Where have all the nudists gone?

Unraveling the mystery of dwindling numbers of naturists and naturist resorts in the United States

I might have used “naturists” in the title, but that wouldn’t have harmonized as well with Pete Seegers's lyrics (“flowers” instead of “nudists”). But there’s not much difference in the two terms anyhow. And besides, there may not be many young people who’re sure who Pete Seeger was. That matters, as will become apparent.

This question has been on the minds of many naturists recently because of the potential loss of as many as four once-popular naturist resorts in California this year or next. DeAnza Springs Resort went textile just a few months ago. At least three other California naturist properties have gone on the market in the same period, leaving their future as naturist places in considerable doubt. The three are Lupin Lodge, Olive Dell Ranch, and Desert Sun Resort. Lupin, in particular, is a serious concern, as it’s been in continuous operation as a naturist haven since 1935, only about five years after naturism arrived in the U.S. It’s among the five oldest naturist resorts still in operation in the country.

There are somewhat different circumstances in each case, but the net result of a loss of naturist status is the same, unfortunately. Some may survive, but it’s too soon to know. This situation may be surprising to people outside California. The climate here is good for naturism much of the year, in many respects. But that only makes the potential losses all the more concerning.

This would not be the first time several once-popular California naturist places have been lost within just a few years. Similar losses were Treehouse Fun Ranch (1996), Elysium (2000), Mystic Oaks (2007), and Swallows Sun Island (2008). Again, the details are different, but the loss to naturism is the same. If all the resorts mentioned earlier are lost, then there will be only three remaining important naturist places in the entire state of California - just one in the south and two in the northern part of the state. Of course, other parts of the country have recently also lost naturist places too—especially in the northeast and southeast.

California is the third-largest state in the country, after Texas (1.65 times larger), and Alaska (4.06 times larger). Size actually matters a great deal, because few naturists want to travel several hundred miles to spend a single weekend at a good naturist resort. And especially not many times a year. People will either confine their enjoyment of naturism mainly to their own homes or drop out of it entirely. There are non-landed naturist clubs too, of course. However, not many have frequent activities. And most are located close to larger population centers, which aren’t nearby for many naturists.

So part of the answer to the question raised in the title of this article is that many naturists have retreated to enjoying social nudity only in their own homes - or else given up on it entirely. We have to ask: why have so many naturist clubs and resorts ceased to operate?

Naturism's legal and cultural journey

In the early years of U.S. naturism, especially in the 1930s, naturism was often under legal attack in many parts of the country. because it was deemed to be a danger to “public morals.” In particular, naturists’ freedom of speech was suppressed, because any publications showing nudity, even without a sexual aspect, were considered to be “obscene” and therefore not allowed by the “Comstock Act” of 1873 to be sent through the mail. This was initially interpreted by the Post Office to apply even to legitimate naturist publications.

Fortunately, in 1958 the Supreme Court ruled (Roth v. U.S.) that publications containing nudity where sexual activity isn’t involved are not obscene and hence must be allowed, by the First Amendment. So the Postal Service could no longer prohibit naturist organizations from promoting naturism in their publications. Consequently, many more people could learn what naturism was all about. Most, of course, still regarded naturism as something they wanted no part of. But enough others found it appealing, so a significant number of people chose to make naturism an important part of their lives. And that meant considerably more business for naturist clubs and resorts.

A fundamental law of economics is the law of supply and demand. Quite simply, if demand increases for certain goods or services, before long increasing numbers of providers will be motivated to offer the goods or services. That soon led to the establishment of many new naturist clubs and resorts around the country.

That was, however, only the first factor that recruited many more people to naturism. The second, probably even more important factor that boosted naturism’s popularity in the later 1960s was the entry to adulthood of the first of the post-WWII “baby boomers.” Some of these young “Boomers” had been raised in families that had already embraced naturism, so they were quite used to the idea of socializing naked with others.

But a third, much more important factor was the “youth culture” of the 1960s. Every “new” generation of people tends to distinguish themselves from their predecessors in various ways. Entertainers like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and younger ones like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, etc., were very popular with young people, even though the newer ones initially just followed in the footsteps of traditional folk singers. All of these were “different” - certainly not anything like Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, or Rosemary Clooney. And then there were the “Hippies” and other manifestations of “counterculture.”

In the late ‘60s, “nude beaches” became a real thing in the U.S., following the first, which was a small beach in a sparsely populated area a dozen miles north of Santa Cruz, California. Nude use began in 1958 as an “experiment” by several older naturists, including Ed Lange (who was 38 at the time and later established Elysium in a ritzy neighborhood north of Los Angeles). The beach was initially called “XB-58” (a pun on the name of a military plane at the time). It’s still used by naked beach-goers today but is now called “Bonny Doon Beach” (after a nearby small village). That beach was likely a favorite of the popular science fiction writer and naturist, Robert Heinlein when he lived near it. I visited there often.

Over the next decade,  a few beaches elsewhere in California and the rest of the country began to see nude use, when tolerated by local authorities. Most people who used these beaches au naturel were the same young adults who participated in the youth culture of the time, whether or not they grew up in naturist families. But if they had naturist parents, the latter usually preferred to confine their naturist activities to private clubs and resorts.

However, nude beaches were hardly the only places that some young people chose to enjoy going naked. On various college campuses that had lakes, nearby streams, or other suitable places for naked sunbathing or skinny-dipping, nude use wasn’t uncommon. Stanford’s Lake Lagunita, for example, was a popular spot. On a sufficiently warm early summer day, half the students there might be naked. There were usually about the same number of young men and women who eschewed clothing there. Even local teenagers sometimes used it naked during the 1970s - until the university put up fences to stop them. I can attest personally to that. Clothing was also considered optional at a few student residences.

So that’s where traditional and beach naturism were in the ‘70s. As the baby boom generation entered adulthood, with jobs and families of their own, they spread out across the country anywhere they could find suitable employment. Those who’d begun enjoying naturist nudity were part of that. However, most U.S. population isn’t close to coastal areas where public nude use is (sometimes) possible. So young adults who enjoyed naturism increased demand for naturist opportunities wherever they went. This usually meant patronizing naturist clubs and resorts.

Thus, because increasing demand usually leads to increasing supply, many new naturist clubs and resorts were established - in some cases by the young people themselves. They sometimes also joined formal naturist organizations like AANR and (later, after 1980) The Naturist Society, founded by political activist Lee Baxandall (a member of the preceding generation). Both organizations experienced growing memberships - but only up to around 2000. What happened then?

Generational shifts and naturism

There was no specific event that led to declines after 2000 (although Baxandall had to retire for health reasons in 2002). Here we have to discuss the idea of “generations” in U.S. society. It’s now common to think of people belonging to different “generations” as having certain defining characteristics.

There’s no precise specification of where the breaks between generations occur, but they’re usually given in terms of a person’s birth year. Here’s what Wikipedia offers:

Silent Generation: 1928-1945
Baby Boomers: 1946-1964
Generation X: 1965-1980
Millennials/Generation Y: 1981-1996
Generation Z: 1997-2012

There is, of course, some arbitrariness in this definition. And there’s overlap, especially with people whose birth year is close to one end of the range or the other. People turning 18 this year (2023) must have been born before 2005 to be considered legal adults, so (at least theoretically) able to join naturist clubs without parental permission.

Some members of the Silent Generation had already become active in naturism, but naturism’s popularity accelerated with the Baby Boomers. People in Generation X, who are now 43 or older, generally seem somewhat less often interested in naturism, especially the younger ones. Millennials, who are now between 27 and 42, seem to have even less interest. And Generation Z folks, who are now 26 or younger, seem to have the least interest.

What the heck is going on here? I’m not a sociologist, so I don’t have a theory about what (apparently) causes younger people to diss some or many of the interests and values of their elders - including even parents and grandparents. But that certainly seems to be what happens. “Boomers” became enthusiastic about naturism and social nudity more often than their parents. Yet they seem especially subject to the scorn of much younger people in some respects while retaining the affection of younger relatives in other respects. I’m not prepared to speculate on the causes of this. But it’s surely a factor in the disinterest younger people have in naturism.

There seems to be a very common reaction of young people who visit naturist clubs or resorts just to see what they are like. What they find is that most of the people there are considerably older than themselves, like their parents and grandparents. However much they love and respect their elders, they don’t especially want to be just like them. Young people generally identify much more closely with—and have interests similar to—others near their own age.

The effect of this situation is obvious. Older people drop out of naturism due to death, declining health, less interest or ability to travel, loss of interest in general, or other personal concerns. But every year there are fewer young people (and older people becoming interested in naturism later in life) to replace those who drop out. Result: fewer active naturists in total.

The problem is further compounded because decreasing demand results in a decreasing supply of naturist venues. Quite simply, it costs money to operate and maintain a naturist club or resort, and if there are too few customers, owners of naturist properties can’t afford to stay in business, so they have to close or sell out, frequently to non-naturist buyers. And that means naturists will have to travel farther to visit clubs and resorts, hence they go less often, if at all.

What lies ahead

So there’s the answer to the question, “Where have all the naturists gone?” There are fewer young people entering naturism. If older naturists haven’t died or completely dropped out, they’ve found non-naturist activities to enjoy closer to home. They may not have repudiated the idea of naturism. Perhaps they still enjoy nudity at home,  or on hiking or camping trips in outdoor places, perhaps even with tolerant non-naturist friends. If they can afford to travel to countries like England, France, or Spain, they may go to enjoy naturist vacations there. Such countries have many fine naturist resorts and beaches. So options certainly remain, but they aren’t social naturism as it existed in the U.S. a few decades ago. 🪐

Check out Revitalizing Naturism for more thoughtful analysis of the nudism/naturism movement by Charles Daney:

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Keep reading:

Nudism at a crossroads in California

A brief history of naturism in fiction

There’s no naturism without volunteerism

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