Crackdown at San Diego nude beach

With a broad stretch of beach to himself, a nudist soaks up the sun as he reads in his beach chair. After decades of looking the other way, officials at San Onofre State Beach in north San Diego County are set to crack down on a clothing-optional stretch of sand where people soak up the sun without fear of tan lines.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

New signs prohibiting nudity are going up at the Trail 6 area at San Onofre State Beach, and park rangers are notifying beachgoers that after Labor Day, they will be cited if they refuse to cover up. Angry naturists say they plan to fight the move lying down – nude, in the sand – as hundreds of visitors have done every summer for more than 40 years.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Naturalist “Jimmy Jo” surfs naked at the clothing-optional section of Trail 6. “I’ve been coming here since 1971 and my wife comes on the weekends,” he said. “It feels like someone broke into my house and stole from me,” he said of the upcoming ban on nudity. “It actually feels weird to put clothes on now.”  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Marine Corps helicopters train in the distance as “Jimmy Jo” relaxes. The Trail 6 area is a dirt path that snakes down from sandstone bluffs to San Onofre’s southern end, where it meets Camp Pendleton.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Children play under a lifeguard tower on the other end of San Onofre State Beach from Trail 6. When San Onofre opened in 1973, it was about as isolated as a place could be in Southern California, a strip of sand that was a long drive from a creeping metropolis. Population growth and urban sprawl have changed that.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The parking lot at Trail 6 has become a busy gay pickup spot. Alcohol was banned on the beach last year after an outbreak of brawls and drunken driving violations. Naturalists who have been visiting Trail 6 for years say they’ve tried to regulate the lewd behavior “of a few bad apples,” hoping to retain the “family-friendly atmosphere of the beach.”  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)