Beechgrove is an informal name given to a Lake Ontario beach located about 25 kilometers east of downtown Toronto in Scarborough. Peculiar as it sounds, this nude beach has picked up and moved to another place. Historically, the Beechgrove nude beach has been located on an isolated swath of sand just east of the boundary of Scarborough's East Point Park, on the east side of the mouth of Highland Creek. The beach was accessible only by wading across the creek or crossing a railroad bridge—an access limitation that gave rise to its clothing-optional custom. This beach continued to be used through 2004, when a long-planned construction project came to pass. This once difficult-to-access site is now connected to East Point Park by a pedestrian bridge, and a bike path runs above the beach. The beach is now exposed, easily accessible and dead to nude use.

That's the bad news. The good news is that a few core users have colonized another site in the same area. The new site is located on the western edge of East Point Park at the base of the bluffs behind the park's huge four-diamond softball complex. It has come to be called "West Beach," and is about 2 kilometers west of the old site (which has come to be called "East Beach") and is easier to access because wading or walking railroad tracks is no longer required. West Beach is a very new site that seems to have been started shortly after the completion of the construction project spelled the demise of the old site in early 2005. The new site has gained a following thanks to a Yahoo internet group (Yahoo ID required), but it is still in its infancy. We do not have any information about law enforcement at West Beach and can only go on information pertaining to East Beach, which is to say that authorities turned a blind eye as long as nudists kept out of view of others and that no anti-nudity tickets had been written since the mid-90's. It may be a good idea to cover up if you see a patrol boat, but land patrols seem unlikely. It is expected (and hoped) that the small crowd of nudists that gather here will continue to grow.

GPS: 43.7577, -79.1630

city, municipality, province, country  Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

classification  2 (traditionally nude)

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