{"id":398521,"date":"2026-07-14T22:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398521\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:51:09","slug":"historic-san-mateo-county-nude-beach-to-become-part-of-new-california-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398521\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic San Mateo County Nude Beach to Become Part of New California State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Gregorio Ranch State Beach is set to open to the public on July 29. Nudity, however, will no longer be allowed.<\/p>\n<p>Jul 14, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Updated 3:22 pm PT<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SanMateoNudeBeach-KQED_2.jpg\"  alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Formerly a nude beach, this slice of San Mateo County beach south of Half Moon Bay is set to become a state park. \u00a0(Courtesy of Teddy Miller for Peninsula Open Space Trust)<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">A stunning slice of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/tag\/san-mateo-county\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Mateo County<\/a> coastline with a popular nude beach will be added to California State Parks later this year \u2014 though clothing will no longer be optional.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">Nonprofit land trust Peninsula Open Space Trust, which <a href=\"https:\/\/openspacetrust.org\/post-news\/post-and-ca-state-parks-announce-permanent-conservation-of-san-gregorio-ranch-and-park-expansion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">purchased <\/a>the 238-acre property west of U.S. Highway 1 last spring, announced plans to donate the land to the state park system this year, and will officially open the beach on July 29.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to let that process get in the way of opening the property for public access,\u201d said POST President Gordon Clark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">San Gregorio Ranch, just north of nearby San Gregorio State Beach, has sweeping ocean views, grasslands full of native plants and animals, a three-acre pond, beach access and is \u201cteeming with birds,\u201d said Clark.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SanMateoNudeBeach-KQED_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091011\"  \/>San Gregorio Ranch, formerly a privately owned nude beach, will open to the public on July 29 under the management of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">The ranch is also considered one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thatsmypark.org\/parks-and-beaches\/san-gregorio-ranch-state-beach\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first<\/a> nude beaches in the state, according to Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, which will manage the day-to-day operations of the beach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">In general, nudity is not allowed at state parks, said Bonny Hawley, the group\u2019s executive director. She said the parks system will educate the public about the rule change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">\u201cAs is the case for other beaches in California, the property line ends at the high-water mark,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">The nonprofit has had its eye on the parcel since 1996, when the prior owner worked with POST to give up future development rights for conservation, Clark continued.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SanMateoNudeBeach-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091013\"  \/>Formerly a nude beach, this slice of San Mateo County beach south of Half Moon Bay is set to become a state park. <\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">First-time visitors to this stretch of beach, he advised, should always bring layers and \u201cnot assume that hot days in the valley mean that the weather is going to be hot on the coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">And he encouraged visitors to get out there, as it\u2019s \u201crare to have opportunities to open up stretches of the San Mateo coast and California\u2019s coast more generally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">The beach\u2019s hours will be 8 a.m. to sunset. Parking will cost $8. Dogs will not be allowed on the beach but will be allowed on leash on trails and in parking lots and picnic areas only, according to Friends of Santa Cruz State Beaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\" title=\"\">\u201cThis is a spectacular property,\u201d Hawley said. \u201cThe view from the cliff over to the ocean, the view up the coast toward Half Moon Bay, is just stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Gregorio Ranch State Beach is set to open to the public on July 29. Nudity, however, will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-398521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}