—Peter Fletcher
You Can Leave Your Hat On
Larry U. went from a 425-pound tub of guts racked by anxiety attacks to a trim 200-pound nude male model. And he has kept the weight off for nearly a quarter-century.
No scalpel has ever touched his flesh, no staple has ever pierced his digestive tract, no vacuum tube has been shoved under his skin to suck out the fat. Now 50, Larry U. credits his weight loss and maintenance to a clothing-optional Overeaters Anonymous meeting that is, sadly, dwindling in attendance and looking for a new home.
“When I first heard about this, I thought, ‘What kind of weirdoes are these?’” says Larry, a Ventura resident who is co-secretary of the 12-step meeting that has taken place in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. “I sit in some OA meetings and I think, ‘I’m uncomfortable sitting here with clothes on; how am I going to take them off in front of other people?’
“But [at] the clothing-optional meeting there’s nothing hidden, nothing left to make fun of. I’ve bared my body before other OA-ers, and they’ve accepted me. People know exactly what you look like, and they accept you anyway. What a feeling.”
The meeting’s roots trace back to Elysium Fields, the institute that now-deceased fashion photographer and nudism advocate Ed Lange fought to establish in Topanga Canyon. For years, 20 to 25 nudists would gather every Thursday night at Elysium for an official Overeaters Anonymous meeting.
“We had a room for the meeting, we had meditation rooms, reading rooms, the entire place was heaven,” says Bob R., 62, a West Hills contractor and the meeting’s co-secretary, who dropped 50 pounds, kept it off and is comfortable with his 275 pounds. “It allowed us to take the cover off the book, and when you do that, you’re dealing with the real you, no B.S. We’re just human beings, all shapes, all sizes. If I have to wear a bathing suit someplace, I’ll wear a Speedo; I don’t care.”
But after Lange’s death in 1995, the Topanga Canyon site was sold. Former directors bought a new location in Malibu and held gatherings there; the meeting followed. Last year, though, the property was sold again, and the meeting organizers are again looking for someplace to hang their shingle — and their clothes.
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