The Beefcake of Dana Point, the Town Named After a Gay Sailor

In 1834, 19-year old Harvard undergrad Richard Henry Dana, a Boston aristocrat who grew up with James Russell Lowell and was tutored by Emerson, dropped out of the conventional heterosexual trajectory of job, house, wife, and kids.  He signed on as a merchant seaman and sail on a harrowing voyage around Cape Horn to California and back.

His Two Year Before the Mast (1840) remains one of the classics we all had to read (or pretend to read) in junior high. It is filled with barely-veiled stories of homoerotic desire and buddy-bonding.

Dana returned to his conventional life and graduated from law school in 1840.  Although he specialized in maritime law, he also championed the abolitionist cause and helped try Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, for treason.

He married Sarah Watson in 1840, and had six children, becoming a respected heterosexual householder.  But he always looked back fondly on those days of wild freedom at sea, and throughout his life often left Sarah alone without notice to embark on a voyage to Cuba, California, or Europe.  He died of influenza in Rome after running away yet again.




I'm not sure why Dana Point, California is named after him.  It's a small town in southern Orange County, about 60 miles south of West Hollywood, known for nearby Capistrano (where the swallows return in the old song), whale watching, and shark watching.

But there's a statue of the shirtless, muscular sailor turned lawyer in the harbor, and a replica of his ship, The Pilgrim.









 Dana Point High School, enrollment 3,000, draws students from Capistrano and Laguna Nigel as well as Dana Hills.  It seems to specialize in extremely muscular athletes.  The wrestlers (top photo) and swimmers are always built.













But it's surprising to see cross-country runners with muscular physiques.  They tend to be skinny.

















And the track team.
















Dana Point is also the home of a surprising number of adult bodybuilders.  There are 8 gyms in town, but most work out at Rado's Fitness.












Or the Crossfit.

Maybe they're inspired by the memory of William Henry Dana