Beach scene at Siesta Beach Pavilion, Siesta Key, Florida, circa 1950

About this postcard

Bathers and sunbathers in mid-century swimsuits relax on the broad white sand in front of the Siesta Beach Pavilion, a low open-air structure with palms and a covered walkway, under a pink-and-blue evening sky. Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota on Florida's Gulf coast, became a popular resort destination in the 1920s and is known for its unusually fine, quartz-white sand. The pavilion shown here served beachgoers in the decades after World War II, when such linen-textured view cards were at the height of their popularity.