While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

Actress Sophia Loren teases the hair of critic Gene Shalit in New York, Tuesday, February 20, 1979. During the filming of a segment for the NBC television “Today” show. In the background is a large photograph of Miss Loren. The segment is scheduled for airing later this week. (Photo by Dave Pickoff/AP Photo)

Ana Louzi and Junio Enriuque dance for a video during sunrise from SUMMIT One Vanderbilt on World Photography Day on August 19, 2022 in New York City. Summit One Vanderbilt opened the 1000-foot observation beginning at 5 AM to allow ticketed members of the general public and photo enthusiasts to see sunrise from the elevated altitude. World Photography Day is an “annual, worldwide celebration of the art, craft, science and history of photography” according to their website. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

An employee stands on the step of The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express at Istanbul Station in Istanbul, on August 31, 2022. The Venice Simplon Orient-Express luxury train arrives in Istanbul, completing its annual voyage along a mythical route that takes it across Europe from Paris. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/AFP Photo)

An Oktoberfest visitor swings her dirndl, at the start of Oktoberfest, on Munich's Theresienwiese, in Germany, Saturday, September 20, 2025. (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP Photo)

“Anna May Wong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961) was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American to become an international star. Her long and varied career spanned both silent and sound film, television, stage, and radio”. – Wikipedia

Photo: American-Chinese actress Anna May Wong wearing an Oriental-style costume and headdress. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1935

A Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) veterinarian and security personnel back away from a tranquilised black-Rhino calf August 30, 2017 after she appeared to prematurely overcome the sedative at the Nairobi National Park, during an identification-tagging excercise to ease quick identification of resident rhino during anti-poaching patrols. (Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP Photo)

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)