Let Me Tell You a Story of a Hawaiian Hippie Nudist Camp

Where the road ends on Kauai’s north shore, a group of hippies in the early 1970s lived in an off-grid Hawaii community of tree houses, grew their hair long, smoked weed and chose to go nude.

Taylor Camp, as it would become known, was named after Kauai resident Howard Taylor, the brother of actress Elizabeth Taylor. Howard owned the 7 acres of land in Haena, a scenic coastline of white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, and a tropical abundance of streams, caves and green cliffs. It was in 1969 that Howard welcomed homeless men, women and children to live on his beachfront property, with no rules or rent to pay.  “We’ve had no trouble,” Howard said in a 1970 Honolulu Star-Bulletin article. “Most of them are just here while they make up their minds to return to the ‘Establishment’ world and what they want to do there.”

When Howard moved to Kauai, he never expected to create a hippie community. He had been living on Oahu, working at the University of Hawaii, and fell in love with the Garden Island. He bought the beachfront property in Haena, moved his family to Kauai, and planned to build a home for his wife and five kids.  After Howard bought the property, he couldn’t get a building permit and no one would tell him why. He eventually found out that the state had plans to create a state park out of the land.

Left in limbo with no way forward, Howard bought land elsewhere on the island and abandoned his Haena land, until he found a purpose for it in 1969. 

 It was then that he learned that 13 hippie campers, men, women and children, were arrested on the island for vagrancy at a beach near Lihue after overstaying their permit. A judge sentenced all of them to 90-day jail sentences.   “These folks were from Berkeley and  they were having a lot of problems,” Tommy Taylor, Howard’s son, said. “My dad was concerned for these folks. Local guys were beating them up. I think one of the women had been raped and there were a lot of letters to the editor saying, ‘We ought to put them on a plane and send them back where they came from.’”  Wanting to help and, as some accused, out of spite, Howard and his wife picked them all up from the jail and took them to his Haena property to live. He enjoyed the company of the campers, some of whom were highly educated. “The campers wanted to escape the Mainland, the political situation, the Vietnam War. They were dropping out, trying to get away and these people found Kauai,” Tommy said.

Soon, word spread about Taylor Camp. People from around the world found themselves there, sometimes by happenstance, other times by word of mouth.  The original 13 did not stay long, but a new wave of people took their place, including hippies, surfers, vets, a doctor and lawyers, who kept the camp going and created its free-spirited lifestyle. 

As the years went on, the camp created its own water system and landfill. It had a communal toilet and negotiated with the county for a local school bus stop and garbage pickups. Meanwhile, the newspapers focused their attention on the camp’s use ofk marijuana, potential for diseases and politicians’ complaints.

Aside from the government, there were neighbors who complained, too. The Hanalei Community Association sent a letter to the county in 1970 writing that the camp was likely a “breeding place for disease, immorality and drug abuse and may also serve as a sanctuary for criminals.”  Taylor Camp did attract its share of unsavory characters, but those types of people didn’t last long, says Wehrheim, and were “vibed out,” since it was a small, tight knit community. “There were drug addicts, there were heroin addicts there, there were people selling cocaine in the later days when that happened,” says Wehrheim. “But there were drug addicts and alcoholics and cocaine peddlers in every community in Hawaii at that time.”

The state eventually condemned Howard’s land and added it to its inventory to create the present-day Haena State Park. Notices to vacate were sent to all of the current Taylor Camp residents, and a lawsuit resulted. Representing 60 residents, the lawsuit contested the eviction, claiming they were eligible for relocation assistance.

In the end, a judge ruled that anyone who moved to the camp after 1972, when the state condemnation process began, was a trespasser and not eligible for assistance. He ruled that the campers violated regulations because they had no permit for residential use on conservation-zoned land, even though they were never prosecuted for zoning or building there in the past. He also ruled that the Taylors’ hands-off approach didn’t mean permission was granted for them to live there.  The last residents were evicted in 1977. State and county crews burned the houses down.

“I didn’t want Taylor Camp to close,” said Alpin Noble. She was 3 years old when she arrived at the camp, one of the handful of kids who grew up there. “It was our home, where we lived, where all our friends were. When they torched the Camp, I was traumatized. One guy refused to leave and the police handcuffed his arms and legs and dragged him away yelling and screaming. Then they set the place on fire.  “I always thought, ‘Yeah, we’re going to stay here forever. There’s no way they can move us out,’” she said. “I thought I was going to live in Taylor Camp forever.”