According to the Chicago Tribune, the city really came into its own in the 1960s as a “laid-back mecca for pleasure seekers, gay and straight.” At the time, the city was seen as a party destination for bikers, college students, and queer people from near and far.

At the same time, gay travel guides began to be published, such as Bob Damron’s Address Book, which gave Saugatuck the name “Fire Island of the Midwest.” Although state law prohibited bars from hosting gay groups, a local jazz club called the Blue Tempo became known for catering to gay patrons.

Eric Gollannek, executive director of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Center, said the second edition of Bob Damron’s Address Book lists Blue Tempo as a mixed-use bar and also mentions a nearby “interesting beach”: a strip of sand that stretched from the north shore of Saugatuck’s popular Oval Beach to the mouth of the Kalamazoo River.

“They collected $5 to use the beach all day long,” said John Rossi, facilities manager for the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency, a program affiliated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “You could sunbathe nude as long as you weren’t visible to the public.”

Rossi first visited Denison’s Beach, owned by a local shipping contractor named Frank Denison, in the 1970s. “It was mostly gay, but I noticed a mix,” Rossi said. “Sometimes you’d get lesbians, and sometimes you’d see a straight couple.”

Rossi, 68, grew up about 40 miles away in Grand Rapids. He said it was initially word-of-mouth that brought him to the area.