Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: beaches

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of one sitting, one standing . A man and a woman -- single at the time but later married -- pose in swimsuits for a souvenir photo at a studio in Atlantic City, New Jersey, sometime in the early twentieth century. The painted backdrop shows waves breaking on a beach. The woman is sitting awkwardly on a small table, with one foot underneath her and her other foot resting on the bottom shelf of the table. The man is standing next to her and also has one foot on the shelf. They're leaning in toward one other, and they each have one hand on the table top and the other hand on a hip. Handwritten note on the other side: "Daddy & Mother when Single." Printed on the verso: "Albert Studio, Ark Ave., and Beach, Atlantic City, N.J." The Cyko stamp box ("Cyko - Place Postage Stamp Here") on the back of this divided-back real photo postcard indicates that it may date to sometime between 1907 and the 1920s.

A real photo postcard from 1908. For more information, see the cropped version of the card.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of on vacation / holiday . Sign: "The Club." Life preserver: "U.S. Vol. Life Saving Corps." This is a hand-tinted real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss G. Manning, 331 W. 29 St., N.Y. City. It was postmarked at Midland Beach , Staten Island, N.Y., and New Dorp , N.Y., on August 25, 1908. Handwritten message (with original spelling): "Dear Grace, I'm having a splendid vacation down here. We have a bungaloe down here for the month of August & part of Sept. It's great sport. I would have written sooner but never think of writing down here. I didn't attent that millinery class in the YWCA because you didn't. Love, F. Cooper." Added to the message: "Drop me a card. My address -- name. c/o W. H. Putnam, New Dorp, St. Island, N.Y. Woodland Beach." See also the full version of this card.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a stitch in time (doing needlework, knitting, or weaving) . An undated snapshot of a woman knitting as she sits on a sandy beach. For more knitting photos, see People Knitting: A Century of Photographs , a book by Barbara Levine (Princeton Architectural Press, 2016). An article about the book, 100 Years of People Knitting , by Claire Voon, appeared on Hyperallergic.

A distinguished gent in a souvenir real photo postcard from "Miami, Fla., 1922," as it says on the tree stump. Looks like the poor fellow is fending off alligators with his cane as he poses in front of a scenic backdrop of ocean, sky, and coconut tree, all of which received appropriate tinting after the photo was developed. For an untinted photo from the same studio, see Man and Dog with Alligators on the Beach (note that the tree stump is hidden behind the dog).

For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.

A photographic Easter greeting card with a soldier posing in front of a fake palm tree and beach.

"Travers American Hammock. Trademark. Patented July 29, 1879. New style, perfect in shape, beauty & strength; brass mounted, cardinal binding. Samples by mail, $3.00, postage, 50 cents. Hellerson." Vincent P. Travers, who was one of the officers in the company that manufactured Travers American Hammocks, held a number of hammock patents, but I haven't been able to locate one dated July 29, 1879. Perhaps the patent cited on this trade card was actually Improvement in Hammock-Supports (U.S. Patent no. 221,984), which the Patent Office approved a few months later on November 25, 1879.

"5/1/1906. Come and join me in a bath. Bathing scene, Heinz Pier, Atlantic City, U.S.A. Seashore home of the 57 varieties." Addressed on the back to "Miss Sue I. Barger, 1307 Flora St., Phila., Pa." This amusing advertising postcard published by the H. J. Heinz Company features the Heinz Pier in the background and includes the food processing company's pickle logo and 57 Varieties slogan. The pier was destroyed by a hurricane in 1944. For another Heinz card from the early twentieth century, see H. J. Heinz Company, Main Plant and General Offices, Pittsburgh, Pa. :

An on the beach photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. The guy on the left--with his hat and cigarette and distinctive stance--looks like he may be a bit wilder and crazier than the kid and the other fellow.

Judging from the Euclid Beach pennant visible on the right-hand side, this real photo postcard of a girl milking a fake cow while two fake bulldogs stand guard was probably a souvenir from Euclid Beach Park , which was an amusement park located along Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio.

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Souvenir of Salt Air Beach , Dave Levene, mgr., season 1915."

A cyanotypes photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "You can use this to keep the mice and rats away. Yes, I will keep the dog in and put out the key. A.S." Addressed to: Miss Maud W. Parker, North Lubec, Maine. Postmarked: South Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906, and North Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906. The joke about a photographic portrait being so bad or ugly that it scares away rodents, insects, and burglars was evidently a common one in the early twentieth century. Another version, for instance, appeared in a 1911 letter sent to American musician and composer William D. Dawson: "My Dear Mr. Armstrong: I duly received, welcome, and possessed myself of your portrait and am glad to have it. At the same time I am ashamed to recall that I have so long neglected to acknowledge it or to send the reciprocal photo to you. I have autographed one this evening and it will be shipped by freight tomorrow. It is warranted to scare away rats and burglars" (see W. T. Norton, William Dawson Armstrong, American Composer , New York: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1916, p 87). For another 1906 real photo postcard with a "scare away the rats" joke, see Guaranteed to Rid Any Cellar of Rats, Roaches, or Other Creatures (below).

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard:

A summer vacation photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. At first glance, this real photo postcard appears to show a typical summertime scene of vacationers enjoying the beach. A closer examination, however, reveals that the crowd's attention is focused on something that's happening on the left side of the image. "The rescue" is the dramatic caption that's written across the rolling waves at the top of the photo, and, in fact, on the left-hand side there are some lifeguards who are leading a rescued swimmer away from the water (mouse over the image above to see a close-up of the lifeguards and swimmer ). Many of the bystanders surrounding the group have concerned looks on their faces. When I first purchased this photo postcard, I didn't notice the lightly written "rescue" caption and couldn't quite make out what was going on. It was only after I scanned, darkened, and enlarged the image that I was able to figure it out. Unfortunately, there's no indication of a date or location.

"Risbon Roller Rink, Cypher Beach, Hopewell, Pa., R.R No. 2. Good only on date sold. Admit one, est. price .29, fed. tax. .06. 35 cents. 018948. 018949."