ROGERS PARK — A fake sign that designated Loyola Beach as a nude beach was removed by the Chicago Park District over the weekend.
Rogers Park beach goers heading to the lakefront over the Labor Day weekend spotted a new sign at Loyola Beach that read “nude beach past this sign.” The sign, attached to a post mounted in the sign, also included the official Chicago Park District seal.
Except it wasn’t real — and it could be the work of a local prankster who has laid dormant for a few years.
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) was notified of the “cheeky” fake sign Monday and reported it to the Park District for removal, saying on social media that “at least some clothing is required at all of our beaches.”
The Park District replied to Hadden’s tweets on the subject by confirming the sign was not official and saying that unauthorized use of the district’s seal is “strictly prohibited.”
Park District officials tweeted around 5 p.m. Monday saying the sign had been removed.
The hoax could mark the return of a Rogers Park prankster who installed fake government signs and public notices throughout the neighborhood at the height of the pandemic.
Rogers Park neighbors have reported similar fake signs in the past, including another fake Park District notice of a “citizen burial” permitted for Loyola Park. That sign was popped up in May 2021.
Another sign, seen in June 2021, purported to be an “agricultural notice” that mentioned a home in the 6600 block of Newgard Avenue was permitted to house two horses and one “other” animal as long as it was under 500 pounds.
Similarly, a “home birth announcement” was taped to a tree in Rogers Park in July 2021 that noticed neighbors to a resident planning to give birth in a building courtyard surrounded by family and friends.
It is unclear who is behind the unauthorized public notices.
Talk of a nude beach in Rogers Park isn’t unprecedented.
In 1932, the alderman for Rogers Park introduced a resolution that would establish a nude beach at Loyola Beach, according to a vintage Chicago Tribune article posted by Hadden.
The proposal called for a portion of the beach to be enclosed by a fence that would obstruct outside views of the nude sun bathers, with walled-off spots for men and women, according to the Tribune.
The law change didn’t go anywhere, as Chicago does not have any nude beaches.
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