Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
January 1941. Sarasota, Florida. "Guest of Sarasota trailer park with his family, picnicking at the beach." Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size.
Well, the dad in the photo just spent the prime days of youth (late teens to early twenties) in the Great Depression. His thoughtful, distant gaze is no doubt imagining World War II raging across the ocean his family is frolicking beside.
[The often-overlooked Mexican Campaign? - Dave]
I have a photo of my dad in the early 30's, about that boy's age, wearing the same kind of bathing suit. Always seemed like a weird style to me.
The first appearance of beach blankets on Shorpy!
the farthest my family could travel to the beach was to the Irish Riviera, a.k.a. Rockaway Beach, Queens.
It may just be current-generational predjudice, but photos of that era and earlier reveal an earlier maturity for the adults of the time. The dad in the photo can't be more than 35, but compare his photo to men of his age today. Advanced juveniles; and our society seems to show it.
When this picture was taken, I was four and also sat on my father's lap at the beach (though in the summer in the Northeast) in the company of my two older sisters. Only I and the youngest girl survive.
The little girl holding the soft drink would now be in her mid-70s.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5