“Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn't resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union”. – Yahoo News. Photo: Hungary, MAV 424 Steam Train. (Photo by Rebecca Bathory)

With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

Takahiro Shito, 47, and his wife Sayomi Shito, 46, pray with their children Tomoka, 14, and Kenya 16, and their great uncle Akinori Takahashi, 76, as they pay respects to their daughter Chisato,12, buried in a nearby cemetery, victim of the Okowa Elementary School tragedy, who was killed during last year's tsunami on March 11, 2012 near Ishinomaki, Japan. Teachers at the school weren't trained for tsunami evacuation and didn't to lead the children up the snow covered mountain behind the school after the tsunami warning was sounded. Out of 108 students at the school, 74 died and four remain missing; 10 of the school's 13 teachers were also killed. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

These girls are scantily dressed as they head out for a night out in Portsmouth, Hampshire on September 21, 2016 in matching outfits. Thousands of Portsmouth University students enjoy freshers week. Teenagers enjoy their first taste of freedom in bars and clubs near Portsmouth Guildhall which on a midweek alcohol fuelled night of fun in the early hours of Wednesday morning much to the despair of local residents who get disturbed up to 4am when they eventually wander home. Girls dressed in “Dirty Disco” outfits with “Don't tell daddy” on their bums. (Photo by Paul Jacobs/PictureExclusive.com)

Members of the contemporary circus company Cirk La Putyka perform in front of sculpture of Franz Kafka's head to entertain local residents in Prague, Czech Republic, 21 April 2020. The aim of the Cirk La Putyka events in the streets of Czech capital is to get live art back to people during the lockdown. According to them, when people can't go to the artists, to the theater, the actors go to the people. The Czech government has imposed a lockdown in an attempt to slow down the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Nasar, an Arabian horse, stands in the office of doctor Stephanie Arndt at her home on February 19, 2014 in Holt, Germany. Fearing for the horse's safety, Mrs. Arndt brought the horse into her house during the Xaver heavy storm back in December, and the horse now wanders through the house daily, inspecting details and looking for snacks. Mrs. Arndt says she doesn't mind, and though the horse never spends the night, it does occasionally take a nap in the house. (Photo by Patrick Lux/Getty Images)

In this Tuesday, July 29, 2014, photo, Syrian refugee Samah, 5, poses for a picture at Zaatari refugee camp, near the Syrian border, in Mafraq, Jordan. More than 2.8 million Syrian children inside and outside the country – nearly half the school-aged population – cannot get an education because of the devastation from the civil war, according to the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF. That number is likely higher, as UNICEF can't count the children whose parents didn't register with the United Nations refugee agency. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

In this June 8, 2015 photo, Omkarnath, who goes by the name “Medicine Baba”, pays his reverence at a neighborhood temple as he begins his day in New Delhi, India. The chatty, 79-year-old retired blood-bank technician has been collecting unused prescription drugs from the affluent for the past eight years, and distributing whatever hasn't expired to patients who need medicines they cannot afford. (Photo by Saurabh Das/AP Photo)