A blustery day on the boardwalk in 1923, Atlantic City, New Jersey

 

Time-travel with me, and let's go to the Atlantic City boardwalk on a blustery day in 1923. This photo is from the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions), and their interest is in historical advertising. My interest is how these photos make me feel. And I feel cold!

I've never been to Atlantic City, and in fact I've never seen the Atlantic Ocean, but I spent enough time near the Pacific to know how it feels when the tide is high and the chill is coming in from the sea. No one in their right mind wants to be there, which is why my best guess is that these people are tourists.

I know that sounds a bit snooty, but really, who would want to be down by the shore unless they were on vacation? If you lived there, you'd wait for some nicer weather. I mean, look at where the tide is, all of the way up on what's usually the beach! Brrrrrrr! If that were me standing there I'd have a nice warm scarf wrapped around my face, and probably be jumping back and forth to keep the circulation in my feet!

But you can't always have warm weather, and we're here, so let's look around. Looks like most of the people are in those little riding carts. Expensive, but smart!


Well, almost everybody. Not "showing off her nice fur coat lady" there! Well, it is a nice fur coat, and I'm sure it was comfortable for her on such a blustery day.


Wow, it's chilly out here, I'm going in. You can stay out here if you want to. I wonder if I can find a place that serves hot chocolate?

Images from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.

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