The Olympics are continually evolving, but all throughout the years the Games have a simple appeal: The best athletes in the world gather and compete to see who is the fastest, the strongest, and the most acrobatic. On top of it you have pageantry: the opening and closing ceremonies can be as compelling as the games themselves.

In 1964 LIFE staff photographer Art Rickerby went to Tokyo to capture the 1964 Summer games in all their glory.

The Tokyo Olympics made history because it was the first the time the event was staged in Asia. That was also the first time the Olympics were broadcast via satellite—before that, improbable as it sounds, video tapes had to be flown across oceans before the competition could be seen by overseas viewers.

From the perspective of LIFE managing editor George P. Hunt, who covered many Olympics, the Tokyo event also stood out for the control exerted by Japanese officials. “The Games were precise, stiff and formal,” Hunter wrote, looking back in 1968. “The Japanese have a penchant for over-organization. The government even put a lid on the hot spots in Ginza.”

That management style which seemed novel to Hunter has become the standard, no matter where the Olympics are held. Host cities spend many billions to stage the games, and media companies invest heavily to broadcast them. They prepare with the same intensity as the athletes, and they do what they can to make sure all goes as hoped.

And the 1964 event, as always, made for not just plenty of athletic drama but some pretty pictures as well.

Opening ceremony at the track and field stadium of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

West and East Germans march together at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese athletes marched in at the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

Japanese trumpeters at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese track athlete Yoshinori Sakai lit the torch at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Olympic torch at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The opening ceremonies of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sunrise at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, home of the swimming and diving events of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1964 Summer Olympic flags, Tokyo, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Opening ceremony at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A snack vendor at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Al Oerter of the U.S. team won a gold medal in discus at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US swimmer Don Schollander (second from left) competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander celebrated at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA swimmer Cathy Ferguson cried after winning gold in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics. (L) Christine Caron of France won silver, (R) American Ginny Duenkel won bronze.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The USA women’s swim team signed a kick board after winning gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. L-R: Cynthia Goyette, Kathy Ellis ,Cathy Ferguson, Sharon Stouder.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US sprinter Edith McGuire at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA diver Larry Andreasen at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US athlete Hayes Jones in Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics, Japan

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soviet heavy-weightlifter Yuri Vlasov at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Medal ceremony at Lake Sagami for the Women’s 550-meter kayak pairs event. West Germans Roswitha Esser and Annemarie Zimmermann won gold. Second place went to 15-year-old Francine Fox and 35-year-old Gloriane Perrier of the US. In third place were Hilde Lauer and Cornelia Sideri of Romania.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ginny Duenkel (C), Marilyn Ramenofsky (R), and Terri Stickles (L) on the victory stand following the 400 meter race at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Majesty in Tokyo: The 1964 Olympics appeared first on LIFE.

But in 1952, as a resort destination on the rise, Myrtle Beach was looking for attention-getting ways to open up its beach season. Before that year the town had kicked off festivities with a beauty pageant. Then in ’52 Myrtle Beach decided to stage “Bathing Suit Day,” and the rules were simple: Wear a bathing suit, or go to jail.

Although the word “jail” is being used loosely—no one was actually doing hard time, as the photos from LIFE staff photographer Robert W. Kelley attest. And while the town had officially moved on from a beauty pageant, the event still managed to include a batallion of young women in swimsuits.

Here’s how LIFE described the workings of Bathing Suit Day in its June 23, 1952 issue:

“Everyone in town and every visitor would have to wear beach attire from 6 a.m. until noon under pain of fine or imprisonment in an impromptu stockade. Three businessmen served as judges, 32 town ladies acted as attire inspectors, and convict suits were borrowed from the superintendent of county prisoners—who himself was thrown in jail and made to wear one when he came to Myrtle Beach in ordinary garb to see whether the suits have arrived.”

The day went well, and the weekend also included a parade and contests on the beach. LIFE reported that $650 in fines were levied to those not in swimwear, with the proceeds going toward the construction of a new hospital, and that the 1952 vacation season at Myrtle Beach “had opened with the biggest attendance ever.”

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day’ in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Patrolman Charles Edmonson on duty during ‘bathing suit day’ at Myrtle Beach, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A violator of the “must wear a swimsuit” rules and a law-abiding dog left the impromptu jail set up during Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

One of the enforcement offices for Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men buried women in sand for a contest held on Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing suit day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing suit day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post When It Was “Swimsuit or Jail” at Myrtle Beach appeared first on LIFE.

That revolution didn’t happen, but still, Italy—birthplace of the Renaissance—had seen better days.

For its 1947 story LIFE sent staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on a tour of the country, and many of his pictures documented scenes of distress, with Italians doing their best to carry on amid bombed out buildings.

But even its those hard times Italy still looked beautiful, and Eisenstaedt even captured livelier scenes, most of which did not make it into the magazine. Eisenstadt photographed a packed La Scala opera house in Milan, American sailors enjoying the Piazza San Marco in Venice, and people at work in pasta factories and Tuscan wineries.

And LIFE’s generally dire account of the Italy did acknowledge that, amid the political unrest and troubling poverty, there were still tourists visiting and good times to be had:

“….with her surging vitality, Italy is showing signs of recovery. In her delightful restaurants the tourist can choose from among countless delicacies, though most Italians still do not get enough to eat. In her factories the production lines are running again….Even among venerable remains of past glory, transformed into modern rubble by the war, scholars are working to change the ruins back to their original state. Slowly, painfully, Italy is trying to rebuild herself.”

Eisenstaedt ranged widely during his tour of Italy, capturing images in Rome, Venice, Siena, Naples, Milan and more, venturing from tony resorts to struggling regions where the difficulties are plain to see. One of the shots that captures the mix well shows children playing amid the ruins of the Theatre of Marcellus, broken and magnificent all at once.

LIFE’s plaintive final note to its story was: “For sensitive people with an abiding lust for life, the Italians’ tragedy today is that they have never learned to govern themselves.”

Young men working in a pasta factory carried rods of pasta to drying rooms, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young men carrying rods of pasta for drying, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Man hanging pasta noodles, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

An Italian boy stood on top of a US Army tank left on the edge of the beach at Salerno, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The La Scala Opera House in Milan was at capacity for a performance conducted by Antonio Pedrotti, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A cellarman at Giannino’s handed a bottle of wine to a waiter; the cellar had about 1,500 different wines and liqueurs. Chianti flasks were in the foreground, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Chianti flasks in storeroom of the Baron Ricasoli vineyards in Siena, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men fishing near the bridge in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The archway was all that remained in 1947 of a block of buildings near the main plaza of an Italian city that was heavily bombed during World War II.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children played among the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. In background, the Palazzo Sermoneta, built atop the centuries-old ruins of Caesar’s Theater of Marcellus in Rome. 1947..

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Naples, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Workers in an olive grove south of Monopoli took a siesta after lunch under a favorite tree, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shoeshine boys in slum neighborhood near the waterfront in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman carried a tray of dough on her head through street of hilltop town in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two American sailors in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Beside damaged statues of the Monte Cassino Abbey, a lay brother made sketches that were to aid in the restoration process, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women worked at a fabric factory in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Newsstand, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers buying bread in the streets in Naples, Italy, in 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women sewed outside their Trulli homes. Trulli are made from limestone boulders and feature conical or domed roofs. Roofs of Trulli are painted with signs to ward off evil. Italy, 1947.

.Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two women passed by a wayside shrine near Castellamare, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Laundry hanging in main square of Burano, Venice, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a woman standing near a ruins, Italy, 1947

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People relaxed at a swimming pool in a resort in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman in heeled sandals, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Eisenstaedt in Postwar Italy (and Yes, That’s Pasta) appeared first on LIFE.

That context is important to remember when looking at this photo essay by NIna Leen about aspiring actress Barbara Laage, which appeared in the June 3, 1946 issue of the magazine. This 25-year-old may look like she is living the life of a young bohemian, but she was also one of many attempting to get herself back on track after the war. Laage had fled Paris during the German occupation, and now she was back home and looking to thrive rather than just survive. Or as LIFE put it:

Basically the story of Barbara Laage…is the universal story of an ambitious young career girl. But in this particular case, however, it takes on the complexion of a social document, showing how postwar Paris is living by its wits and keeping up its spirits.

Laage was promising enough of a prospect that when Leen followed her around, the world was already opening up for her. Stylists and clothing designers were giving free services to the up-and-coming stage actress. And this story would not be the last time Laage was photographed for LIFE. Nina Leen also used Laage as a model for a story on swimsuit fashions, and photographed her again when Laage came to the United States to further her acting career. Pictures from those shoots are included in this collection.

It was just the beginning for Laage, who collected 45 film and television credits in the United States and Europe, even sharing the screen with Paul Newman in her supporting role in the 1961 film Paris Blues, an American movie that was a love letter to her old hometown.

Young actress Barbara Laage exercised at a rooftop gymnasium in Paris, 1946.

Nina Leen/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage enjoyed ice cream in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage in her Paris apartment, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage in her Paris apartment, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Paris apartment of Barbara Laage was crammed with books, mostly having to do with the theater, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Barbara Laage received instruction from a more veteran actor, Maurice Escande, backstage at a Paris theater, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage rode her bicycle to work in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage arrived at the theater where she was appearing in a play, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Barbara Laage sang in a show called “Quatre Rues,” Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage counted out her relatively meager pay after a performance, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage tried on a dress lent to her by the dressmaker Rochas, while her boyfriend held a mirror for her, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage received free hairdos in exchange for letting the salon use her image for publicity purposes, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage with dramatist Leopold Marchand, who was writing a play for her, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage at a dinner to which friends are treating her, Paris, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage perused a write-up about her at a Paris newsstand, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage wearing makeshift two-piece bathing suit she cut from one yard of cloth, wading in surf, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage in New York City, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage in New York City, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post A Young Actress Restarts Her Life in Postwar Paris appeared first on LIFE.

Alfred Eisenstaedt expertly captured the change that was coming to this Eden. Many of his pictures are striking on their own, from the images of a man at work in a teeming Seattle lumber yard, to dam construction, to the fishermen along the majestic Columbia River, to the characters of rural life. But taken together, Eisenstaedt illustrated what it looks like when civilization comes to the prairie. Consider his image of barefoot boys riding a tricycle alongside a highway that is only going to get busier.

LIFE wrote that these photos of Eisenstein were documenting not just a pivotal moment for the Northwest, but for the Amerca as a whole. The piece ended with this somber message to readers about a country making a fundamental transition:

The old American frontier, where a strong man with an axe and plow could take up free land and make his way regardless of his neighbors, is gone. In the industrial civilization of today and tomorrow, no region, no city, no business, no individual in America will ever be able to prosper alone and independent of the rest. The new frontier is one on which, working together for the common good, American will use their great technical and creative resources to produce the full abundance of which the American land is capable, an abundance which will make the long American Dream of dignity and freedom and equal opportunity for every citizen at last come true.

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A post office in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Exterior view of a post office in the US Northwest region, 1939.

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children playing on seesaws in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sheep ranch in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man at work at the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Blue Lake, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A skier at a resort in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Eisenstadt’s Images of Change in the Pacific Northwest appeared first on LIFE.

LIFE photographers ventured to this picturesque city many times for many reasons—popping in on Peggy Guggenheim, for example—but this story is built off two shoots by Dmitri Kessel. Both were done in the 1950s, and they are very different. Kessel shot Venice in 1959 during the peak of summer with a focus on the American tourists who thronged there, and the other shoot was done in 1952, in winter, when the streets were largely empty and also flooded in areas, as tends to happen that time of year.

The moods could not be more different. During the summer a navy of gondoliers rule the waterways and visitors fill Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, while in the winter those boats are all tied up. The two constants are the stunning architecture and the pigeons. Even in the winter, a local woman finds the time to give the birds a little attention.

The real message of this shoots is that Venice is beautiful in every circumstance.

American tourists sightseeing in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in a gondola in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tourists in a gondolas, Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Americans in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists gathering in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in a gondola, Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondolas on a foggy Grand Canal in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Doge’s Palace on a rainy day in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pedestrians threading their way along makeshift wooden sidewalk across a flooded Piazza San Marco during its usual winter condition, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A flooded Venice, Italy in the winter of 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondola on Grand Canal in front of Piazza San Marco during off-season in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondolas in canal that runs between ancient buildings of Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The flooded Piazza San Marco during off-season in Venice, Italy, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Venice, Italy during off-season, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A local woman fed the pigeons in the Piazza San Marco on a rainy day, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pigeons flocking above pedestrians crossing Piazza San Marco on a rainy Venice day, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Vintage Venice, In and Out of Season appeared first on LIFE.