Antique 1923 Glass Plate Negative L Street Beach Bathing Beauties Boston OOAK

Original circa 1923 camera-original glass plate negative capturing a spirited lineup of nine young women ("Bathing Beauties") posing playfully in a chorus line on the sand at historic L Street Beach in South Boston, Massachusetts.

This plate directly accompanied the companion seated/standing group portrait, featuring the same troupe of young women in their distinctive 1920s beach attire that is also available separately in this store:

  • Playful Chorus Pose: Posed in an overlapping serpentine/conga line with hands linked on hips and shoulders, showing relaxed, smiling expressions.

  • Period Swimwear & Styling: Dark wool one-piece bathing suits, belted swim tunics, striped hem trims, checked square-cut collars, silk turbans, tight swim caps, knee-high bathing stockings, and canvas lace-up shoes.

  • L Street Beach Architecture: Positioned right in front of the historic wooden seaside changing pavilions and privacy partitions at L Street, featuring repeated gabled rooflines, louvered ventilation cupolas/dormers, and horizontal timber framing that stood before the modern 1931 reconstruction.

Please Note: This listing is for the original antique glass plate negative only (along with the original vintage envelope shown). Any positive photographic images shown in this listing are modern inverted digital scans provided solely as a visual representation to show what a finished print would look like. No physical paper photograph, modern print, or paper image of any kind is included with this purchase.

Included Paper Artifact:

  • Housed in its original vintage studio sleeve hand-inscribed in pencil: "Bathing Girls" along the top and "Bathing Beauties" along the outer margin.

Condition & Preservation: Glass plate is structurally sound with intact corners and no cracks. The emulsion is exceptionally crisp, sharp, and clean with rich midtones and deep contrast, showing only minimal, expected handling wear confined strictly to the outer perimeter margins.


The glass plate negative measures 4 x 5In. 

If you collect glass negatives, please check out our collection in our Ebay store. We are currently listing thousands of original glass photo negatives from this DJD collection through the remainder of the year. Follow our store, and feel free to reach out about any questions about the negatives in this collection.

Ships with extreme care in archival materials to ensure safe transit. Feel free to reach out with any requests or questions).

Combined shipping is available (with other glass negatives)