Call it the other South Beach—not the one in Miami notorious for its topless bathers but the less posh South Beach on the eastern shore of Staten Island, featuring bathers sporting wool suits in this 1920-ish (?) postcard.
Back then, it was a jam-packed resort with hotels, an amusement park, beer gardens, bathing pavillions, and a general Coney Island-like vibe.
A century later, it’s a quieter place renamed Franklin D. Roosevelt Beach with a much thinner crowd and a view of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (not seen here, as it won’t be completed until 1964).
Tags: beaches of New York City, Coney Island, New York beach, New York City beaches, South Beach Staten Island, Staten Island beach, Turn of the century New York City, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, vintages New York postcards
Ephemeral New York 
April 9, 2012 at 8:01 pm |
I tthink this is somewhat later than turn of the century since the women’s bathing “costumess” are quite a bit more brief than they would have been around 1900.
April 9, 2012 at 8:05 pm |
Thanks, I’ve fixed the text. That’s what happens when you write something at 2 a.m…..