A pro-democracy demonstrator fights with a Soviet soldier on top of a tank parked in front of the Russian Federation building on August 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The same day, thousands in Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities answered Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin's call to raise barricades against tanks and troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)

Mercury and Maia, fueled and overhauled, are waiting in the Tay at Dundee, for favorable weather to start the flight to the Cape, a distance of 6,370 miles. The composite machine moored in the Tay River, at Dundee, on September 23, 1938. (Photo by AP Photo)

Oakland Athletics left fielder Tony Kemp (5) catches the ball during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California on August 22, 2022. (Photo by Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports)

Anissa Barbato from New York looks out over the city as she takes pictures from the Edge, the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere on September 2, 2020 as it reopened to the public in New York. Rising 1,131 feet in the air from the heart of Hudson Yards it offers 360-degree views of New York Citys iconic skyline from the 100th floor outdoor viewing. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

In this Thursday, February 14, 2019, photo, a Transformer's Bumblebee mascot helps a woman carries paper bags at a shopping mall in Handan in north China's Hebei province. U.S. and Chinese envoys are holding a second day of trade talks after the top economic adviser to President Donald Trump said he has yet to decide whether to go ahead with a March 2 tariff increase on imports from China. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)

A fisherman brings his catch ashore from the Deduru Oya Reservoir, where giant snakeheads have become an invasive species in Walpaluwa village, Sri Lanka, Thursday, October 30, 2025. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/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.

An animal rights activist, wrapped in packaging labelled “carne humana” (human meat), participates in a protest against meat consumption to promote vegetarianism in central Barcelona, in Spain, May 22, 2016. (Photo by Albert Gea/Reuters)