16 Retro Snapshots of Summers at the Beach

By Melanie Lieberman
September 02, 2016
Jerry Cooke/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
This year, Provincetown, Massachusetts earned the distinction of being the country’s favorite beach town in our annual America’s Favorite Places survey. But Provincetown’s charm is hardly news—the colorful hamlet at the tip of the Cape has a long tradition of being a beachy summer getaway.

People have been flocking to sandy stretches of coast for much longer than we have been capturing our holidays on film. It’s as if we are all instantly lulled into vacation mode by the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. Black-and-white, vintage photographs of summers at the beach may transport us just a bit farther back in time, but these vibrant images certainly encapsulate the spirit of a summer weekend whiled away on a candy-striped towel.

We’ve sifted through the TIME/LIFE archives to extract some of our favorite vintage photographs of beach scenes from as far back as the 1940s. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it may be difficult to tell the difference between a shot from yesterday and one from yesteryear (especially now that chic one-pieces are back in style). Except for the photograph of the woman with toy pistols posing with an ox. That, almost certainly, would never happen on a public beach in the 21st century.

From the famed beaches of Brazil, where competition is fierce for prime waterfront real estate, to quiet, hidden lengths of foam-covered sand, these vivid photographs can ferry you to a balmy, summer afternoon long after Labor Day weekend ends.
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Beach Toys

Eliot Elisofon/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

In 1945, this young woman was photographed on the back of Ferdinand the ox while visiting a Florida beach. Instead of beach floats and coolers, she packed twin toy pistols for the staged shot.

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Take Cover

Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Uniform rows of colorful beach umbrellas await beachgoers in Nantucket in 1957.

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P-Town Painters

Andreas Feininger/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Students from the Hensche Art School paint iterations of the same model at a Provincetown beach in 1947.

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British Holiday

Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

A couple dozes off on a wrought iron park bench in the United Kingdom in August 1955, while a busy beach scene continues in the backdrop.

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Another Side of Rio

Dmitri Kessel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Copacabana and Ipanema aren’t the only beaches worth visiting in Rio de Janeiro. In 1957, Dmitri Kessel captured this stunning shot of Leblon Beach.

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Surf and Turf

John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Off Manly Beach, near Sydney, Australia, a row of surfers ride a low wave back to shore.

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On a Bed of Sand

Leonard McCombe/Life Magazine/The LIFE Picture Collection

In the heat of the sun, one young American couple dozed off on their oversized beach blanket.

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Dog Days of Summer

J. R. Eyerman/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Young children—and one skeptical dog—play in the receding surf on Cannon Beach in Oregon in 1960.

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Bikinis and Butterfingers

Co Rentmeester/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

On a beach in California, in 1970, one unsuspecting sunbather was captured snacking on a Butterfinger candy bar.

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East Coast Escape

Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Even on the New England coast, it’s possible to find powdery white sand. The only thing missing from this 1967 tableau is a perfect regional lobster roll.

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Lounging with Locals

Barry Iverson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Nothing sets the scene quite like the camel, which relaxes by the waters while a woman bronzes under the Egyptian sun.

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Surf City

Julian Wasser/The LIFE Images Collection

In 1968, Julian Wasser photographed these teenagers tackling the waves at Malibu Beach.

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The Coast at Dusk

Maryanne Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Dusk washes this quiet Floridian beach with dramatic shades of purple in the 70s.

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Brazilian Summers

H. John Maier Jr./The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

To this day, Ipanema Beach (shot here in the late 1980s) remains a popular destination for sunbathers and people-watchers.

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Colorful Crowds

H. John Maier Jr./The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

An electric orange beach umbrella on this crowded crescent of sand says it all: summers are synonymous with long afternoons by the water.

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High Tide

Jerry Cooke/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Foamy waves lap at the sand on this morning in 1982. Photographer Jerry Cooke captured the serene moment before beachgoers flooded the scene.

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By Melanie Lieberman