Mara Suviks

This photo was taken on San Gregorio Beach in California. I was standing on the other side of the camera when this photo was taken. I know that everybody is going to think that this is a lot of BS and that I do not really know this girl, but in fact I do. At the time of this photograph, she lived at 2535 Dwight Way, my regular hang-out in Berkeley. Later, that building was torn down and the place became the People's Park. The foundation is still there.

This photo appeared in Playboy Magazine, September 1967, page 153. The caption states: "Mara Loves: The Sexual Freedom League at Berkeley finds a delightful and freethinking advocate in coed Mara Suviks. BLONDE, green-eyed Mara is from all outward appearances a typical California Coed. But typical she is not. Mara's unique combination of physical and philosophical attributes was brought to the attention of PLAYBOY'S West Coast Photographer by a Sexual Freedom Leaguer who had met Miss Suviks at a Berkeley Chapter-party and was duly impressed. We interviewed Mara between her Art and Sociology courses at Berkeley."

I was that "Sexual Freedom Leaguer" and Mara was a personal friend of mine. Mara was 19. I never met her at a party. I received a $300 finder's fee for introducing her to Playboy. That was a lot of money for a college kid like me back then. Mara got $1000 for posing for Playboy and for writing a short essay about sexual freedom, some of which was published by Playboy. Mara may be the only Playboy model ever whose words were published in addition to her photographs. My student club got a lot of new members after Mara appeared in Playboy.

Published without permission from Playboy Magazine.

For more about Mara Suviks, see My Halcyon Student Days and How we got Mara into Playboy Magazine

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Contact address - please send e-mail to the following address: Sloan@ishipress.com