USA – San Diego

CA – Black’s Beach – La Jolla

Black’s Beach is located in La Jolla at the southern tip of the Torrey Pines State Beach, right below Torrey Pines. If you enter the beach by way of the gated, paved path at La Jolla Farms Road and Blackgold Road you will be at Black’s Beach. And a warning for entering the beach, the stairway that descends from Glider Port is in very bad shape due to rains years ago. That entrance comes with a warning. So if you plan to visit Black’s Beach, use the entrance from La Jolla Farms Road. There are also Landslide signs posted near the cliffs. If coming from the Scripps Pier, walk north towards the beach. This particular beach is open 24 hours. Take in mind there are absolutely NO facilities. Parking is very limited on the street. You can always park at the Torrey Pines State Beach and walk south.

---

SURF
Black’s has long been a celebrated nudist beach, existing in spite of a 1976 city-wide vote banning nudity here and at other city beaches. In fact, the nudies may be able to claim a more entrenched, if not longer, residence at Black’s than surfers, but this fact has been disputed with Surfer magazine articles on Black’s beach dating back to mid 1960s. Shit, if squatters’ rights existed in this country, they’d own the beach. But the obscene and surfing have come, over the years, to meld into the essential Black’s experience which is very gay-centric. Most of the straight crowd tends to stay in the southern part of the beach with the middle and northern areas much more liberal and gay friendly, especially the very north which is essentially the unofficial gay beach for San Diego. Here you’ll most likely find anything you could possibly be looking for including some of the best gay surfers on the west coast. That said, this is the best beach break in the county, and everyone knows it. The saving grace here is the long hike due to the sheer cliffs. It requires a time commitment that rules out most before-the-job or lunch-break sessions. There are three main peaks, shifting phantom peaks and sneaky insiders that work according to conditions. A deepwater canyon attracts most any swell with west in it and holds waves from 2 feet to as big as it gets. During head-high and smaller swells, low to medium tides are best, but, during large swells, it’s less tide sensitive. It should be obvious, by the glider port on the north end, that the dominant wind is onshore. Which is, as Black’s northern residents will tell you, the perfect direction to tickle a heavily tanned, stark-naked bum.

---

CA – Pacific Beach

Sailing may be popular here but surfing is a way of life, and Pacific Beach is the home of the country’s only gay surfers’ club. Also available for your enjoyment are the flourishing gay & lesbian communities of Hillcrest, North Park and Normal Heights. Spend an afternoon watching hang-gliders off the cliffs of La Jolla while enjoying the sun and surf at the popular, nude Black’s Beach; or drive to Coronado to visit The Hotel Del Coronado where you can dine and sip cocktails against the breathtaking backdrop of a national historic landmark. It was here that a cross-dressing Tony Curtis lost his heart to a wonderfully dizzy Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. A red trolley or taxi will take you from the skyscrapers of downtown to the Mexican border where the bargain hunter’s mecca of Tijuana awaits. San Diego offers museums, concerts, cafes, an aquarium, and the country’s most exquisite zoo. Visit the “Old Town” for a flavor of San Diego’s origins. Or, just experience the fragrance of eucalyptus as sea mist sweeps over San Diego’s cliffs and through the ancient Torre pines.

---

San Onofre State Beach

Located just South of San Clemente, California is San Onofre State Beach; a renowned spot for surfers of all skill levels. The southern end of the San Onofre State Beach is a clothing optional area which attracts naturists, old school nudists, hippy types, volleyballers, traditional surfers, family campers, a smattering of marines, and GLBT sun worshippers, both surfer and non. San Onofre State Beach consists of two areas, the surf beach and the trails campground area. From the San Diego Freeway Interstate 5 exit at Basilone Road and travel south. From here you can get an overview of Trestles (but don’t stop on the freeway off ramp for a view, you can get an expensive ticket). Follow the signs to the right off of Basilone road to the storied San Onofre surf beach, one of the most historic surfing sites on the west coast. Or travel further south where you will come to the State Park Campground with a $10.00 entrance fee or a yearly pass for $125.00. The two areas are separated by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The bluffs campground is three miles long and has six trails to the water and endless beach break opportunities.

---

Tourmaline Surfing Park, Pacific Beach

PB Point is a rolling right that meanders through various slow sections. In fact, it’s the slowest wave around and requires a low tide and swell with push to make it decent. There was a time, though, when these qualities made the Point ideal. The very first San Diego shack, a copy of the Polynesian throwback at San Onofre, was erected at PB Point during the early ’40s. This was the first headquarters of Pacific Beach and La Jolla surfers before they migrated to Windansea. The shack was rebuilt there in 1946. It seems they were moving on to better hunting grounds. Which makes one wonder: where would the shack be now if the tradition had continued? As a social gathering place, and center of a community, the parking lot and beach at the end of Tourmaline Street is something to be cherished — old friends, old stories, old boards, and a brand-new sunset every night. The atmosphere here is the antithesis of the aggro jostling going on just a quarter of a mile away at the Crystal Pier. The people who surf Tourmaline love it. And you’d have to be bleary-eyed with love to stick with waves that mushy. Longboards are the rule.