Wow! What beauty and elegance. I would love to be there -- strolling on the boardwalk, taking my paints down to the beach and doing some sketches, back to the hotel for a delicious dinner and retiring to my room to read a book before bed.

http://www.heartofconeyisland.com/brighton-beach-coney-island-history.ht...

Quite a story on several websites how they had to move this entire hotel due to beach erosion. But no record of it burning down. It did burn down did it? I mean, since the advent of fire insurance, didn't all such wood structures burn down?

Willing to bet the bleached-out sign says "Keep Off the Grass". Either that, or "Fire Hazard".

The ocean was eroding the beach, and was almost lapping at the front porch. In a bold move that was costly, but highly publicized, Engelman had the entire enormous building raised up on tracks and moved further inland. 120 railroad cars were used to support the hotel, and three pairs of double engines slowly pulled the building 600 feet inland. It took over three months, but they did it, and the hotel was saved. Not even a window pane was broken.*

*Source: Brownstoner Magazine

I like those two couples on the right, the way one person in each duo is glancing up. With regard to the man couple, the fellow is definitely checking out the photographer (in what I take to be a fetchingly bemused manner), and with the woman couple, I can’t tell whether the lady is also checking out the photographer or the man couple ahead of her on the boardwalk.