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by Peter A. Simm, November 3rd, 1998
Today I met with Kyle Rae about asking City Council to make the beach at Hanlan's Point officially clothing-optional. Kyle was very enthusiastic. He told me that the new Council's political wheels can grind very slowly, making it important to bring this matter forward as soon as possible, so that the signs hopefully will be posted on the Toronto Islands by May. (I will finish drafting the brief very soon.)
Before the meeting, I revisited the City of Toronto Archives to spend another four hours digging. A book on the Toronto Islands had vaguely alluded to a 19th-century bylaw that allowed nude bathing at Hanlan's Point. I finally tracked it down under the heading "public morals".
The bylaws will amaze and confound Toronto enemies of clothing-optional beaches. Between 1890 and 1893, a city bylaw allowed nude bathing anywhere in the Don River or the Toronto Bay. But skinnydippers would have needed good night vision: "a proper bathing dress covering the body from the neck to the knees" was still mandatory except between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
A bit more daylight was allowed to Toronto skinnydippers starting in 1893. However, the territory for nude bathing was reduced to two specific stretches of the lakeshore. The Globe summarised the new bylaw: "Bathing in the nude is permitted at all points between Bathurst and six hundred yeards east of Dufferin, and between Woodbine and six hundred yards east of the marsh breakwater in the east end, between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m." So, before or after work, guys could get naked with impunity.
The next year, Council pulled another rabbit out of its hat. On July 17, 1894, Toronto was busy welcoming a convention of six thousand Baptist youth, and aldermen were seriously debating banning cars on Sundays. Thousands of people were visiting Centre Island on summer weekends. Somehow, amidst all this late-Victorian hoopla, Council decided to amend the bylaw so as to allow skinnydipping--at any time of day or night--at Hanlan's Point.The city erected a fence and posted signs.
The bylaw was repealed in 1930. But, for thirty-six glorious years, a City of Toronto bylaw permitted unlimited nudity at the beach at Hanlan's Point, as well as nudity during limited hours at two mainland beaches in the city.
This bit of forgotten local history shows that we are not asking Council to do something radically new. Rather, we seek a return to good old-fashioned, Toronto tradition: an official clothing-optional beach at Hanlan's Point.