The political summer of 1977 was dominated by debate over nude sunbathing at Black’s Beach, briefly legalized by a City Council majority in the mid-1970s. Public pressure led to a referendum pitting the Nude Beaches Committee (No on Prop. D) vs. Councilman Lee Hubbard’s Save the Beaches committee (Yes on Prop. D). Ten days out a San Diego Union poll showed the Nude Beaches Committee leading 52% to 38% … but on Election Night, Sept. 20, 1977, Lee Hubbard’s side won a convincing 55% to 45% upset victory, 86,113 to 70,884.
Thirty-four years later, Black’s Beach has returned to its pre-1970s status: a shared secret among the devotees, but without the huge crowds and Circus atmosphere of 1975-1977. A tacit San Diego solution and understanding has now survived for a Generation.
REVIEWING THE CAMPAIGN … AND VOTING PATTERNS
Post-election analysis showed a Cultural, not partisan divide, among San Diego voters. The Yes-on-D coalition included the city’s strongest GOP neighborhoods (Rancho Bernardo, La Jolla, Point Loma) voting together with the strongest Democratic communities (Southeast San Diego, Logan Heights, Chollas Park). The No-on-D areas numbered college student strongholds (Mission Beach, UCSD, Ocean Beach) along with GOP zones like Penasquitos, Del Mar Hts. and Scripps Ranch (!).
The Save the Beaches Committee was aided by a rare coalition of laymen from the LDS, Catholic and Protestant communities.
The Nude Beaches Committee ran a creative election campaign with radio ads stressing personal choice, T-shirts reading “See me at Black’s Beach” and ubiquitous bumper stickers (see above). Ironically, their principal fundraising source was the sale of clothing, specifically T-shirts and hats!
The Save the Beaches campaign featured billboards like the one above, “Don’t Pay for Their Play” referring to higher law enforcement and public safety expenses following the legalization vote by a split city council. The group also did mailings targeted to high propensity voters.
…. COUNCILMAN LEE HUBBARD…… WALKING TALL
The eventual victor, City Councilman Lee Hubbard, was a native San Diegan. At 6’4″, 230 pounds he was a lineman on the San Diego State football team. After graduation he was an Army combat engineer during the Korean War. With the war over, he founded L.R. Hubbard Construction which grew to be one of San Diego’s most-respected businesses, specializing on concrete projects.
He defeated an incumbent city council member in 1973 and was later voted “Mr. San Diego”. He is remembered today as a Leader who took all of the blame when things went wrong, and happily shared out all the Credit when things went well. The practical benefits of that unselfish approach were evident in his signature Black’s Beach election triumph of 1977.