Naked lunch as NY restaurant goes au naturel

THE diners arrived at a nice Manhattan restaurant on a cold February night and stripped off coats, hats, gloves and scarves. They didn’t stop there.

Skirts, shirts, pants, underwear and stockings all ended up stashed in plastic bags by the bar as the patrons got naked for the monthly Clothing Optional Dinner.

“It’s exciting to be in a restaurant nude,” said George Keyes, 65, a retired junior high school English teacher.

Nude yes, but not unadorned.

Keyes, a lifelong nudist, wore a necklace, earrings and a black leather “genital bracelet” with red studs. And white sneakers.

The dinner was started by a group of New York nudists who wanted something a bit more elegant than the wilderness getaways and beach resorts they generally frequent.

“When you go away on holiday it’s more you’re roughing it in the woods, whereas this is a really nice restaurant,” said Keyes, a member of gay nudist group Males Au Naturel, or MAN.

John Ordover set up the dining club about a year ago, recruiting members through word of mouth and the internet.

“Next month is our Easter bonnet event, where everybody has to come wearing an Easter bonnet,” said Ordover, a heavyset man with a jovial smile and glasses.

Around 30 people arrived for the buffet dinner - organisers specified no hot soup on the menu - most of them middle-aged, several married couples, some singles, the youngest perhaps in their 30s.

“They’re a good class of people, they’re no different to you or I,” said John Bussi, owner of the midtown restaurant.

“They’re not hurting anybody, it’s not a wild Roman orgy,” he added.

Health regulations mean staff must remain clothed even if they wanted to join in. And diners must bring something to sit on - a towel or, for more discerning diners, an elegant silk scarf.

The restaurant’s manager covered the windows to maintain privacy at the strictly private party.

Extra heaters kept the temperature at a comfortable level for nudity.

Ordover’s wife, Carol, said they first went on a naturist holiday five years ago and she found the experience empowering. But, she explained, it’s “the least sexual thing you can possibly imagine”.