The Region - News from Sept. 7, 1986

Claiming that Elysium Fields, a nudist camp in Topanga Canyon, violates the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act by charging men more than women to cavort in the nude on its secluded seven-acre grounds, a Pasadena man sued the camp for sex discrimination. Alejandro Crespi, 56, said he filed the Los Angeles Superior Court suit because he “got fed up having to pay more money than women taking the same workshop or seminar that I was.” He complained that Elysium charges a $175 yearly fee for men, but charges women only $125 in hopes of getting a better balance between the sexes. He said that about 60% of the facility’s estimated 2,000 members are men. Although the suit seeks unspecified damages, Crespi’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said the main goal is to obtain a court order blocking the double standard. Elysium Fields’ attorney, Stephen F. Rohde, said the business-oriented Unruh Act may not apply because the facility is run by a nonprofit educational corporation.