Full disclosure: CHS has never been to Denny Blaine but if we had, we would have brought an umbrella (Image: CHS)
With an wet El Niño Seattle winter around the corner, you might be thinking of warmer days on the Capitol Hill Riviera and hot summer visits to Dykekiki Beach — also known as Denny Blaine Park.
A new, little talked about plan could change the popular park’s place in Seattle’s cultures and communities that fully celebrate the city’s most public spaces.
On the table at Seattle Parks is a plan that calls for the creation of a small children’s play area in the park “to address,” the parks department says, “the current gap for play areas in the neighborhood.”
The kids play feature could also mark an important change for the park’s longtime destination for enjoying Seattle lake vibes in the nude. Seattle Parks is holding a community meeting on the planned project in early December.
Park visitor Jesse Miranda tipped CHS to the plan.
“The disruption greatly worries beachgoers. While nudity isn’t inherently illegal in this state, a complaint of public indecency qualifies as a misdemeanor,” Miranda said. “Our space is being eliminated, and the announcement during winter was likely intentional to keep us uninformed.”
The $550,000 project would add the play area to the northwest edge of the park, one of the only areas of public access to Lake Washington in one of the wealthiest areas of the city.
“This is a blatant case of gentrification, posing a threat to both the naturist and queer communities,” Miranda said.
Seattle Parks describes Denny Blaine as a grassy, non-lifeguarded beach “surrounded by an old stone wall, which marked the shoreline before 1917 when the lake level was lowered nine feet by the construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal.”
“There is enough room for a volleyball net above and quiet picnics and sunbathing below,” the department, perhaps cheekily, notes.
The park makes every “Seattle nude beach” list and has held its place in a long history as a queer and nude hangout even as neighbors have complained about the crowds over the years.
As any nude Seattleite likes to remind you, it is legal to be naked anywhere in the city. KUOW went into the history of how Seattle’s lewd conduct law crumbled — thanks to the 1980s couple who got busted skinny dipping at Madison Park Beach and successfully sued City Hall — on this 2018 visit to Denny Blaine Park.
Stil, as KUOW points out, “indecent exposure” is against the law in the city. Police and prosecutors must prove “that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.”
Adding a children’s play area to the mix at Denny Blaine won’t change that law, of course. But it could invite more of the kind of conflict users of the longtime au naturale space would prefer to avoid.
Seattle Parks says it will gather feedback and provide more information on the plan at its upcoming meeting on the project, December 6th from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at the Martin Luther King FAME Community Center, 3201 E Republican. Learn more at seattle.gov/parks/allparks/denny-blaine-park.
UPDATE 11/20/2023: A parks department representative tells CHS the project would be funded by a “private donation.”
“The project is being funded by a private donation and at minimal cost to taxpayers,” the spokesperson said.
We’ve asked the spokesperson to identify the donor and will update when we hear back. UPDATE x2: “The donor asked to remain anonymous,” the parks representative said. The minutes from the latest parks board meeting that discussed the project have not yet been posted. We’re following up to find out who the backer is.
In the meantime, a petition has been launched to gather support for those asking the department to reconsider the play area plan.
The full statement from the parks rep is below.
Seattle Parks and Recreation presented at the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners last Thursday on the Department’s plan to create a play area at Denny Blaine Park. The park was identified as needing a play area as it sits within a neighborhood that currently doesn’t not have a play area within a 10-to-15-minute walk. The project is being funded by a private donation and at minimal cost to taxpayers.
This project supports our department mission to increase children’s access to nature and shorelines and address any deficits within our system of lacking active recreational amenities for youth.
The proposed play area is a small nature play design and will include adding accessible (ADA) travel from the parking lot and down to the beach.
Currently we are asking for community feedback on the proposed addition of this play area to Denny Blaine Park, and welcome community concerns and questions both via email to [email protected] and via a public meeting on Wednesday, December 6 at 5:30 at MLK FAME (3201 E. Republican St.).
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Ha! It’s not “Daikiki”, it’s “Dykekiki”, for obvious reasons. Oh, the memories!
I was going there. But The Stranger and a couple other places went with Daikiki. I prefer Dykekiki. Changing back.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
Dykieki*
Denny Blaine is the last place a children’s playground is needed. This desperately reeks of shitty HOAs trying to keep naked people away from the neighborhood. Annoying as hell.
That was my thought too.
It’s actually ONE anonymous wealthy donor who is offering the funding for the children’s play area and limiting their funding offer solely to Denny Blaine Park. This information entered the public record at the Seattle Parks and Recreation Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov 9. All reporting on Denny Blaine should include the fact that one wealthy person is targeting the decades long queer community use of Denny Blaine Park.
Those poor suffering children growing up in million dollar houses really need their $550,000 play ground. Meanwhile schools are considering firing teachers because they don’t have to budget to pay them. 550k would pay a lot of teachers’ salaries and actually help children in need…
Actually it will only pay for around 4 teachers fully overheaded (salary benefits pension payroll taxes etc)
The City and Seattle Public Schools are two different entities, also.
Those houses are way more than one million.
I guess. I personally did not think the neighborhood was trippin all like that about the nude parks in the area. It’s not like we are derelicts or something. Just good natured Seattlelites and regional visitors. But ok!
wasn’t our fault 85% of the land was privatized. save the nudie beach!
Kind of a weird location to pick considering. There’s another park literally a block away with more space and less history with queer nude Seattle.
Exactly why they’re doing it. This is beyond absurd. NIMBY Seattle is killing culture.
I hope they include a robust sanitizing station. No way am I going down that slide without hosing off the ball sweat first.
Will they also be adding restroom facilities? Most other playgrounds in the city have them, currently there are no public facilities anywhere nearby. Really can’t see a lot of parents wanting to take their kids to a playground near a nude beach and a busy road with no bathrooms.
Madrona beach seems like a much more viable location for play equipment, unless this really is just an Ike-esque attempt to add a play area as a way to block other uses.
This seems engineered to stoke a “pedos exposing themselves to children” moral panic. Boo. We have enough conflict in this city to deal with, we do not need to manufacture more. Leave Denny Blaine alone.
Denny Blaine is not historically a nude beach, this happened in the last 5 or at most 7 years.
I started going to Denny Blaine in 2003 and it quickly became my favorite place to swim in Lake Washington. I also swim in Lake Union and the Puget Sound/Salish Sea (which is cold as fuck!). For the next 15 years I regularly biked from Broadway up and down the hills for the best swim in the city.
Denny Blaine has extensive, very historical public infrastructure in place. Parking, loop, multiple walls, and space definition… Lake Washington Blvd from Madison pretty much dead-ends into Denny Blaine. This park has existed for well over 100 years and at no time was it nude or exclusive entry.
I know two women that used to swim at Denny Blaine however in the current era no longer consider it a reasonable option because they feel uncomfortable. I don’t consider either to be “prudish”, one 30’s, one 40’s, one also lives in Capitol Hill, the other in CD.
Please return this beach to ALL the people of Seattle. It was stolen in the very recent era by people (mostly heterosexual males) that feel they could independently decide it was a “nude space”… Being a nude space makes it inaccessible to many people of many ages including most kids and most older people. I’ve bounced around Capitol Hill, never been in the Z Club so might be soft, but current era Denny Blaine on a warm day is one of the creepiest places in Seattle.
Seattle needs to fix it!!!
Wrong. I moved here in ‘95 and Denny Blaine was dykeiki back then, too. I know because I participated.
Uh, CC, I moved here in 2000 and it was well established as a nude beach by then. Stop making shit up.
It was called “Dykekiki” for a reason.
You are very wrong and it’s shamefully clear you aren’t from here. Denny Blaine/Dykiki has been a historically lesbian beach since at least the 1970s. Over the years, it became a frequent spot for queer identified folks and just a short walk away there is Howell Beach, which leans toward the nude male crowd. Due to articles online recommending it, the queer safe space of Denny Blaine has been coopted by straight people, kids, and oogling pervs. Alas, the magic and rich queer history of it is long gone either way, so it may as well be another playground in a sea of mansions.
Yeah, you don’t agree with me so I’m not from here… I haven’t lived right off Broadway since 2003 and in Seattle longer. Howell Park should be where all nude beach people migrate to, doesn’t matter your sexuality.
Denny Blaine is a beach for ALL Seattleites.
Those replying to my comment are absolutely bullshitting!!! During summers I swam at Denny Blaine at least once every other week from 2003 thru 2017ish. My friends regularly referred to it as “The Hipster beach”… In the 2000 teens some women were topless, I believe women should be able to swim topless because men do… But this evolved into full nude by the end of the teens.
This beach was STOLEN by nude beach people in the very current era.
There is a long standing nude beach immediately to the south of Denny Blaine; Howell Park is a very long established nude beach. You’re obviously confusing the 2 beaches OR don’t want to be nude at Howell because it is often regarded as gay/nude.
Whatever, absolute bullshit responses. Denny Blaine is not historically a nude beach and shouldn’t be one today! City should put an immediate stop to it and open it back up to ALL PEOPLE of Seattle!
Wrong. I think you’re the one confusing the beaches, because the hipster beach is the big one with the restrooms. Denny Blaine has always been the lesbian nude beach. I used to go there in 95 and am still quite familiar with it, as Madison Valley is one of my favorite neighborhoods. Like the commenter above stated, Howell is the male equivalent. And frankly, the beach IS open to everyone. If you don’t want to swim nude, by all means, keep your clothes on. But if you just don’t want to see nude people, well there are plenty of beaches within walking distance you’re welcome to go to, including the one especially for kids. I don’t know why nudity disturbs you, but you may also want to avoid Europe.
…..here we go, another straight person erasing queer history.
Probs the one who took the play area concept to the City to get back at the “nude beach people” who STOLE THIS SPOT.
OP, just checking — you good on your meds?
you have no idea what you are talking about – I have lived on the hill for over 40 years and Denny Blaine has always been a safe space for the queer community to be – this is a great example of Seattle Parks participating in gentrification – again!
What happened to the old original name Ostrander’s? I lived in Madrona as a kid in the 50 and 60s, and that was the name it was known as., and it was never a nude beach either, just a nice quiet beach with no lifeguards. The
I think your wrong based on my own personal experiences but instead of crafting a real reply I asked Microsoft to do it
According to my web search results, the earliest reference to Denny Blaine Park being a nude beach that I can find is from a Seattle Times article published on June 23, 1991. The article mentions that some sunbathing and skinny dipping occurred at the park, but also documents problems such as drug use, littering, and vandalism³. However, this does not necessarily mean that the park was not used as a nude beach before that date, as there may be other sources that I did not find or access. The park was donated to the city of Seattle in 1912 by Charles L. Denny and Elbert F. Blaine, who also developed the surrounding neighborhood¹. The park has a grassy beach that was exposed when the level of the lake was lowered by nine feet in 1917⁵. The park is also known as Dykiki, a playful combination of the words Dyke and Waikiki, because of its reputation for attracting a large number of lesbians who would go topfree or nude on the beach¹. The park is still a popular spot for nudists, despite complaints from some nearby residents and occasional police patrols⁴. I hope this information helps you with your inquiry. 😊
Source: Conversation with Bing, 11/21/2023
(1) Denny-Blaine Park – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denny-Blaine_Park.
(2) . https://bing.com/search?q=Denny+Blaine+Park+nude+beach+history.
(3) Denny Blaine Park – Clio. https://www.theclio.com/entry/105531.
(4) KIRO 7 News – Over the years, Denny-Blaine Park has gained… – Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/KIRO7Seattle/posts/over-the-years-denny-blaine-park-has-gained-notoriety-as-an-unofficial-nude-beac/1294501043902979/.
(5) Denny Blaine Park. https://www.seattle.gov/parks/allparks/denny-blaine-park.
I should be for all the public to use, but why do gay, trans and people who are extremists in sexuality need to be nude. Where is the decency?
NO!!! Stop this crap. I’m gay and been enjoying this every summer for over a decade. Please fight back NIMBY Nonsense.
I’m not a nudist or gay, but even to me this appears to be purpose designed to give people an excuse to call the cops on them.. 😞
Agree this is a really weird plan. Why not upgrade the play area at Madrona Beach? Its popular and has never been updated.
Petition against this is up already: https://www.change.org/p/halt-the-construction-of-a-children-s-play-area-at-denny-blaine-park
Small correction: El Niño winters are drier and warmer in the north of the country, cooler and wetter in the south. La Niña is the opposite and what we’ve been in the last few years, which is why we got good snow pack last winter.
This park has turned into a shit show since the pandemic ended. It is a nonstop party – drugs, alcohol, public urinating/defecation (somewhat lessened with the installation of porta potties), illegal fires, graffiti, camping, used needles, people openly masturbating, illegal parking, lewd acts, exhibitionists and lots of creepers enjoying the show. Sure, there are some chill park goers but they are far outnumbered by the others.
Denny Blaine Park isn’t the sweet little nudie park that people are making it out to be.
Ew, why are you taking pictures of people without their consent and posting them on the internet? Seems like you’re the creepy one.
I’m not into it… but I can tell you as a professional photographer, that when you are doing what you are doing in a public space, in view of anyone and everyone you give up your right to demand anyone get your consent to take your photo… They can’t use your image to sell something – so this photo couldn’t be used to say, advertise birth control.. but there’s nothing stopping them from using it in a non-commercial way.
So if you’re going to do something you don’t want photographed or posted to the internet, I suggest you only do it in places that you can “reasonably expect” are private spaces..
I know exactly what you’re talking about regarding “expectation of privacy” because I have a degree in this area, but STILL just because you legally can take their photo does NOT mean it is ethical or respectful. Consent matters. Take the photo down and do not continue to take photos of this nature without consent in the future. You are being the exact type of disrespectful person this community attempts to protect each other from. This beach is special for many reasons, including that it is a very respectful community where bodies are not sexualized or gawked at. GTFO with your nonconsensual photography.
There are people who come to this park SPECIFICALLY to gawk at, take pictures/videos to sexualize naked park goer’s. How do you not understand that? I don’t have an issue with nudity. My issue is with the chaos that follows along with it.
Why do I as a park goer have to witness a naked couple entwined together on a ledge? That’s pretty sexual…….. If they were holding hands and kissing – OK? BTW, this is the least offensive thing I have seen at this park.
As for consent, do I need to ask the person openly masturbating in the park for my consent to continue masturbating?
NOT OKAY, you say that the park goer’s are a respectful community – How about this respectful community calls out the gawkers and “bad guys” that have turned Denny Blaine Park into a circus during the summer……..?!?!?!?
Calm yourself and stop making wild assumptions… I didn’t take or post the photo and can do nothing to remove it. I’m just telling you the facts. The things you do in public aren’t protected, whether or not you find it to be disrespectful, you’ve no legal standing to complain because you chose a place that carries no expectation of privacy. If you don’t want to be seen or recorded, you need to use somewhere that is not public property – then you would have some recourse.
I realize you weren’t the one who originally posted that. I don’t know how to edit my response. So most of that post is aimed at JustStop, not Nandor. But still, while “expectation of privacy” may not exist everywhere, expectation of being asked consent SHOULD.
I feel like I just read a Qanon post with all this baseless accusation. STOP GENTRIGYING QUEER SPACES
Super creepy of you to just have this photo of 2 naked folx at denny blaine ready to go on your phone
if they do end up building this play area, i hope you leave your photography hobby at home or youll have rich parents on you instead of just random queers 🙄
edit:
or you’ll have your HOA on you instead of random queers– because im sure you live in this neighborhood and only posting here to throw out nonsense
What are you even doing, dude? You’re so creepy. I mean, I saw a guy openly masturbating on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station. I guess we should therefore shut IT down, too, by your ridiculous logic.
So Agree 100% Thank you JustStop
Nudity is legal in Seattle, indecent exposure is not. Masturbating and having sex in Denny Blaine are illegal and you would have been able to call the police. That is no different than any other public park in Seattle, so why didn’t you call the police and instead just snapped pictures with your DSLR?
I have attended Denny Blaine for years and never personally seen anything like that. I have seen inner shame around nudity and my body melt away, I have seen a beautiful community of other queer people welcome me and others with a radical loving openness, and I have seen the small waves lapping on the shore in my mind’s eye on days I’m not there and everything feels like too much. It is my favorite place, it’s my happy place, and it has never felt like a sexualized environment for me.
The problem with the children’s park is that due to the vague definition of indecent exposure the presence of a children’s play area could be used to make non-sexual public nudity on a beach (common across the world) into a grey-area crime. Indecent exposure laws should be used to stop people from masturbating and having sex, something you could have done. They should not be used to arrest queer people for something that is not a crime in a space they have attended for more than 3 decades so as to increase property value for multi-millionaires.
That being said, it is a public park. You and anyone else is welcome to attend regardless of identity or clothing. I have seen parents bring their children before who were also participating in the nude beach. You may have a visceral reaction reading that, try to remember that here and in nude beaches across the world nudity is not sexual and not inherently harmful for kids. The issue with the play area is not that it may harm children, it is that it will criminalize nudity, which is not a crime in Seattle, in a space that is extremely important for many people.
Please reader, even if you have not ever been to Denny Blaine or ever personally wanted to tan nude, please consider the importance and history of this space. It has been used by queer people in this fashion since before public nudity was even legal in Seattle, as some back in the day were arrested for sunbathing topless. Denny Blaine has been Dykieki for a generation, it has harmed no one and is a hugely important part of queer culture and history in Seattle. Please try to empathize with us, and not those who feel they are too wealthy to have to share “their” waterfront with gender and sexual minorities in a public space.
El Niño winters are drier than average, not wetter.
Something about this proposal does not pass the smell test. Why would someone want to build a children’s playground right on a nude beach that has been used by the community for decades? There are plenty of other parks (Viretta, Lakeview, Madrona) that would be much more appropriate for a children’s playground. This seems to be a targeted attempt to drive out the naturist and queer community. It’s no coincidence that they picked exactly this location.
Precisely.
Thanks for the important updates. This is the worst location I can think of for a playground. Surely the anonymous donor, who is willing to pay half a million dollars for a new playground, will be open to having the playground equipment across the street at Viretta Park, which could use the improvements.
Exactly. But as we all suspected, it was just confirmed that the anonymous donor made the donation SPECIFICALLY for Denny Blaine and would withdraw the donation if the city proposed building it anywhere else. How does this make sense? To quote someone who was interviewed by KOMO News, this makes it overtly obvious that the donor’s priority is NOT to build a children’s playground, but to push out people who this donor views as undesirable.
I lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and used to be able to take my kids to the park and now I cant.. Its not the nudity its the “stuff” i have seen going on by some of the beach goers. I am 100% pro LGBT 100%! But my family cant go to the park anymore (or at least for the last 4 years). I live about half mile away and when it’s a hot summer day we used to go and take a dip in Lake Washington….even with the nudity back in the day. But its changed from “basic” nudity to some crazy stuff I have seen. Like crazy. I also run by the park after work 3+ times a week as its on my running route and again, I have seen some CRAZY stuff that way past basic nudity. I know im the outlier here but I do agree with the parks plans for the new kids playground.
Found the “anonymous donor” y’all! JK jk
Ok. Take your kids to one of the many other public beaches within that half mile walk and admit that being an “ally” is just a comfort term you claim to make peace with being a gentrifier
Is the Arboretum’s textile free zone, gone for good now too?
Seattle City Parks are for EVERYONE. No person should be excluded
There aren’t Seattle City Adult Parks. There aren’t Seattle City LGBTQ Parks. There aren’t Seattle City Nude Parks.
Yes, there are Seattle City Parks that are specifically for dogs……. A little humor thrown into this seemingly divisive issue about a children’s play area being installed at Denny Blaine Park.
Aren’t Seattle City Parks for everyone?!?!
I’ve seen people walk towards Denny Blaine Park in summer not realizing that it is filled with naked people to turn around and leave. Why is that ok?! With anyone?!
Any person who uses a Seattle City Park is expected to follow the rules/code of conduct when visiting a Seattle City Park.
If you don’t/can’t follow the rules/code of conduct at a Seattle City Park then you shouldn’t be at that park.
If installing
“The proposed play area is a small nature play design and will include adding accessible (ADA) travel from the parking lot and down to the beach.an ADA travel from the parking lot down to the beach”
is so problematic maybe NOBODY should be able to use this park.
Seattle City Parks belong to EVERYONE, not specific groups!
Peace Out❣️
JustStop
As a member of the LGTB community and being totally fine with nudity I have to agree with you. All parks are for everyone. If those that want to be nude in public find an area that the neighbors and other users are fine with it I say go for it. But if the neighbors decide they aren’t then it’s time to find a new place.
Plenty of major cities have spaces that are desgnated as clothing-optional, and maybe these should be to protect them for what they’re used for today. You and others are welcome to use any other park in the city, this is very obviously a ploy to eliminate one of only a handful of outdoor spaces that are enjoyed by Seattlites who want to utilize a clothing-optional outdoor space.
While nudity is allowed at Seattle beaches, indecent or lewd behavior isn’t and a playground would most certainly clash with the nude beach and cause complaints. It’s also a small beach with no lifeguard and low visibility which is a drowning risk for children. There are dozens of other parks that could use playgrounds in the city.
The best way to help is call/email the Park department. The project hasn’t progressed to design and permitting, so now is the time to advocate. They take a weekly tally of feedback and pass onto the leadership. Issues with the most feedback become “priority issues.” Call every week! I have a calendar reminder set for Mondays.
Call: 206-684-4075
Email: pks_info@seattle.gov; dennyblaineplayarea@seattle.gov
December 6th there will be a community meeting at 5:30pm at MLKFAME Community Center, 3201 E. Republican St, to discuss.
There’s also an insta savedennyblaine and a change.org petition. The city has no way to count the petition in its decision though. https://www.change.org/p/halt-the-construction-of-a-children-s-play-area-at-denny-blaine-park
This is a *public* beach, no one culture gets to gatekeep who shoukd be comfortable or allowed there. Emotional, displaced buzzwords like ‘gentrify’ and ‘co-opting queer spaces’ are laughably dramatic.
‘No kids allowed on our beach! No more straight people on our beach!’ Who’s really the ‘NIMBY’ here?