell Tarver, a 28-year-old Air Pressure veteran and senior at San Francisco State College, fashioned the “Committee for Free Beaches,” a counterculture group. He put fliers up on campuses in San Francisco and Berkeley urging individuals to go to San Gregorio within the buff. Quickly greater than 500 nudists every Sunday had been exhibiting up.
“Bands of enthusiastic gawkers appeared, manning spyglasses from behind the bushes; planes from nearby Half Moon Bay Airport began buzzing the beach,” TIME journal reported that yr.
One indignant guardian claimed his 14-year-old daughter had disrobed whereas visiting with one other household. He demanded the San Mateo County District Legal professional’s Workplace file costs. The DA refused, saying the conduct wasn’t lewd or obscene. The dairy farmer, Bridge, started charging $1 per automobile, and the remaining is historical past.
Since then the seaside has been featured in articles and books itemizing the very best nude seashores in California, the U.S. and the world, and its northern half has turn out to be a preferred spot amongst homosexual males.
“You seldom run into people,” Muldawer stated. “Sometimes you meet new friends in the same mindset. Most of the time, it feels like you are in your own private area.”
Initially Printed:
