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While those who
frequent nude beaches know there's actually a set of
guidelines and etiquette that comes along with
privilege, on the opposite end of the scope is the law
that bans nudity in your own yard.
Huntington Beach,
Calif.- One former resident of this conservative beach
community, Miguel Angelo Ferreira, a.k.a. the Naked Man,
shocked so many people with his physical presence and
nudity that some feared it could ruin tourism, eegads!
While other cities in California have policies
permitting such, Orange County once was less
prohibitive. Less than a decade ago, Huntington Beach
city council member scrapped a proposed ban on nudity in
public places. Designed to remove a proposed business
serving up drinks and lap dances from Beach Boulevard in
Huntington Beach, other methods managed to keep the
potential club from opening in the seaside resort town.
To prevent Ferreira from being naked at his home, the
district attorney's office suggested that Huntington
Beach officials ban public nudity, rather than file
indecent exposure charges that require evidence the act
was sexually charged (which it didn't seem to be).
What created the most debate among council members was
not the ban, but another city law that prohibits people
from taking off their swimsuits in public.
Should you visit or
decide to live in Huntington Beach, don't take offense
at this proclivity to be discreet. Just walk out on the
beach during the US Open of Surfing (as opposed to the
US Clothed of Surfing) and you'll see everything but a
few inches of the body as thong-strapped girls (and
sometimes guys), walk along with what looks like no
clothes at all from the back side. And be sure to take a
look at the
most photographed surf statue in the city.
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