These vintage black-and-white photographs were taken by Dr. Kenneth Tydings, a podiatrist in Long Beach, NY whose avocation was photography. Dr. Tydings authored approximately 75 instructional and photography books and filled those books with photographs of his family and his city. These images capture life in Long Beach, a boardwalk town, from the late 1940’s through the 1970’s.
My fictional collection of linked stories, Boardwalk Stories, covers the same decades. Each one of the fourteen stories–Digging to China, Eavesdropping, Watching for the Enemy, Skeeball, Playworld, The Prize, Dog Tags, Miss Lydia’s Dance Studio, The Wrong Side of Town, Jolly Trixie Keeps from Getting Blue, Orphan’s Day, The Answer Girl, Working the Switchboard, and Splinters–evokes life on and by the boardwalk–often in the shadow of the Cold War. Each story is paired with one of Dr. Tyding’s boardwalk photographs. Watching for the Enemy is paired with his photo of a World War II lookout tower for German submarines. The Answer Girl is paired with a fortune teller game. Skeeball is paired with a photo inside an arcade.
The final result is Boardwalk Stories, a collection that captures a boardwalk community in words and images.