Praia du Forte, Bahia. “This was the lead picture for a National Geographic story on Bahia, because it was both mysterious as well as a “geography” picture showing where the slaves arrived from Nigeria. Beach pictures seem like they should be easy to take, but for me they are actually quite difficult. Too easy to fall into cliche. When I saw the kid coming on the horse, I quickly ran to see if I could make something with a woman in a bikini that was not a bikini shot”. (Photo by David Alan Harvey/The Guardian)

Ana Paula Santos sunbathes in a bikini top fashioned from electrical tape at the Sabrina Bronze rooftop salon which offers crisp tan lines in the Turano favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, January 27, 2022. Santos said she uses the rooftop partially because she prefers its privacy compared to the public beach. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

Athletes compete in a log carrying relay race event at Peruibe beach during the Indigenous Games, near the Tapirema community of Peruibe, Brazil, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Hundreds of Indigenous athletes gather this weekend in the south of Sao Paulo state to hold their version of the Olympic Games. They will compete for medals in archery, tug of war, athletics, Indigenous wrestling and other sports. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

Vervet monkeys Higgins, left, and Andor fight playfully atop a car in the Park 'N Fly parking lot which lies adjacent to the swampy mangrove preserve where the monkey colony lives, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Dania Beach, Fla. For 70 years, a group of non-native monkeys has made their home next to a South Florida airport runway, delighting visitors and becoming local celebrities. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

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.

The sun sets over the sea looking towards Lands End viewed from Gwenver beach near Sennen Cove on February 7, 2011 in Cornwall, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Brazilians celebrate at the annual New Year's Eve beach party on December 31, 2011 for the Copacabana Reveillon in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Konrad Fiedler/Getty Images)

Sean Phillips flies through the air as he demonstrates the JetLev water propelled jet pack that is strapped to his back at the Yacht & Brokerage Show on February 17, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)