The park in 1903 (Image: Seattle Municipal Archives)

The Friends of Denny Blaine group is celebrating what they say was a symbolically important recognition this week of the lakeside park and nude beach:

Today, September 23, the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) voted unanimously to add Denny Blaine Park to the State’s Heritage Register of historic places. This decision marks two historic firsts: the first nude beach ever nominated in Washington, and the first nomination to explicitly include a direct connection to LGBTQ+ heritage.

The state register is intended to form an “official listing of historically significant sites and properties found throughout the state” but does not have an administrative component at this time to oversee preservation and protection of the sites.

Denny Blaine Park was previously added to the federal National Register of Historic Places in 2016. As part of an application featuring all of “Seattle’s Olmsted Parks and Boulevards,” Denny Blaine’s place as a LGBTQ and nude beach gathering space is not mentioned in the 2016 application paperwork.

Friends of Denny Blaine says that the new state recognition, while symbolic, “celebrated the city’s diverse lifestyles and emphasized the park’s longstanding role as a gathering place for queer community.”

The effort is the latest from the community group as it tries to protect Denny Blaine from changes and efforts from neighbors to bar nudity from the park.

Other actions have included protests and performances after the Seattle Parks Department responded to a court order by adding a restricted “nude zone” to the park popular with queer and nudist communities on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill. The zone is hoped to address complaints of illegal sexual activity in the ongoing lawsuit brought by a group of neighbors and property owners over the nude beach.

“This recognition reflects what the community has always known: Denny Blaine is more than a beach,” the Friends group said this week. “It is a cultural landmark where LGBTQ people and allies come together, building lasting connections in a space that has welcomed many over generations.”

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