In the early 1980s, the southeast coast of Florida drew teenagers by the thousands every summer. Photographer Steven Martin documented these gatherings with his Pentax K1000, producing a rare visual record of the era’s coastal youth culture.
Fashion was impossible to miss. Girls wore high-cut swimsuits and oversized t-shirts with sleeves rolled up. Hair was teased for volume and locked in place with heavy hairspray — even the humid ocean air couldn’t touch it.
Boys wore short, patterned trunks and terrycloth headbands. Aviator sunglasses and colorful plastic frames were standard gear for both. Pastel shades — mint green, soft pink, pale blue — dominated the boardwalks and sandy shores.
Groups arrived loaded with portable cassette players, filling the beach with the top radio hits of the day. Neon-colored towels were staked out across the sand as teenagers settled in for long tanning sessions.
Fishing piers and snack shacks were the social hubs. Teens gathered there for cold sodas and bags of salty fries, moving constantly between the water, the shore, and each other.
Frisbee flew through the shallow surf. Hacky sack was practiced on the firmer sand near the dunes. The energy was loud and unbroken from morning until the sun started dropping.
By late afternoon, the crowd drifted to the parking lots. Large American cars and compact hatchbacks sat in long rows, serving as impromptu hangout spots before the group moved on to local pizza parlors or arcades.
That shift from beach to evening hangout was a daily ritual. It wasn’t spontaneous — it was a fixed routine that defined summer for Florida’s coastal teens during this period.
