He is among the movement’s elder statesmen, having spent four decades trying to demystify the nudist way of life.įor the past 26 years, his focus, and the source of his pride, has been Elysium Fields. Sitting on a veranda overlooking his domain, wrapped in a towel as a concession to the weather, Lange resembles a professor who has just stepped out of the shower.

“What we were hoping for and fighting for in the ‘60s, people are more comfortable doing now,” said Ed Lange, Elysium’s 72-year-old founder and a former Life magazine photographer. Women who wouldn’t be caught in a singles bar swear by the secluded, eight-acre compound as a place to meet quality men. Parents take their kids there to explain the birds and bees. The camp, where sex is prohibited, has become a popular venue for self-awareness experts spreading the New Age gospel. A product of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, it has survived prudish neighbors, prayer vigils outside its gates, and, until recently, persistent efforts by Los Angeles County officials to close it down.Īlthough a few of the nation’s 100 or so nudist camps have fallen on bad times, Elysium Fields-like nude recreation generally-thrives. With the passage of time, the Elysium Fields nudist camp in Topanga Canyon is more quaint than risque.

Some play tennis in nothing but sneakers. Waitresses and teachers mingle with affluent couples and aging hipsters, their tanned bodies glistening in the sun. On warm weekends, its grassy, eucalyptus-scented grounds are covered with naked men and women.

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