What a Cali Nude Beach Can Teach Us About Economics

Sara Moreno

A surfer at Black's, heading out on his e-bike after a sunset surf sesh

Black’s Beach is not only known as the largest nudist beach in San Diego, CA, but in the entire United States. When it first opened, Black’s Beach, a non-rivalrous place of consumption, was one of the first and few nudist beaches in San Diego, CA. Currently, the portion of the beach that is managed by the city no longer allows guests to wear clothing optionally, but until 1977 the entire beach was “swimsuit optional”(lajolla.com).

Although nudism is unlawful in San Diego, it has continued at Black’s for decades because part of the beach is not managed by the city. These days, the nudists, or “nakes”(as surfers call them), go north of the Glider Port Trail at Torrey Pines, while surfers head south for better waves. The border between the clothing-optional stretch of the beach and the side with clothing laws is not clearly defined, and oftentimes nudists lay close to the border or cross it entirely, deterring clothed beach goers.

Torrey Pines Gilder Port, which looms over Black's Beach. I took this photo recently, on a 2002 Canon Digital Camera.

This article will discuss how Black’s Beach conditions relate to Coasean Theory, property boundaries, and efficiency and equity. In “The Problem of Social Cost” by R.H. Coase, he explains his theory with a story of straying cattle which destroy the crops of a neighbor’s land, and strike an issue of which business has to pay for damage or enforcement of property rights. Coase says that if it is inevitable that some cattle will stray, an increase in meat can only be obtained with a decrease in the supply of crops.

In other words, a gain for the cattle-raiser would mean a loss for the farmer, unless bargaining is worked out so that neither party loses anything(Coase,2). The solution for this situation cannot be found without knowing the value of what is obtained as well as the value of what has to be given up for it.

In the case of Black’s Beach and the rest of Torrey Pines Shores, the lack of a defined boundary between city-managed beaches and state-managed beaches causes unlawful expansion of the state-managed portion onto the city’s. We can consider the nudists to be like the stray cattle in Coase’s example, and the city-managed beach is the cropland. Every time a nudist crosses into city-managed land, nudity laws are being broken and clothed beach goers are deterred from the beach.

Torrey Pines State Beach is a public beach located in the San Diego, California community of Torrey Pines. The default ownership of the northern part goes to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, who owns and manages Torrey Pines State Park. The southern portion is jointly owned by the city of San Diego and the state park, but is managed by the city of San Diego. The key issue: The portion owned by the city isn’t clothing-optional anymore.

Although nudity was deemed unlawful in San Diego in the late 1970s, the famous Black’s Beach has prospered as a place for nakes despite the laws against nudity in San Diego because Black’s beach is managed by the state rather than the city of San Diego, and nudity is allowed in certain places within the state of California. The beach is divided up into two sections, and only the northern territory where nudity is still legal, allows nudists.

Because the border between the clothing-optional stretch of the beach and the side with clothing laws is not clearly defined, nudists cross the border or hover close to it, accidentally expanding the nudist beach and deterring beach-goers that prefer clothing.

During my first visits to Torrey Pines beaches as a tourist, I experienced the confusion of where the nudity laws began and ended at Black’s Beach. There is no sign indicating where the clothing laws no longer exist; the only indication of nudist beach boundaries are the nudists on the outskirts. Rather than property rights being enforced, nudists were the indicators of where the laws apply.

Dales might call the border between city-managed beach and state-managed beach “the interface”(Dales, 172). This situation at Torrey Pines can be used as an example of Coase theory because if we can assume there are zero transaction costs, perfect information, no market power differences, and efficient markets for all related goods and production factors, then the involved parties can negotiate terms that reflect the full costs and values of the property rights.

The City of San Diego pays to manage the part of the beach it owns, and the unclear boundary between the city-managed beach and the beach managed by the state could theoretically increase costs for the city if they have to call police in order to direct the nudists to their side of the beach or charge nudists with indecent exposure once they are off state-managed land.

A continuation of nudity beyond Black’s Beach borders would be the effect of common property being available for use on a no-rule basis, making it freely used by anyone for any purpose. Dales might say that the source of this mischief is a lack of effective ownership (Dales,176).

The San Diego management and State Reserve management need to negotiate who will pay to keep the nudists within their boundary, because as of now there is little to no enforcement of nudism laws by state park workers. According to Bergstrom and Randall, in order for a system of rights to be effective, it has to be enforceable (Bergstrom and Randall, 169).

Black’s Beach could have stray nudists because the California Department of Parks and Recreation and City Management does not effectively enforce the management distinctions on the shore. Per the Coase Theorem, in competitive markets with no transaction costs, an efficient decision will be selected on property rights. In the case of Black’s Beach, the cost of the nudists gathering across the boundary is the regular beach-goers that would have gone to that area in clothes, and the law enforcement that might have to be called because of acts of indecent exposure.

From my own experience, I figured I had crossed the “interface” into nudist territory when I started to see naked people, but besides that there was no indication of where I could be legally allowed to take off all of my clothes.

In Rules of the Game, complete contracts fully specify the rights and duties of the parties for every possible future state of the world - and fully enforced (Bergstrom and Randall, 167). At Torrey Pines, there is an incomplete contract which does not fully specify the rights and duties of the parties involved with managing the nudist beach and the clothing beach.

At this point of incompletion, the beaches should rely on law and precedent for guidance and direction. Pareto-efficiency in this situation would provide an efficient outcome in which both the city and the state management share the cost of keeping the nudist beach and the city law-abiding beaches separate from one another.

If the State Reserve wanted to enforce laws against nudism, they would have to enlist more State Reserve workers, pay for signage, or exclusive access measures, which would cost money. As for city management, if they wanted to keep the nudists off of their property, they would have to pay for more city law enforcement, signage or exclusive access measures. For both parties, the city and state reserve, it would be expensive to write complete and enforceable contracts.

I have reason to believe that Black’s Beach, or beach managed by the state, should be expanded further to allow the famed nudist beach to grow as a national landmark. The sense of community and culture which prevails at Black’s Beach cannot be matched by regular beach-goers that occasionally hike the bluffs near Black’s Beach.

Me, a nude beach advocate

The spread of nudists into city-managed property shows that there is a demand for more clothing-free space on the Torrey Pines Shores. A superfirm that could be called on to resolve the case of who should pay for enforcement of the beach boundaries is a court in the City of San Diego or a high court in the state of California, either of which has to abide by state powers.

Works Cited

Devink. (2022, April 13). 8 things you may not know about blacks beach. LaJolla.com. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://lajolla.com/article/blacks-beach-san-diego-8-things-you-may-not-know/

Coase, R. H. (n.d.). The problem of Social Cost. Economic Analysis of the Law, 1–13.

Bergstrom, J. C., & Randall, A. (2016). Resource economics.

Dales, J. H. (2002). Pollution, property & prices: An essay in policy-making and economics. Edward Elgar Pub.

Black's Beach. Black's Beach in San Diego, Ca. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://www.sandiego.org/explore/things-to-do/beaches-bays/blacks-beach.aspx