A breathtaking stretch of Bay Area coastline known for decades as a place where beachgoers could enjoy the beauty of the coast — often without the burden of a bathing suit — will become the newest addition to California’s state park system.
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California state parks officials announced Monday that they are moving forward with a deal to add the 245-acre oceanfront property known as San Gregorio Ranch to San Gregorio State Beach. Since 1949, the state beach, which sits along the San Mateo County coast near the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 84, has been popular with visitors from San Francisco, the Peninsula and Silicon Valley.
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The new acquisition features more than half a mile of wide sandy beach and scenic bluffs with trails and a pond. Directly abutting the northern end of the state beach, the property was purchased last year for $10 million by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, an environmental group based in Palo Alto, from the family of Walter Bridge. A former dairy farmer who owned it for decades until his death in 2005, Bridge and his family collected a parking fee from beachgoers since the 1960s, many of whom embraced its clothing-optional tradition. The beach was known as one of the oldest nude beaches in California.
“It’s similar to San Gregorio State Beach,” said Chris Spohrer, superintendent for the Santa Cruz District of state parks. “But it has a terrace that overlooks the ocean where you can’t see Highway 1. The feel is remarkable. You can see the ocean and the coast without any development. It’s a fantastic property.”
Under state parks rules, clothing is required on state beaches. Spohrer said rangers already address such issues “through education first” rather than tickets.
The Peninsula Open Space Trust agreed to donate the property to California’s state parks system for free.
The property is scheduled to open to the public daily on July 29 from 8 a.m. to sunset under the agreement. Employees from another nonprofit group, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, will collect the $8 vehicle entrance fee. State parks rangers and maintenance staff will patrol and maintain the area. Spohrer said the state Department of Parks and Recreation is expected to close the deal and take title within a year.
A trail connects the two properties. The land transfer will expand the 452-acre San Gregorio State Beach next door by more than half its size, adding to a park that already has trails, restrooms and a parking lot.
“Not only is this land great for human visitors, but it is home to a rare stand of native dune grass and other important habitats that many species rely on,” said Gordon Clark, president of the land trust. “POST and our generous donors and funders are proud to make this vision a reality.”
The acquisition is the latest in a flurry of state parks additions during the final year of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s term, which will end in January.
In April, on Earth Day, Newsom announced that three properties will become new California state parks.
The new parks are Feather River Park, a roughly 1,600-acre site south of Marysville in Yuba County on the Feather River that includes a beach and boat launch; the San Joaquin River Parkway, 874 waterfront acres on Fresno’s northern edges along the San Joaquin River; and the Sunset Migratory Labor Camp, a 2-acre property south of Bakersfield that was built in 1937 by the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt to provide housing to hardscrabble farm families who fled the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and other states seeking a better life in California.
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Newsom also announced in April that California will add roughly 30,000 acres — an area the size of San Francisco — to existing state parks by 2030 under a new law aimed at streamlining park expansions by making it easier for the state to accept land for free or below $1 million if it is adjacent to existing parks.
Monday’s expansion was part of that effort.
From 2010 until this year, under Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown, only one new state park was added anywhere in California: Dos Rios State Park near Modesto in 2024. It was the longest such stretch of inactivity since 1927, when the state parks department was first established. The state also added one off-highway motorcycle park during that time: Eastern Kern County Onyx Ranch State Vehicular Recreation Area, on the edge of the Mojave Desert, became a state park in 2014.
For years, both governors were reluctant to expand the state park system because it involves committing funding to hire new rangers and maintenance workers. Environmental groups and parks advocates, however, have said the lack of new facilities has made it more difficult for working families to book campsites and enjoy the outdoors as the state population has grown.
They reacted with support Monday.
“This is a really stunning stretch of Northern California coastline,” said Rachel Norton, executive director of the California State Parks Foundation in San Francisco. “There’s nothing but good here. It’s great news.”
Norton said she hopes the next governor and state lawmakers will commit to more funding for state parks.
“Everybody wants to go to a ribbon cutting, but often at budget time, the glow has worn off,” she said. “It does no one much good to open a new park unit if five years down the line the gates are closed because there’s no one to staff it or the bathrooms are closed.”
In March, state parks officials announced six other expansions, including accepting another donation from the Peninsula Open Space Trust of 132 acres on the San Mateo Coast. That property will triple the size of Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park from 75 acres to 207 acres by adding beaches and coastal bluffs along its southern edges. The park is home to the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast, a towering 115-foot-tall white brick structure built in 1871 that millions of visitors have explored for generations.
During the March announcement, state parks officials also confirmed they will expand Mount Diablo State Park in Contra Costa County by acquiring a 101-acre property on its northern edge — called Black Point Slope — from CEMEX, a Mexican building materials company. The property already had a popular hiking trail through it.
Other additions announced in March include 31 acres added to Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County to rebuild ranger housing lost in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire; 217 acres to add to South Yuba River State Park which the Bear Yuba Land Trust, a nonprofit in Grass Valley, has offered to give to the park; and a donation of 453 acres from Save the Redwoods League, based in San Francisco, to expand Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve near Ukiah, by 16%.
As governors end their terms, they often look to build their legacies.
“Newsom is running for president,” said Larry Gerston, a professor emeritus of political science at San Jose State University. “This is part of his legacy. He wants to say, ‘We increased funding to universities. We added state parks. We’ve given money to cities for homelessness. Here are some things for you to check off when you are making your choice.’ He is trying to make his last days as impactful as possible.”
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