European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Poge 20 the stars and stripes thursday May 26, 1977 modern living in Austin Texas lounging around the Pool of a Texas residential Utopia where the lifestyles Are definitely liberated. By John m. Crewdson new York times arely three months ago. The Manor Villa apartments in san Antonio tex., were on the verge of being torn Down. Fewer than half the 78 units in the Dingy Complex were occupied and some of those were being used Only As hideouts by local Holdup had been a murder and some , several of the tenants had Long since stopped paying rent and no one seemed to want to have anything to do with the place. Very Large or medium sized City in the country has similar Gray elephants of course cheaply constructed apartment houses that were overbuilt in the Boom years of the 1950s and 1960s and now seem to have outlived their usefulness. But at Manor Villa an Urban renewal Mira Cle of sorts has occurred. The owners of the Complex who were considering knocking it Down with a Bulldozer have instead committed nearly $80,000 to tearing out and refurbishing the apartments and have raised rents 10 per cent. In less than a month nearly a third of the unit shave been rented to students from the nearby University of Texas and Young business and profession Al people including a local newspaper editor and a would be politician who Calls himself crazy Savior of Manor Villa is a Young bearded former new yorker named Terry Parker a member of the libertarian party who persuaded the owners to let him take the place Over As a proving ground for his fairly utopian ideas about How people ought to be allowed to live. To Parker who is 32 years old. Manor Villa has become a liberated environment where people Are free to do whatever they want As Long As they Don t Augress physically against one to most of the rest of Austin it is the place where the residents Don t Wear clothes. A sign behind the sturdy steel mesh Gate one of seven recently installed to keep curious or hostile neighbors at Bay. Warns visitors to stay away if they Are offended by the liberated life style which the sign says includes nudity cavorting in the Pool and various other consensual obverse of the signs cautions residents to re member that clothes Are required on the outside As far As Parker knows Manor Villa and nearby Canyon Villa which he also helped to establish Are the Only two liberated apart ment complexes in the country although he said he was negotiating with a san Francisco realty management company in Hopes of extending his social Experiment to Northern Cali fornia. As he sat in his Kitchen sipping Coffee the other Day Parker a thoughtful Young Man who is a past chairman of the Travis county libertarian party said that local news coverage had dwelt on the nudity and consensual frolicking an image perhaps encouraged by the recent visit to Manor Villa of miss nude America but he would rather View his project As a comfortable pleasant a threatening Friendly place to the nudity thing is a Good dramatization he said. The rest of it is less tangible a person s right to do whatever they want. If nudity was t controversial we would t have that As a for one thing there s less need for people to put on the veneer of being Ordinary Parker said adding that he valued the communication that s made possible by the physical aggression treaty to which residents Are asked to subscribe. People Are required to Stop and think about How to get along with each Othor he said. In the three weeks since Manor Villa re opened he said apartments have been snapped up at the rate of about one a Day by a wide Vari Ety of tenant married couples those just living together single people and homosexual a group that Parker said embraced political attitudes ranging from nipple to All that diversity works he said with the Satis tied smile of a Laboratory scientist whose Experiment has just produced the desired result. The people physically coexist. It s not total Freedom but it s a relative degree of Freedom compared to what there s Ordinary people Here said Carl Hicker son also 32. As he stretched his tall slender Frame Over a reclining chair and lit a cigarette. Hickerson. Who As crazy Carl recently completed an unsuccessful Campaign for a seat on the Austin City Council is one of the least Ordinary Resi dents of Manor Villa. A former championship swim Mer at the University of Texas he used Campaign literature that identified him As. Among other things a contortionist Flower Salesman artist s Model and former go go dancer. Ilic Kerson said that he had moved into the com plex because i m a nudist basically but also be cause you be got a different kind of person living Here you can be very at the other end of the spectrum is William Schauer an electrical Engineer and like Parker a member of the libertarian party who said that be was not that overwhelmed by he cult aspect of for him Schauer said the principal enticement had been the rent free apartment he got in return for working As a member of the Manor Villa Security patrol a group of resident guards armed with table legs ready to fend off intruders who manage to get past the sophisticated combination locks and Bullet proof glass."1 Don t do nude As often As everybody else does around Here he said and pointed to the Light drizzle falling outside. To me it just seems silly in this kind of but he conceded that As soon As the hot Texas summer arrived in Austin he would probably Exchange his swimming suit for one of the birthday a to Parker some of the residents and guests have evidenced initial reluctance to plunge headlong into the liberated Way of life at Manor Villa. But then anywhere from several hours to several Days later he said pointing to the Large azure Pool that has become the Center of the social scene there s for the consensual frolicking Parker a knowl. Edged that affairs were not uncommon. When you move in he said you eventually get to know everybody. But it s probably not a Good idea to come Here looking for the residents most of whom hold steady jobs in the straight world tend to live their own lives for the better part of each Day congregating Only at the Pool to listen to the Manor Villa rack band practice or at the and hoc Luppe club run by a Young Man named Luther. Austin seems to have accepted Parker and his Uto Pian tinkering without much fuss. The police say that neither of the complexes has provoked any com plaints and Jimmie sue Smith who lives across the Street from Canyon Villa said to be perfectly honest with you the closest thing i be seen to nudity is a girl in a there was some Early trouble with the Post office and the electric company which did not want their letter carriers and meter readers upset by any con sensual frolicking but such concerns have evaporated Parker said. Parker quit his Job As an executive three years ago after some of his responsibilities began to conflict with his libertarian ideals. He was beginning to wonder he said whether it was possible to do things another Way when he suffered a serious automobile Accident something that just made me that much More serious about doing something significant before 1 leave the world a second so Parker moved from the East coast where people have completely lost respect for their Liber tics to Texas where people still do get upset about being tread and began talking to apart ment owners in Austin which enjoys a reputation As a Liberal Garden spot surrounded by a widely conservative desert. Parker is pleased with us Experiment on Sev eral Levels. We be discovered that people revert to a More liberated condition More read ily than Yon would think he said the other Day a touch of the scientist creeping into his voice again. If you could put a great Many of the types of people who exist in our society into a liberated environment we might produce a change in the Way things work he said. But the libertarian in him is also gratified to see the Renaissance of Manor Villa being accomplished not with Federal funds but by what he Calls nongovernmental Urban some he said leaning Back and closing his eyes maybe we can extend this to apartments in other cities maybe even whole towns and just then the Black and White Telephone rang. We be been retained As consultants in san Francis co he shouted happily
