Pedestrians fight wind and rain as they cross Hollywood Boulevard during Tropical Storm Hilary, Sunday, August 20, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)

A woman tries to hold an umbrella amidst gusty winds as Cyclone Michaug is expected to make landfall on the eastern Indian coast, at Foreshore Estate Beach, in Chennai, India, 03 December 2023. The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for heavy rains in Chennai as the cyclonic storm, “Cyclone Michaung” is anticipated to make landfall between Andhra Pradesh's Nellore and Machilipatnam on December 05. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

An Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchling releases into the sea at Lhoknga beach, Indonesia's Aceh province on January 16, 2024. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

Groups of dressed-up pals took to the streets of Leeds, United Kingdom for famous Otley run on Saturday, March 2, 2024. (Photo by NB Press LTD)

Lightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. The death toll from the unprecedented assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on its territory rose to 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza, raising the death toll there to 687. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)

The Knights of Middle England equestrian stunt display team perform ahead of the first match on July 13, 2024. The British Beach Polo Championships, or “sand polo”, returns to the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula near Poole, Dorset. Spectators can appreciate the horsemanship, speed and gladiatorial nature of polo at the largest beach polo event in the world. (Photo by Max Willcock/Bournemouth News)

People attend the second day of the Lollapalooza Chile Music festival, in the commune of Cerrillos, Santiago, Chile, 22 March 2025. (Photo by Ailen Diaz/EPA)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)