Photochromes are vibrant and nuanced prints hand-coloured from black-and-white negatives. Created using a process pioneered in the 1880s, these images offer a fascinating insight into the world when colour photography was still in its infancy. A Tour of the World in Photochromes is at the Swiss Camera Museum, Vevey, until 21 August. Here: Street food in the Strada del Porto in Naples, Italy, 1899. (Photo by Swiss Camera Museum/The Guardian)

The Lady Boys of Bangkok have fun at the Meadows August 1, 2006 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Dawlish Carnival 50th anniversary pram race featuring the famous Dawlish Black Swan in England on August 15, 2023. (Photo by nidpor/StockimoNews/Alamy Live News)

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

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

Runners high-five children cheering from the sidewalk as they begin the half marathon during the Ottawa Race Weekend, which returned from a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Canada on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Canadian Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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 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