Two elderly men smoking pipes of opium on a terrace in Korea. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images). August 1950

American singer-songwriter Madonna nearly bares it all while partying after the Fashion Awards with English singer Dua Lipa and photographer Mert Alas on November 29, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Instagram)

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.

Samurai commiting seppuku (hara-kiri) in Japan, circa 1880. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

A spotless GWR (Great Western Railway) locomotive, the “Royal Sovereign” waiting to carry Queen Victoria's coffin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 28th January 1901

A baby bush-baby in a set of scales at London Zoo shortly after birth. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 10th August 1938

A visitor looks at a Soviet-made «Zaporozhets» retro car, which was converted into an aquarium at a small and medium business exhibition in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 5, 2018. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

A British policewoman chasing after a group of naked street boys by the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London. (Photo by Reg Speller/Getty Images). 1926