Do you think he's sad because he forgot his bathing suit?

I figure, after a winter with no central heating and coal smoke permeating the city, sitting at the beach in the fresh air and warmth felt pretty good, even in your wool suit.

Looks like she's wearing her "Marcel" original Chapeau

I know what an "A" stands for, after all we were forced to read the story in high school in the 60's, but what does the "R" stand for on the dude's chest?

[Perhaps the caption contains a clue. - Dave]

No one seems to have noticed the little tyke with the Buster Brown haircut in the lower left corner of the photo in front of the two women with shawls. The sand has been molded into a seat obviously by an adult to keep the child put. Ingenious.

One of them fancy photographer fellers with his no-good box.

In the days before modern drug treatments, the sea air was considered highly therapeutic. People with consumption (TB) for example, as well as other diseases were thought to benefit by breathing the salt-laden air. Hence the folks on the pier, and even inside the wide-open windows, are breathing in the therapeutic seaside breezes.

Looking at all the people on this beach you see them with nary anything around them on the sand. Mostly just themselves. Maybe a newspaper or two.

No towels, blankets, ginormous coolers filled with sodas, beer, or food, no boom boxes, no games, no toys, tote bags, floating toys, etc. So simple.

Beach was a breeze to clean up in the morning I bet.

in which a small boy runs up to a cop, pleading, "Officer, I'm lost! Can you help me find my parents?"

"Gee, I dunno, kid. There's so many places they could hide."

Talk about laid back.

yet alert, lifeguards still adopt that same pose a century later.

Does anybody know what the ropes are for?

[You grab onto them so you don't drown. - Dave]

yeah, i get that - but, in the sand? ...or does high tide bring the water up that far?

Or not, (almost) everybody seems to be having a good time. Why else would they be there?

I find neither Zelig nor Waldo here.

that people truly had no idea of the purpose of a beach, complete wool suits for men, 12 yards of material in dresses for women and crocheted tablecloths for shawls, some wearing what looks like bathing suits, others fully dressed plunked on the sand, and beyond, hundreds of fully clothed gawkers lining the shore, there seems no purpose to any of these shenanigans.

That man in the suit and white hat is gonna need a chiropractor with that large rope tied around his waist!

Do we think their beachwear was restrictive? The town was developed by the Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group from Philadelphia. Before a 1981 court decision, they allowed no automobiles to be driven in the village on Sundays.