Zoro Gardens: San Diego’s forgotten nudist colony in Balboa Park now attracts butterflies ...Middle East

What do butterflies and a nudist colony have in common? More than you’d expect.

Tucked inside Balboa Park, Zoro Gardens looks like just another quiet spot — but during the California Pacific International Exposition, it was San Diego’s strangest attraction: a public nudist colony. Today, it’s home to butterflies and a few lingering traces of its wild past.

Yes, you read right: A nudist colony in the middle of the park with tickets available to purchase for anyone curious enough to watch.

The Risqué Heart of the Expo

It started when the Exposition needed a hook—something splashier than flower displays or fountain shows. So, organizers staged a “nudist colony” right in the middle of Balboa Park. It was pitched as educational—a wholesome look at naturist living. But let’s be honest: it was a Depression-era publicity stunt with just enough skin to sell tickets, right?

Various history reports and articles say that a group of hired performers (none of them actual naturists) posed, stretched, and lounged in flesh-colored outfits that looked convincingly bare from a distance. The gardens’ sunken layout let visitors look down into the scene like spectators at a very strange theater.​

A San Diego Union article from August 1935 called it “a curious attraction that some call culture, others call carnival.” Another editorial more bluntly noted, “It draws a crowd, and that, apparently, is the point.”​

It was half health spa, half sideshow—and it got people talking.​ Some enjoyed it, but others were aghast that this was in their backyard.

Locals Were … Not Thrilled

Reactions ranged from curious amusement to public outrage. Some locals lined up for a peek while others protested outside. Church groups called it indecent, said one report: “A stain upon the city’s reputation,” one reverend was quoted as saying in the San Diego Evening Tribune. Letters poured into City Hall, and another local wrote, “This is not art. It is an embarrassment.”​

But for all the fuss, the turnstiles kept spinning. People came in droves: Maybe for curiosity, maybe for scandal—or maybe just because it was something to do in hard times. Nevertheless, the colony stayed open for most of the Expo’s run.​

Then It Disappeared

However, by the end of the Exposition, the “colony” closed and the garden was replanted. The performers moved on.

No weird costumes or ticket sales booth remain, just a butterfly garden and a shady path that hides its wild past.

There’s something almost poetic about that, isn’t there? I say it’s a forgotten chapter, covered up by vines and perhaps faint whispers of performers.​

A Quiet Secret

Of course, Balboa Park has its fair share of hidden stories, but this one might be the most surprising. Zoro Gardens isn’t obscure as it’s right there, next to museums and walkways, easy to miss, and hard to imagine what it once was.​

But once you know about the mystery, it’s quite an eye-opener.​

The next time you wander through the park, why not take a closer look at the peaceful little garden, check out the butterflies, and know that in 1935, it was the boldest show in town.

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