Matt K.
Yelp
I grew up above Black's Beach, but when you look right down on it every day, eventually you stop thinking about it and don't even go to the beach much, so it was nice, to go back and visit it again last weekend.
There are two basic accesses to Black's Beach. The first is a paved road (locked gate, La Jolla Farms Road residents are issued a key and parking permit sticker) that is about 1/2 mile down the road from the intersection of La Jolla Shores/La Jolla Farms, at about 9351 La Jolla Farms Road, and the other is a somewhat steep dirt hiking trail that goes down from the Torrey Pines Glider Port which is located off 2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive.
Warning: do not attempt the dirt hiking trail after dusk.
So unless you have the key and parking permit: The paved road is a longer walk, but easier to traverse. (Be aware: weekdays only two hour parking on La Jolla Farms Road!) The trail is shorter, but a bit harder, especially on the way back up. However you go down, be sure to bring some water because there is none down there, no restrooms, no drinking fountains, no facilities. There is no permanent lifeguard although one drives up and down the beach regularly.
People used to pull into our long driveway towards the end of La Jolla Farms Road occasionally, thinking that it must be the beach access, before we set up a triple layer of automatic gates. My brother and his friends once painted the entire length of La Jolla Farms Road red, as a prank to keep people from parking on it, which led to confusion for about six months until the city finally came in and spray painted over the bright red curbs. There is actually a lesser known "goat path" that is right next to my parents' house there, which is used mostly by surfers, as they go down into the Box Canyon and end up at about the middle of Black's Beach.
Black's Beach is a clothing optional beach. The legality of it has been debated via referendums and has been murky throughout its modern history, and after 1977 technically part of Black's is no longer nudist, but basically, once you're down that Glider Port trail, about 1/3 of the beachgoers are nude in that area. Most of the nude are men.
When we went down last weekend she stripped down immediately, and was probably by far the youngest nudist at the beach that day, and one of only a few females I noticed who were nude the entire time we were down there. I kept my trunks on. :-)
Black's has some great surfing, although you must be careful. When I was thirteen my cousin and I got caught in a rip tide here, and my uncle barely pulled us both back in. There can be sharks and sting rays in the water, although I have never encountered any. There tends to be some debris and seaweed/kelp in the water around the break.
If you're willing to endure the not so immediate access, Black's Beach is a great spot to avoid the crowds, and experience some great waves for surfing.