Of the several hundred posts in this
blog, I've received the most comments on one called “The Dark Sideof Naked City.” I wrote it during my exile years from late 2003 to
the summer of 2009, when I lived and worked apart from my family. At
the time I wrote it, I was working in Normal, Illinois, had an
efficiency apartment in nearby Bloomington, and would drive back to
Elkhart on my Wednesday-Thursday “weekend.” The route I often
used took me past the Sun Aura Resort, an adults-only,
clothing-optional resort. I never drove into it, as the resort was
some distance from the highway, I was curious. It seemed strange that
such a place would exist in northern Indiana. There was even a second
nudist resort, the Ponderosa Sun Club, across the highway.
But it was the Sun Aura Resort that
piqued my curiosity, with its numerous signs. So I looked it up on
Google, and learned that it had a long and varied history, beginning
in 1933, when Chicago lawyer Alois Knapp, “the father of nudism in
America,” founded the Zoro Nature Park, or Club Zoro. I don't know
the meaning of the word Zoro, but is was also used in a San Diego
nudist park. Knapp was the proprietor until the mid-1960s, after
which it was taken over by Albin and Mary Drost, who, in 1968, passed
it on to their son Dick, who renamed it Naked City.
Nudist colonies have a reputation for
being prudish—almost puritanical—about sex. But Naked City
celebrated sexuality, with its Miss Nude Universe and Miss Nude
Teeny-Bopper contests, and the Erin-Go-Bra-less dance on St.
Patrick's Day.
Obviously the place appealed mainly to
men, though some women seem to have enjoyed working and visiting
there. But, as I wrote five years ago, the place had a dark side.
Dick Drost had a thing for teenaged girls, and in 1985 he was charged
with molesting a 13-year-old girl and showing obscene materials to
minors. He pled guilty to ten sex-related misdemeanors and avoided
prison by agreeing to stay out of Indiana for ten years. He moved
west and promptly created Naked City Los Angeles, or NCLA, in
Homeland, California. And according to one of the commenters, that
was destroyed in a brush fire, and he relocated to Palm Springs. One
anonymous writer said he died in a California state nursing home.
Drost was a bizarre character—a
quadriplegic from muscular dystrophy who apparently had a group of
female admires who tended to his every need, including the sexual
ones. (As one commenter wrote, “His equipment worked just fine, the
ladies just had to do all the work.”) In a clip from the 1976 movie
“Miss Nude America,” he speculates about becoming President, or
head of the Soviet Union or China, though he made it clear he wasn't
interested in becoming mayor of Roselawn. According to the lawsuit
Naked City, Inc. v. Aregood, Drost ran for Governor of Indiana in 1975 (the
election was in 1976, so he may have filed for his candidacy in 1975
or the statement was in error).
The lawsuit, which went nowhere,
alleges numerous raids against the property and illegal wiretapping
and filming, along with illegal seizure of property. It also alleges
that the charges Drost pled guilty to were without merit, and that
his guilty plea was made only “because of the severe oppression
against him...” Nonetheless, he did plead guilty.
And it seems almost certain he was. One
woman wrote, “I, unfortunately, worked for Dick for a couple of
days before I realized I had to get out of there.” Another woman,
who, at the age of 16 was at the Roselawn Naked City with her
recently-divorced mother, wrote, “after he figured i was
comfortable working nude it moved on [to] being a personal assistant
and helping Diane take care of him and eventually working the front
counter checking in people and being up front with the 'adults'
pretending I was 18 they knew how old i was, end of summer it moved
on to sleep with me or you get to be on the street. needless to say
that wasnt EVER going to happen.”
Her comment reads like a
stream-of-consciousness narrative and ends with, “its too bad i was
too young to realize what was happening till it was too late. it
wasnt all bad i made some good friends there. My interactions with
that man and his sick girlfriend ruined a perfectly good time in my
life and today if that bastard was alive id sue him for everything he
he has. im not sorry to hear hes dead but i def know know if theres a
hell hes getting what he deserves for what he did.”
I don't know where Dick Drost's soul
has gone. He surely had personal demons of his own. But I hope the
woman who, at 16, had to deal with Drost's unwelcome advances, has
found some peace and happiness.
