The Oceanside: 1910

The car on the right is a 1907 Packard Model 30 7-passenger touring. The license plate is dangling by what appears to be a rope - cars in 1907 did not come with license plate brackets -- but is almost certainly a Massachusetts porcelain-style plate. The car on the left is also a Packard, possibly a 1908.

IM sure she is just whisling by having some fun with the boys across the street..

or more likely biting her nails.

Her hat looks very modern for that era, it wouldn't look out of place today.

The Oceanside was a popular hotel. Unfortunately it burned down.

I think tterrace is right. Besides, smoking by women in public probably wasn't thought of very highly in those days.

I went to the LOC online collection and grabbed the full-sized tiff to get this closeup. She's not smoking, whistling seems plausible, but it's also possible she's been caught in some transitory motion, like scratching her lip for a second, that an instantaneous photographic capture makes seem like a pose.

I'm not sure she's smoking -- looks like she's whistling for a taxi and getting the smiles and attention of the others in the photo. Or maybe they just think she's too young to be smoking, too.

What a beautiful house!
But it doesn't look to me...that the girl on the steps is smoking.

The woman at the left on the sidewalk is allowing a gust of wind to show a great deal of leg. Very daring for the time.

But that lady on the steps has hair like a hat.

... is too young to be smoking!