Sarasota History

Flashback: Friends at the Bradenton Beach Bathhouse, 1922

While bathing suit styles might have changed dramatically over the past century, our love of the beach hasn’t.

By Megan McDonald June 5, 2026 Published in the June 2026 issue of Sarasota Magazine

Friends at the Bradenton Beach Bathhouse in 1922.

While bathing suit styles might have changed dramatically over the past century—can you imagine swimming in outfits like these today?—our love of the beach hasn’t. Pictured here is a group of young people enjoying the surf, sun and sand in front of the new Bradenton Beach Bathhouse, a two-story building built in 1922 with 100 lockers for sunbathers to change into their bathing suits, a dance hall and dining room, and luxury apartments on the second floor. 

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