California IN BRIEF : San Jose : Ex-Impresario of Nudity Joins Race

Saying he wants enliven the San Jose mayoral race, former nude beauty pageant promoter Danny Zezzo announced his candidatacy Friday. The 5-foot-tall former jockey, who was once dubbed the “boss of buff” has no formal political experience, no campaign platform, and nocampaign slogan. Zezzo, 45, has joined seven other candidates for mayor. He made his reputation in the early 1980s with three Ms. Nude America pageants at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts. The shows were strongly opposed by then-Mayor Janet Gray Hayes. Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein also protested when Zezzo brought his pageant to San Francisco in 1985. Zezzo said he stopped producing the pageants because “it wasn’t fun anymore.”