--- title: Vintage Spring Break: Southern California Beach Vacation, 1947 description: Spring break in the 1940s meant bonfires, beauty pageants and beach-side swing dances. canonical: https://time.com/3730930/spring-break-1947/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-10T12:00:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:29.608Z og:title: This Is What Spring Break Looked Like in 1947 og:description: Spring break in the 1940s meant bonfires, beauty pageants and beach-side swing dances. og:url: https://time.com/3730930/spring-break-1947/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde75d32f013312c3/698781fae53aba66724d7e08/150303-spring-break-1947-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Spring Break 1947 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is What Spring Break Looked Like in 1947 twitter:description: Spring break in the 1940s meant bonfires, beauty pageants and beach-side swing dances. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde75d32f013312c3/698781fae53aba66724d7e08/150303-spring-break-1947-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is What Spring Break Looked Like in 1947 ## Video: The American Teenager in 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): The American Teenager in 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yvcajvQf.m3u8) (3:31)  _Published 2015-01-29. Then and now, it's not easy being teens. Watch what the teenagers of 2015 have to say about their generation, and the ones before._  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 10, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Dancing by day to music of a portable radio, students shuffle through the soft footing. Most of them stayed at Balboa Beach for four or five days. Caption from LIFE. Dancing by day to music of a portable radio, students shuffle through the soft footing. Most of them stayed at Balboa Beach for four or five days.Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 10, 2015 12:00 PM UTC Thanks to MTV and _Girls Gone Wild_, spring break in the late 20th century got a bit of a reputation. Between misplaced bikini tops, wet t-shirt contests and cheap beer flowing steady as the tide, the mid-March madness is often about as wholesome as Cinemax after midnight. But it wasn’t always this way. Back in 1947, when [LIFE accompanied 10,000 young men and women](https://books.google.com/books?id=fUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=california+boys+and+girls+flock+to+the+seashore+to+spend+a+spring+holiday+in+sand+and+sunshine&source=bl&ots=l7kr-JoH95&sig=0TFEs6oR-TrDF%5FVS-tu%5F441iQ-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9sP0VOiJG4K6ggSEkYOwDQ&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=california%20boys%20and%20girls%20flock%20to%20the%20seashore%20to%20spend%20a%20spring%20holiday%20in%20sand%20and%20sunshine&f=false) to Balboa Beach in Southern California for spring break, the shenanigans wouldn’t have scored any higher than a PG rating. Daylight brought beachside dancing, boat races, beauty pageants and sunbathing. The evening hours found students aglow in the warmth of bonfires as portable radios churned out the tunes of the day. (Top hits that year included “[Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikzZ7dgO00Q)” and “[Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHt98%5FlKP0k)”) In the following decades, the chasteness of spring break loosened with changing sexual mores. The 1960 movie _Where the Boys Are_, which followed four college women on a spring vacation to Fort Lauderdale, reflected a range of sexual attitudes in its characters’ hopes for a week on the beach. One was looking for a husband, while others considered the benefits of premarital sex. The film, released during the winter, inspired throngs of students to flock to Florida, and for more than just the sunshine. Simultaneously, it frightened parents into exercising any remaining shred of authority to stand between their daughters and the debauchery depicted in the movie. Some, according to LIFE, shelled out to send their kids anywhere but Fort Lauderdale. “I’m not sure the moral climate is any safer on these Bermuda cruises,” one mother said, “but at least she’ll get in trouble with a higher class of boy.” _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. Dancing by day to music of a portable radio, students shuffle through the soft footing. Most of them stayed at Balboa Beach for four or five days. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Arms and legs cluttered the whole beach when Glendale students spread out on their towels to sunbathe. They used gallons of lotions and suntan oil. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Pretty girls like Helen Koford (above) and Joan Atwater (next slide), both 18, had lots of chances to show off their bathing suits. They put them on before breakfast, wore them all day every day. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Pretty girls like Helen Koford (previous slide) and Joan Atwater (above), both 18, had lots of chances to show off their bathing suits. They put them on before breakfast, wore them all day every day. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Beach clown's ancient suit won first prize in men's novelty contest. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sheepish contestant poses in a suit called "Spirit of Glendale." Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Here two Glendale teams race past a marker buoy in a photo finish. Man in the background is too lazy to race. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spring break in Southern California, 1947. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Dancing by night, two jitterbugs hop to swing music broadcast over public-address system. Even in the cool evenings many wore bathing suits. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Gathering around flaming "G," Glendale students sing a school song. The bonfire was made with pieces of old telephone poles. 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