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 mother bear takes a dip in the water to cool off in the warm summer sun but refuses to leave her three youngsters behind – so they climb aboard her back. (Photo by Jon Langeland/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A soldier eats ice cream as she visits a zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 12, 2018. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

The BADGER shot was a 23 kiloton nuclear bomb. Over 2,000 US soldiers were within 3.7 kilometers of the explosion. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini, in effigy, are about to take a mile-high plunge over Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, June 21, 1942, as part of the scrap rubber drive. Private Elias Nour, who arranged the stunt as a farewell party on the eve of his entrance into the army, is on the running board. He guided as the “Axis” plunged to destruction. Spectators had to give a scrap of rubber as the price of admission to the spectacle. (Photo by AP Photo)

American actress Caylee Cowan attends the OK! Magazine NYFW Party at PhD, Dream Downtown Hotel Rooftop on September 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/OK! Magazine/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People take part in the Burning of the Clavie fire festival in Burghead, Moray, UK on Saturday, January 11, 2025. Burghead welcomes in the New Year twice each year, on both January 11th and the more traditional January 1st. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

France's Alize Cornet falls down during her women's singles tennis match against Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina on the fourth day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Glyn Kirk/AFP Photo)