Utah: a rare place that was not scandalized by early swimwear
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Salt Lake Tribune, June 2, 1905. Image via Utah Digital Newspapers, the University of Utah
In a state now known for modesty hang-ups, the Great Salt Lake's swimming culture in the early 1900s was less pearl-clutching than a lot of coastal cities.
- This is Old News, our weekly strut across the sands of time.
The big picture: Hand-wringing about swimwear was already underway by the late 1800s on the East Coast, where rich New Yorkers developed a beach culture at Newport, Rhode Island.
Yes, but: In Utah, bathing suits were still considered so clunky that even swimsuit ads acknowledged that no one looks good at the beach.
- Even young girls, normally policed, were gently encouraged to get over their shyness to enjoy swimming.
- The Saltair installed dressing rooms under a pier in 1891 to allow swimmers to hop directly into the lake rather than forcing them to "parade along the shore" — not because they were indecent, but because their embarrassment was understandable.
Meanwhile, feeling unabashed in a swimsuit was generally celebrated as harmless youthful fun.
- On the beach, states one 1905 story, "mock modesty that hampers in real life and real modesty that is seldom seen in the company of the mock kind, are discarded. There a woman dons a costume that would shock her into spasms any place else."
- A decade later, another Utah writer noted: "What a dull old world this would be if everyone were modest, discreet and loyal to that conformity which is called good taste."
Catch up quick: Salt Lake had a solid beach scene for a long time, with the Saltair Resort bringing entertainers to town, frequent parties on the shore and local trains departing more than once an hour to the GSL.
Zoom out: On the coasts, modesty concerns escalated through the early 20th century, picking up steam in the late teens and early 20s.
- In 1917, Los Angeles city officials were tasked with policing hemlines at Venice Beach.
- In 1919, officials in Portland, Oregon called off a planned "inspection" of women's swimsuits — including live models! — after critics deemed it a pretext for a mini peep show.
- By 1920 the scandalously short one-piece swimsuit was banned on Coney Island, Atlantic City and the Chesapeake Bay.
The bottom line: A few fuddy-duddies tried to introduce similar rules in Utah in 1920, but legislators killed the proposal, deeming it "a trivial matter."