Before Haulover

For years prior to and at the time of South Florida Free Beaches' founding in 1980, nude usage was tolerated at Virginia Key, between Miami and Key Biscayne. The City of Miami then passed an anti-nudity ordinance. SFFB sought injunctive relief in the courts, but the ruling in SFFB v. City of Miami handed down in June 1981 was not favorable, and nude use was eliminated there.

Around the same time, the Florida State Park Service moved to eliminate traditional nude usage at MacArthur Beach State Park ("Airforce Beach") in Palm Beach County, through the enforcement of a "dress code" it had enacted for state parks. [FAC 62D-2.014(7)] The irony is that while this code enacted by park administrators is used to the present day to enforce swimsuit standards at all state parks, there is no Florida legislative statute explicitly dealing with swimsuit standards. Also, Florida case law shows consistent rulings that nudity absent lewd or lascivious behavior and intent is not illegal under Florida Statute 800.03.
Meanwhile, increasing tolerance of more cosmopolitan "European" bathing customs became evident in some places – the City of Miami Beach, for example, chose not to interfere with women bathing top-free, or with the wearing of thongs or g-strings by either sex at the beach. Still, there was no recognized naturist beach in South Florida where one could skinny-dip after the early 1980's.

Haulover Beach

Tom Chittenden, an SFFB founder and its first president, identified Haulover Park as a prime site for a naturist beach in the mid 80's. It was a Dade County park, and the county had no anti-nudity ordinance. Also, it was then a neglected park, frequented by gang members, drug dealers, and other undesirables. Other responsibilities forced Tom to relinquish his leadership role in SFFB, and both the idea and initiative to establish a naturist beach at Haulover fell to others, notably Shirley and Richard Mason, Mallika Sarrow, and Bruce Frendahl. They drafted a written strategic plan, researched the law, and wrote letters to county officials and community leaders. Armed with copious statistics, and with legal opinions from the Florida Supreme Court, they held meetings with county commissioners, the park department's administrators and legal advisors, the police, tourist agencies and others. While most people they spoke with agreed that a clothing-optional beach might not be a bad idea, no county official was willing to take a public stand in support of a designated beach site.

On July 14, 1991, during National Nude Recreation Week, about fifteen SFFB members held a christening celebration at the north end of Haulover Beach to establish a clothing-optional beach there. The plan that day was to begin nude usage only to the extent individuals were comfortable doing so. Participants started the day in g-strings and thongs, with the women top-free - attire by then acceptable in Miami Beach. Passers-by gradually increased the crowd to about thirty-five, and eventually a few brave souls decided to go swimming nude. Thus was Haulover's clothing-optional beach born.

The number of nude users increased quickly and by 1993, the county installed lifeguard towers and provided lifeguard service and regular trash disposal. But at first it forbade the installation of any permanent signs designating the clothing-optional section, so SFFB members set up temporary signs propped up on folding chairs each day.

A potential crisis came in February 1992, when the police arrested five nude sunbathers. SFFB stepped into action with its Legal Defense Fund and staff attorney to prove to county law enforcement and to the State Attorney that mere nudity was not illegal. The result was that the charges against those arrested were dropped, and Laurie Collins, the legal advisor to the Dade police department, issued an internal police memo stating: "...the mere act of being nude in public is not a violation of Florida Statute 800.03." (Lewd and lascivious behavior statute.)

Although the county still declined to erect signs, they allowed SFFB to provide and erect permanent signs in December 1993. A few years later, the county decided to install its own signs designating the clothing-optional beach. Finally, in February 2002, the County Commission approved a new Haulover Park Master Plan, clearly showing the designated clothing-optional beach.

Today, 75% of Haulover's more than a million annual visitors come to use the naturist beach. Yet it and Apollo Beach at Canaveral Seashores are the only designated clothing-optional beaches in Florida. At last count, 55 of Florida's 67 counties had enacted anti-nudity ordinances, and attempts have been made to enact a statewide anti-nudity statute.

View SFFB HISTORY PHOTO ESSAY