Daytona Beach Pier and Boardwalk

Many of the subjects of John Margolies’ photos from the 1970s and 1980s are still standing along the Boardwalk in Miami Beach. The coquina clock tower, built in 1937 as a WPA Project might be the oddest of the bunch. The 4,500 seat Amphitheater, designed by Alan J. MacDonough, was built almost simultaneously as a way to reclaim a part of the city that had fallen on hard times during the Depression. The seedy aspect of the area remains, however, despite the Bandshell complex and the subsequent construction of high-rise hotels along the beach. The Pier Dance Hall, now Eat at Joe’s Restaurant and the ever-dwindling line of arcades and Boardwalk concessions feels as honky tonk as any block of Main Street back off the water.  It was fascinating to visit in 2021, using Margolies’ photographs as my guide.