It all began in 1969...
...when the hippies began showing up on Maui to create a handful of settlements with colorful names such as Banana Patch, Soul Acres and Trouble Gulch.
At Makena, a shantytown was carved into the thick kiawe forest on the edge of Oneloa Beach, commonly called Big Beach, and at several neighboring beaches. In those days, nudity was the norm.
Off the beach, the strange newcomers clashed with the establishment and were accused of freeloading and stealing. Mayor Elmer Cravalho scolded both sides at a Kihei Community Association meeting in March 1970.
To those who didn't like the newcomers, Cravalho said that his own grandfather might have been called a hippie and shipped back to Portugal if he had been judged on his appearance when he first came to Hawai'i.
To the hippies, he said hiding in the "boondocks at Makena'' was cowardly and that they should get involved in the community.
By late 1969, the police were raiding the place on a regular basis, looking for runaways, draft-dodgers and nude sunbathers.
U.S. Marshal Howard Tagomori, a former Maui Police Department vice officer, remembers driving on the dirt road to Makena in the early 1970s with a handful of officers to make busts.
"We were friends with most of the guys,'' recalled Tagomori, who later became Maui's police chief. "It was like a game. We would talk story with them.''
The Makena colony grew to 300 to 400 people before it was largely evicted in 1972.
But nude sunbathing persisted at Makena's more remote beach, Little Beach, which is tucked behind Pu'u Ola'i and separated from Big Beach by a 30-foot bluff.
By the 1980s, nude sunbathing at Little Beach was well-established.
Californian Peter Rowley had read about the beach in a tourist book in 1981, and when he finally saw it, he was astonished by its beauty and peace.
"It was the embodiment of a totally relaxed, idealistic culture,'' he said. "It was amazingly beautiful, completely in a natural state. The people were friendly, and they were enjoying the fact they weren't wearing anything.''
It wasn't long before Rowley was a daily fixture. He joined a core group of regulars who looked after the beach, hauled out trash, acted as lifeguards and welcomed newcomers.
The group organized the Friends of Little Beach, and Rowley published a newsletter that was sent to 2,500 people. He became known as "the Mayor of Little Beach."
Another thing happened in the '80s that had a significant effect: Hannibal Tavares was elected mayor of Maui County. The former police officer was adamantly opposed to nude sunbathing, and he instructed police to aggressively enforce the county's indecent exposure law.
Dozens of visitors and locals were arrested in police sweeps, but many of the cases didn't stick.
The Little Beach sunbathers had a friend in District Court Judge John Vail, who threw out a number of arrests of women for topless sunbathing. Vail ruled that baring only your breasts didn't meet the definition of nudity. He rejected other cases after ruling that Little Beach was not easily accessible to the public and, therefore, nudity at the beach was not likely to be observed by those who would be affronted or alarmed.
In response, authorities proposed a staircase over the bluff that leads to Little Beach, but that proposal never came to fruition.
When police attempts to enforce the law were stymied, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources stepped up enforcement of a law barring nudity at state parks. By that time, the area had become Makena State Park.
Rowley was singled out, arrested and convicted in a trial, but the case was appealed to the Hawai'i Supreme Court, which struck down the conviction in 1989 on a technicality: The justices determined the state had failed to hold a full public hearing during the development of its park rules.
Tavares' time in office ended shortly thereafter and the political winds shifted.
The 1990s were relatively peaceful years...
The 1990s were relatively peaceful years...
...for the nude sunbathers. Rowley moved to Las Vegas, and another Little Beach regular, Tom Collins, took over as "Mayor of Little Beach."
Dick Hyers, the former exchequer, said the beach today exists in a harmonious confluence of groups that include new-styled hippies, gays, tourists and "your average Joe Blows, 35 and up, married with children, taxpayers and business owners.''
On Sundays, the hippies throw a large sunset celebration featuring a circle of drums and other instruments. The dancing continues into the night.
The Friends of Little Beach/Maui SunSeekers is still going strong, with members enjoying holiday potlucks in addition to socializing on the beach. Dick Hyers has moved on, and now Dave Swanson heads up the group.
Hundreds of visitors return year after year to a place known internationally as one of the top nude beaches in the world. There's a group of 10 to 20 couples from all over North America, for example, who meet on the beach every February.
The beauty of Little Beach is the complete lack of social barriers. With no clothes to indicate social status, there is nothing to separate rich industrialists or high-powered surgeons from waiters or cab drivers. They're all just as naked.
After a decade of tranquility, however, conflict over the practice of nude sunbathing has emerged again. Native Hawaiian representatives on a committee convened by the state to make recommendations on a master plan for Makena State Park have been pushing for limits.
Cool Beach of the World Special thank you to Source from: Friends of Little Beach and Maui SunSeekers! and WORLD TRAVEL
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