Posted on 01/12/2017 3:37:13 PM PST by NRx
As we sit shivering through winter take a look back at the summers of long ago, before air conditioning, when escaping the sweltering summer heat of New York City meant a 25 cent ticket on an excursion train to the beaches of New Jersey and another ten cents to rent a bathing suit.
Of course the well off could simply rent a summer house or a hotel room on or near the boardwalk.
Great stuff to us USA history buffs. (There are a lot of these on YouTube but I missed this one, thanks for posting). Close your eyes and try to imagine what it must have been like over 100 years ago in America!
Go to:http://www.shorpy.com
We went to the Jersey Shore last summer - it was something like $12 per person to get on the beach! (Six of us) Of course they didn’t make us wear those goofy looking swim suits, so there’s that!
The thing the really jumps out. No fat people.
Shorpy is a great site for pictorial Americana. HAMBY had some great cars and street scene pix but I can no longer access/find the link.
Thanks!!
Very good point. What a difference from now huh?
I couldn’t recall until I flew around on Google Earth just now - Point Pleasant - pretty far north so near the city. I see it was “only” $9 per person:
http://jenkinsons.com/beach/beach-prices/
When we lived there we never went - my wife grew up there and she went often as a kid. We did go to Cape May once way to the south. That was nice - much more natural down there. Although Point Pleasant was fun for the kids with the amusement stuff.
Psych! I was just posting about how people used to dress up to walk the AC boardwalk earlier today:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3512877/posts?page=664#664
Thanks for posting this. I love those old photos, and this is the first time I have seen any moving pictures of Atlantic City from that time period.
If it had been a few years later, my father could have been on that beach. He was born in 1911, the first of my grandparents’ 13 children. He had the good fortune to be born at a time when my grandfather’s older sister was recovering from a broken heart.
Great Aunt Mame (b. 1887)had been engaged to a young man who tragically died from an ailment while he was in the army. When Dad came along, she poured all of her love into him. His family was not wealthy, but he got to do a lot because of his aunt. And trips on the train to visit Atlantic City were among those outings. She was a dear, fun-loving woman. I have a photo of her in one of those bathing suits with the sailor collar.
This is my favorite
Berlin - 1900
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-m9A8mY-U0
Makes you wonder what the fates of these people were between the Two World Wars.
Then there is this titillating treat : )
Boarding School Girls Gone Crazy At Coney Island 1905
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7ON4JiD-I
I love that site. Great pictures of early US plus other countries. There’s also a site at the New York Daily News if you’re interested in NYC pictures going back.
Heard of Hamby but never went there.
Why are most of the women wearing black to the beach? Didn’t they know that white clothing is cooler?
Seaside Heights isn’t too bad.
Beautiful pictures.
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