“The Image of an Earthly Paradise”: US Beach History in Color

The set of associations of the “American dream” certainly includes the endless beaches of California and Florida, where it is always warm, sunny and fun. Now few people are surprised by beautiful beach views, but how cool it looked on excellent color photographs many decades ago! Thanks to the archives of National Geographic magazine, where most of the photographs below are taken from.

(Total 11 photos)

1. Daytona Beach, Florida, 1957

2. Girls on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, photographer Richard Hewitt Stewart, November 1938.

3. Free fitness classes (calisthenics) on the beach in Long Island, New York, photographer Willard Culver, 1939.

4. Somewhere on an American beach, 1945

5. Vinis Beach in Los Angeles, 1947

6. Hawaii in 1950

7. Jones Beach State Park, New York, 1953

8. Cypress Gardens, Florida, 1957

9. Ibid.

10. Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1959

11. Once Upon a Time in America, circa 1958