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Atlantic City circa 1905. "Teasing." One of a series of Detroit Publishing glass negatives featuring these bathing beauties. View full size.
Or eelgrass.
That's the stuff on this and almost every New Jersey beach following a storm. It grows in the shallow bays where it is habitat for many small marine aquatic creatures. I've seen tons of it floating in the low tide wave break of Barnegat Bay or just up on the bay beaches. When the tide receded it floats out to sea in huge rafts.
When it starts to rot while on the beach, it becomes a great habitat for flies.
I prefer remembering cheesesteaks, sausage and peppers, and pizza over this stuff.
After seeing so many beach scenes on Shorpy, I have come to expect the formality of early 20th century bathing attire but now I'm having a hard time comprehending the place of the shoes these ladies are wearing. Am I off in left field or did they really go in the water with those?
[While typical women's bathing garb of the period did include bathing shoes (see below), this photo and others in the series - in which these models are generally unshod - were not casual snapshots nor intended to be documentary. They're more in the nature of glamour shots, to be used in producing colored postcards or decorative prints, which was Detroit Publishing Company's business. - tterrace]

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