Sandstone Retreat
| Sandstone | |
|---|---|
| Intentional Community | |
| Nickname(s): Sandstone Ranch | |
 Sandstone
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| Establish | 1969 |
| Founded by | John and Barbara Williamson |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6 ha (15 acres) |
| Elevation | 519 m (1,702 ft) |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Sandstone Retreat was a clothing-optional, open sexuality resort for swingers located at Sandstone Ranch, a 15-acre (6.1 ha) estate in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Malibu and the Pacific Ocean.
The community’s beginnings are based on the philosophical ideals of John (July 31, 1932 – March 24, 2013)[1] and Barbara Williamson. John was an engineer by training, and a former project manager with Lockheed Aircraft who worked on the design and management of missile support systems, including development of the Polaris missile.[2] In the early 1960s, he opened his own electronics company, but later sold it to purchase the property at 21400 Saddle Peak Road, a cluster of well-maintained buildings on a 15-acre hilltop site in Topanga Canyon in 1968,[3] and founded the Sandstone Foundation for Community Systems Research, Inc. in 1969.[2] Barbara Williamson, née Cramer, was a former insurance sales representative[4] who had met and married her husband in 1966.[2] The Williamsons believed their venture was about exchanging partners for sex and setting society free,[1] and that monogamy was sexually unsatisfactory and preventing people from having full lives.[5]
The retreat offered members and guests over the age of 18 the resources of a spa with the addition of several large open communal sleeping areas, both indoor and outdoor, and communal bathrooms. Prospective members were interviewed on a daytime visit to determine suitability.[6]
The retreat was managed by a residential community consisting of up to 20 persons, a self-selective job. At its height in the late 1970s, it welcomed such members as Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony Russo, Betty Dodson, Max Lerner, and Dr. Alex Comfort, as well as a variety of major and minor Hollywood celebrities, educators, attorneys as well as members of the public.[7] The Williamsons sold the resort in 1973; reputedly never profitable, it finally closed in 1976.[2]
The retreat was the subject of a documentary called Sandstone (1975). It is mentioned in the 1973 edition of More Joy of Sex, by Dr. Alex Comfort (it was omitted from later editions),[8] and treated in the book Thy Neighbor's Wife (1980) by American author Gay Talese, who first set foot in Sandstone in 1971[1] as part of his preparations for writing, and lived at the retreat for several months.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 William Yardley "John Williamson, Co-Founder of the Sandstone Retreat, Dies at 80", New York Times, 4 May 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Obituaruy: John Williamson, telegraph.co.uk, 30 May 2013
- ↑ Kevin Roderick & AP "John Williamson, founder of Sandstone nudist and sex retreat was 80", LA Observed, 3 May 2013
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "John Williamson: Free-love pioneer", The Independent, 8 May 2013
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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