Often, if you scan an old photo into Photoshop, you can pick up all sorts of details not clear on the original.
Donna, your photos remind me of some of my Grandmother as a toddler, with her same-age cousin and their mothers on the beach in LA in 1915. The mothers are wearing rented “bathing clothes” with a number on the shoulder. Short sleeved tops, skirts and calf- length leggings/stockings. Black. Probably all knit in wool.
On the other hand, they were having fun!
Really, it was going through that suitcase of old photos with my mother in my childhood – one of my favorite things to do – that created my interest in family history in the first place. I especially liked all the stories (and ancient family gossip) she used to tell me about some of the people in the photos. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten a lot of them.
@DonnaL ghost child? Does that literally mean a ghost child or is it a term I’m not familiar with? (Googling didn’t help but I will probably not sleep tonight thanks to not thinking that one through…)
I think the person was just joking, Romani – they thought the unidentified girl in the background of that photo looked like a ghost child in a horror movie. And in my reply, I was just playing along when I said yes, that must be what she was.
@DonnaL. Those photos are quite wonderful! Great hats and happy people. Having visited a Baltic Sea beach once, I would bundle up too! I think such dress was common back then.
@DonnaL ah gotcha 
I thought it might’ve been an issue with older photographs haha.
"Yes, on the west side of the country assume that you know our lives, stores and cultural references. The term flyover country doesn’t come from outer space. "
?? Flyover country has nothing to do with it. I doubt the east coasters knew what you meant, unless they had ties to So Cal!
“We were looking for a place to eat . I asked some officers for a rec and they didn’t know because they worked in the Bronx”
That is what Zagat is for.
Donna- When my mother’s family came in April, 1939, among the possessions they could bring with them were also photos. I’d have no photos of my mother’s and GF’s families if not for their ability to bring them.
Greenwitch, speaking of happy people, my son (who’s studying art history in grad school, with photography his specialty) tells me that those 1905 and 1906 photos are actually quite early in the history of “smiling for the camera,” as well as the history of relatively informal, non-studio, family portraits. And I’ve certainly noticed that prior to the turn of the 20th century, people very rarely smiled in photos. A lot of that, I’m sure, had to do with improvements in photography (so a person didn’t have to hold an expression for more than a second), and in the development of the mass market camera. (Although these particular photos do look like they were taken by a professional photographer – probably a service offered by whatever resort my relatives were staying at.)
I don’t know if all the photos I posted in that Jezebel thread come up on that link for someone not signed in with Disqus, but in case they don’t, here’s one showing that the practice of being fully dressed at the beach in Germany had definitely changed by August 1927 (it shows my mother, age 4, with her parents):
http://pictorial.jezebel.com/by-contrast-to-the-1905-and-1906-photos-i-posted-earlie-1715518144
(Again, it can be enlarged by clicking on the upper left hand corner. And I should probably warn people that my 4-year old mother isn’t wearing a bathing suit.)
Great pictures, DonnaL! Love your comment about hoping not to get arrested!
A few years back one of my first cousins showed up at a family function with bags of pictures she had found cleaning out her mom’s condo after she died. She dumped them all on me. I’ve started going through them but it’s a tough slog. My favorite is a picture of my whole family at my great parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration in July of '34. My mom was about 5 at the time. I had it enlarged and made copies for everyone.
I will have to look again for pictures of family at the beach. I’m sure there ae some as they had a summer house on the shore.
I’m laughing at the Gelson’s discussion – you guys are missing the cultural subtext. Gelsons is a very upscale snooty grocery store chain; Whole Foods is like the poor-man’s mass market version of Gelson’s. It is a very specific cultural reference.
Well, of course we missed the cultural subtext. Something that is specific to one city was referenced under the assumption that everyone would know what it meant, as if cultural references in So Cal were of importance elsewhere.
But hey! I’m going to Oberweis! You can all Google that! Lol.
OK…Il would LOVE to have home delivery! We have the milk box ready for delivery. But as for their fabulous soundinng ice cream…high in butterfat? I’ll call it gelato and enjoy.
“Well, of course we missed the cultural subtext. Something that is specific to one city was referenced under the assumption that everyone would know what it meant, as if cultural references in So Cal were of importance elsewhere.”
Exactly, it’s like if east coasters said Balducci’s - it probably doesn’t mean a thing to anyone who doesn’t live here .The difference is that we wouldn’t assume people would know it.
There are some words/references I had absolutely no idea weren’t national. Heck, even a lot of my Michigan friends who aren’t from SE Michigan have no idea what I’m referencing when I say “doorwall”… something I didn’t learn wasn’t universal until college.
My LA friends also talk about Orange County as though it’s supposed to connote something to me. I gather it’s a rich area. I’m not sure why they would think I would know anything else about it. If I were to say DuPage County (suburban Chicago) I wouldn’t expect them to know what that meant but I’m supposed to magically know what Orange County means. Whatever.
What’s a doorwall?
I wasn’t meaning to suggest that anyone should have gotten the reference; I was just trying to say that the connotation of Gelson’s was more specific than grocery store (and the connotation made bevhills/ellebud’s joke funnier in my mind). Anyway, sorry to derail. Carry on.