In Boston, several of us nudists created the Nood Groop, and elected me President. We held
house parties and made trips to beaches, ponds, wherever we could go nude without much
hassle. We were only active when the nudist camps were closed down, which was Labor Day
to Memorial Day, up north. The nudist camp owners were immediately against us; they wanted
us to go nude only in their camps, spending money there, not going nude for free.
At a Nude In at Truro beach, on Cape Cod, I met Lee Baxandall, who was just starting his
nationwide Naturist organization, advocating free beaches (going nude on public land, outside
of nudist camps).
In 1976 I moved to Miami with my second wife, Kathy. I was named Mr. Nude Florida, 1977.
Lee Baxandall came through Miami on a trip, stayed with us for a time, and asked me if I would
be the contact person for the South Florida free beach movement. I agreed to.
I went to Virginia Key, where locals were going nude. It was county land, and the county had
no problem with us being nude there. Gawkers, however, were a problem. At the time there
was no group there larger than two - a guy and his girl. It was not uncommon to see a group of
six rowdies surround a couple on their blanket, and harass them with comments about the
woman's body. They could do nothing but sit there and wish it wasn't happening. I got a
clipboard, pad of paper and began telling people we needed to get together for our mutual
benefit. I talked to over a hundred people before anyone refused to give me name, address
and phone number. One of the people I talked to was Barbara Khan, a legal secretary. She
had names and phone numbers of some thirty people going nude on a different part of Virginia
Key. We got together, and in September, 1980, South Florida Free Beaches was born. She
took care of all the office-type matters, and I served as President and did PR for the club.
I spoke to police, commissioners, Travel & Convention Bureau, was interviewed by all the local
TV anchors, and appeared on the Sally Jessie Raphael show wearing only a towel. I told the
Travel & Convention Bureau that if they wanted to attract more European tourists they had to
offer them at least some of what they could expect in Europe. Because of this, some credit me
with Miami's South Beach being topless.
The nudist camp owners were, of course, against our going nude outside of their camps, and
when we applied for American Sunbathing Association (now the American Association for Nude
Recreation) as a Travel club (a club without land), they launched a smear campaign against
us, and particularly me, saying we were perverts, having open sex on the beaches and what
all. We won our charter in spite of them, and the entire Eastern Sunbathing Association, a part
of the ASA, seceded from the ASA in protest. After the furor died down those camp owners
had to reapply for ASA recognition as new clubs.
While under county jurisdiction, we actually had the police chasing the gawkers away for us.
However, control of Virginia Key then passed from county to city of Miami jurisdiction. The city
was not so friendly toward us. The police came out and began arresting those they caught
nude. I was arrested four times for being nude on a public beach, and, thanks to a very good
attorney, have never been convicted of anything. I have proven, in court, four times, that
simple nudity, absent lewd & lascivious conduct is not illegal in Florida.
Then I moved to Key West.
The club grew, and eventually the leadership was turned over to Richard and Shirley Mason.
Together they lobbied for, and successfully secured, Haulover Beach, on the most northern
part of Miami Beach, on county land, as the first officially designated clothing optional beach in
Florida. Haulover is now one of, if not the most successful clothing optional beach in the
country, seeing some 5,000 visitors a day.