Okay, we'll admit it, Californians have a reputation for being wacky. Nutso. Bonkers. Flakey. Weird. Crazy. So maybe we are. Certainly the folks of Carmel-By-The-Sea have had their fair share of "Only in California" stories in the national press. After all, this is the town that eschews street numbers and sidewalks, wouldn't give business permits to ice cream peddlers looking to cash in on tourists, and elected San Francisco-born and Oakland-raised Clint Eastwood their mayor in 1986.
So it came as no surprise to SFist when we saw Carmel's name pop up in the Oddly Enough section over at Yahoo News. You may remember the story of the ladies of Rylstone Women's Institute, who made their own racy calendar and served as the inspiration for the film Calender Girls. Inspired by a 2.2 million dollar city budget deficit which might derail plans for a fire station retrofit, Patti Ross decided to take action. How? By asking her retirement-age friends to pose suggestively on location at the fire house.
The calendar has been selling very well at area businesses, and Patti and her friends have managed to raise over $35,000 for the fire department. Problem is, Carmel refuses to accept the money. Why? Because of the potential liability surrounding the use of city property in the shoot - apparently shooting nudie calendars in public facilities could potentially constitute some form of sexual harassment. Ms. Ross and friends are now looking for ways to get the money in the city's hands, but SFist thinks they're going to have to find another charity.