For almost 60 years, a windswept shoreline alongside the San Mateo County coast close to San Gregorio has been recognized for greater than its beautiful cliffs and crashing waves.
It has additionally earned a status as one of the well-known nude seashores in California, with a colourful historical past of birthday swimsuit 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 almost a mile of picturesque driftwood-strewn seashore — from household of Walter Bridge, a former dairy farmer who owned it for many years till his loss of life in 2005.
“It’s a beautiful, iconic part of the San Mateo County coastline, with stunning bluffs and a long beach,” mentioned Gordon Clark, president of the land belief, which generally known as POST. “It’s a very rare opportunity.”
A drone view of the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore, proper, and land in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Within the background is San Gregorio State Seashore. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre ranch property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
The land belief’s leaders wish to protect the land for wildlife, just like the badgers, red-winged blackbirds and shorebirds that stay there. Additionally they wish to proceed public entry. Clark mentioned the group plans to work with California’s state parks division to attempt to add the property to San Gregorio State Seashore, an adjoining, standard state park that touches its southern border.
What which means for the nude sunbathers is just not completely clear.
Till the deal closes and POST takes possession in Might, 2026, the present house owners will proceed charging a parking price to entry the property (at the moment $7 per automobile), as they’ve for generations, and permitting people who find themselves blissful 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 Seashore to the nude seashore at low tide, so the 2 are sometimes separated.
“It’s a remarkable piece of Bay Area history,” Clark mentioned. “In the near term we want to sustain that use.”
A drone view of the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
What occurs after that isn’t absolutely clear.
State parks officers affirm they’ve been in discussions with POST in regards to the land. Including it to the state park system would develop the 452-acre San Gregorio State Seashore 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,” mentioned 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 house since 1977 in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, additionally plans to boost $4 million to review 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 normally solely write citations or arrest individuals if others complain they usually refuse to placed on garments.
Because of this, there are quite a few state seashores in California the place individuals disrobe, normally in out-of-the-way coves and secluded areas, together with at San Onofre State Seashore in San Diego County; Grey Whale Cove State Seashore close to Satan’s Slide in San Mateo County; Bonny Doon Seashore in Santa Cruz County and Garrapata State Park in Massive Sur.
There are additionally a number of federally owned seashores which can be a part of the nationwide park system that are standard with beachgoers-in-the-buff. These embrace Baker Seashore in San Francisco, and Stinson and Muir seashores in Marin County, additionally on an off-the-cuff, normally low-profile method.
On a latest weekday afternoon, San Gregorio Ranch had fewer than half a dozen beachgoers.
Peninsula Open House Belief President Gordon Clark, Public Entry Challenge 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 Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The big 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)
A drone view of the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore and a pond on the land in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
A drone view of the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
A drone view of the San Gregorio State Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the close by San Gregorio Ranch Beach195-acre property simply to the north for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
An indication posted on the path right down to the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
Peninsula Open House Belief President Gordon Clark, Chief Advertising and marketing Officer Ben Huang, Public Entry Challenge Supervisor Bryanna Whitney and Senior Supervisor of Media & Communications Marti Tedesco, from proper, stroll up the path from the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
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Peninsula Open House Belief President Gordon Clark, Public Entry Challenge 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 Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The big 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,” mentioned 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 mentioned she has been coming to the property for about six years, mentioned she’s blissful it gained’t change into the gated property of a billionaire, and that the wildlife will likely be protected. However she mentioned that the seashore ought to stay clothes non-obligatory.
“You feel more connected with nature,” she mentioned. “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.
A drone view of the San Gregorio Ranch Seashore in San Gregorio, Calif., on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The big tree stump marks the northern boundary. The Peninsula Open House Belief is buying the 195-acre property for $10 million. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
In 1966, Darrell Tarver, a 28-year-old Air Power veteran and senior at San Francisco State College, shaped 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 displaying 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 12 months.
One offended father or mother 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 expenses. The DA refused, saying the conduct wasn’t lewd or obscene. The dairy farmer, Bridge, started charging $1 per automobile, and the remainder is historical past.
Since then the seashore has been featured in articles and books itemizing the perfect nude seashores in California, the U.S. and the world, and its northern half has change into a well-liked spot amongst homosexual males.
“You seldom run into people,” Muldawer mentioned. “Sometimes you meet new friends in the same mindset. Most of the time, it feels like you are in your own private area.”
Initially Revealed: April 22, 2025 at 12:05 AM PDT
