Laying Bare the Nature of Nudism

It was on bucolic, grassy, eucalyptus-scented grounds in woodsy Topanga Canyon that Ed Lange created the nudist paradise of Elysium Fields--the first nudist resort to adopt a "clothing-optional" policy rather than requiring all visitors to disrobe. It still exists, 30 years after he founded it.

Lange, the son of strict Chicago Baptists, believed in baring his soul and everything else to commune with nature, and spent his adult life trying to demystify the nudist way of life.

He got the Supreme Court to change its mind about whether nudist magazines could be sent through the mails, and Kodak to change its policy about printing nudist pictures. He went on early talk shows--fully clad--to promote the nudist line.

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Lange died in 1995, but his secluded paradise, Los Angeles' only nudist colony, has thrived for three decades, despite prayer vigils outside its gates, persistent efforts by the county government to shut it down, and dismayed neighbors who might not have realized what the place was until after they moved in. Elysium Fields casts itself not as a playland for swingers or a mecca for voyeurs, but as an "educational facility and clothing-optional resort," a place for families. It embraces a "nude is not lewd" philosophy, and sex and "provocative play" are prohibited--repeat, prohibited. It invites visitors to shed their problems along with their attire and get in touch with their senses, to smell the grass, enjoy the fresh air and count the clouds.

As a teenager in Chicago, Lange became fascinated with nudism after buying an early nudist magazine, Sunshine & Health, sold under the counter at a drugstore. Unlike most other young men, Lange was drawn to the articles more than the pictures.

Abandoning Chicago, he moved to Los Angeles in 1940, working as a set designer and as a freelance photographer for Life, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. But his true career path opened up when he heard about what happened to Laura Glassey.

Glassey was a pioneer in the nudist movement, and she had opened the Elysia nudist park in the hills above Tujunga. But hostile newspaper accounts of alleged lewd behavior and hints of "unspeakable orgies" behind the "impenetrable wall" prompted authorities to act. Glassey was on the brink of losing her park.