Patience paid off for the photographer who waited for hours to catch a crocodile on Java, the largest Indonesian island in March 2023. (Photo by Tanto Yensen/Solent News)

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.

A racegoer arrives for Ladies Day of the Royal Ascot horse racing meeting, at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England, Thursday, June 22, 2023. (Photo by Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

Stray dogs run at dog sanctuary Territorio de Zaguates or “Land of the Strays” in Carrizal de Alajuela, Costa Rica, April 20, 2016. In a lush, sprawling corner of Costa Rica, hundreds of dogs roam freely on a hillside – among the luckiest strays on earth. Fed, groomed and cared for by vets, more than 750 dogs rescued from the streets of Costa Rica inhabit Territorio de Zaguates or “Land of the Strays”, a pooch paradise. (Photo by Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters)

A mahout removes the prosthetic from Motala, age 50, at the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) elephant hospital in the Mae Yao National Reserve August 29, 2011 Lampang,Thailand. Motala lost a foot many years back after stepping on a land mine and now is on her third prosthetic, as they need to be changed according to the weight of the elephant. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Former Miss Croatia, Ivana Knoll poses with a fan prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 semi final match between Argentina and Croatia at Lusail Stadium on December 13, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Neutral athletes Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday compete in the women's duet technical preliminary of artistic swimming at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, July 18, 2025. (Photo by Vincent Thian/AP Photo)

The moment baby elephant gets a helping hand to escape the slippery waterhole was caught on camera in the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in the last decade of August 2025. (Photo by Anne Laing/Caters News Agency)