Poway councilman Jay Goldby signs up to run the Swallows nudist camp

San Diego — When Jay Goldby announced back in January 2004 he had decided not to seek a third term on the Poway City Council, the then-63-year-old grandfather said that he and his second wife, Sherrie Anne Bagley, executive director of the Poway Senior Center, whom he had married the month before, were "embarking on some new areas.... I've done everything and more than I expected to do, and there's other things in life besides this for me." Goldby, a financial planner and ex-life insurance salesman, told reporters that his new occupation would entail consulting on public works projects and substance-abuse prevention. A year later, Bagley left her post at the senior center after the Poway City Council received a report about alleged management problems during her tenure.

Now Goldby has turned over yet another leaf. He's become general manager of the Sun Island Resort, a nudist getaway founded in 1954 and fondly known to thousands of aging San Diego hippies as the Swallows. The new Sun Island, however, is nothing like the funky sun-dried hangout of old, which largely burned down in the Cedar fire in October 2003. In a newsletter posted on the resort's website, Goldby writes, "We have many plans for the upcoming year, and among them are the sales of the houses, the condoizing of the residential areas, the new entrance, paving of the roadways, installation of Cox Cable, and improving the Café just to name a few. We will be doing some aggressive marketing to increase membership, sell houses, and enliven our activities even more."

According to the website, the remodeled resort offers a Jacuzzi and sauna, swimming pool, tennis, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong and shuffleboard, and karaoke. Two- and three-bedroom mobile homes are for sale for between $130,000 and $140,000 each, according to the site. Reached by phone this week, a spokeswoman for Sun Island said it was off-season and that both Goldby and resort owner James Shafer were on vacation and wouldn't be back for a few weeks. ... Tourists and locals alike wondering about the ultimate fate of Anthony's Star of the Sea room, the locally famous restaurant next to the Star of India on Harbor Drive, will just have to keep wondering, at least for a while. That's the word from Beverly Mascari, a member of the Ghio family, who owns the place. Last summer, months after the upscale eatery had closed down, it was announced that it would be transformed into Ghio's Seafood and Steaks and reopened by late September with a trendy new menu designed to lure diners a bit younger than the sixty- and seventysomething average of years past. But that plan didn't work out, says Mascari, and the family is sorting out its options, including the possibility of subletting to another operator.