Zoro Gardens Nudist Colony

Designed by architect Richard Requa (1883-1941), this sunken garden and stone amphitheater were built by government-funded work relief employees during the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition, the garden took the name Zoro Gardens when it housed a nudist colony exhibit borrowed from a nudist camp in Roselawn, Indiana. Several times a day, a mostly female troupe conducted rituals to the Sun God. In 1935, Yvonne Stacey, a genuine naturist from Indiana, presided as Queen Zorine, and in 1936 she was replaced by Queen Tanya, Florence Cobit, who also had sisters in the troupe. Visitors paid 25 cents, later raised to 75 cents, for unlimited observation time. Between shows, the nudists played games, read, cooked, and lounged amid the vegetation and a running brook. Surviving photographs indicate they were rarely, if ever, fully nude: the women were usually topless with G-strings, while the men wore loincloths. A small Maya-style building provided a kitchen and bathroom, and animal skin rugs and a fire pit were used for chilly evenings. Knotholes in a wooden fence around the upper rim of the garden offered free views inside. Despite repeated public attempts to close the attraction, it remained hugely popular and kept long hours during the Exposition. According to historians of the naturist movement, it was the only known nudist colony in the world to sell tickets to spectators. The area is now used for events and plays and has been cultivated as Balboa Park's butterfly garden since 1997.

San Diego, California · United States