Step out of your room and right onto the beach (Blast staff photo/John M. Guilfoil)

FALMOUTH — You know all those 1950s surf music videos, where people are on the beach, playing volleyball, surfing, drinking from coolers, and generally being best friends with strangers? Yeah, that’s not supposed to happen in real life. Or, if it did, it was something unique to that era, before people in New England began to hate both strangers and local beaches.

So it was easy to go into a newly remodeled Cape Cod beach hotel with a certain amount of skepticism.

Imagine my surprise. Maybe I’ve been too cynical about our local waterfronts.

The Sea Crest Beach Hotel just underwent a $15 million renovation to smartly bring the resort back in time. From the soft, white sand on the beach, to the indoor and outdoor pools, outdoor dining, poolside bar and quaint, comfortable restaurant, the hotel offers a total package that screams vintage Cape Cod.

This is what a Cape vacation is supposed to be. This isn’t rows of tourist traps, awful gift shops and a endless line of Christmas Tree Shops stores. This is summer — or fall in my case — on a private beach, with employees who know your name and room number and bartenders who know what you’re drinking.

The other people staying at the hotel seemed to be taken away just as much as I was. People said hi as they walked by, and we did the same. Strangers held conversations and clanged glasses together.

Even the history of the hotel screams vintage and cool retro. In 1927, a young Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullivan and James Stewart and other beautiful and famous people created a summer playhouse and tea room on Old Silver Beach, where the hotel stands today. It burned down in a 1936 fire and was rebuild as the Old Silver Beach Club, a Prohibition-era speakeasy. It was destroyed in a hurricane two years later and re-built as The Latin Club, a club managed by Lou Walters, the father of Barbara Walters. There was a hiatus during World War II, but the property re-opened as a summer resort.

In 1963, a group led by Boston Celtics owner, the late Red Auerbach, purchased the resort and converted it into a year-round resort in 1971. It was purchased by a real estate venture last year.

The sun sets over the private beach (Blast Staff photo/John M. Guilfoil)

We began our Cape weekend with a visit to the Bourne Scallop Festival, one of many fall events and home to some of the best fried scallops I have ever tasted. There are also a variety of rides, games and local crafts.

We arrived at the resort mid-afternoon. The best rooms at the resort are the ground-floor rooms on the beach. You literally step out of your room, onto the beach. It is perfect for getting lost with a date, a bottle of wine, and a picnic lunch. We did. Hours passed slowly but surely as we let the late September fog roll offshore and the sun come out for one more hot day.

For the fall and winter, when it gets colder, there are a variety of fireplace rooms available. You can walk on the beach during the day and warm up by the fire at night.

Seated at the outdoor bar, I was really taken away by the facade covering the building and the blue and white awnings. I felt like I was much farther than an hour away from home. There is a real understated elegance to the Sea Crest. It’s not a cheap hotel, but it’s by far not the most expensive stay on the Cape, yet you feel like you should be spending a lot more money.

Dinner at Red’s restaurant was nice. It’s not a five-star restaurant, but the entrees are filling, the ambiance is comfortable and the service is great.

Here’s how I have to close the story: The Sea Crest hosts weddings, and even as a guy I can say it would be awesome to get married here.

The itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bikini is keeping its place in backs of closets and bottoms of drawers this summer season as the 1950s Hollywood glamor becomes the style investment. The full-coverage, high-waisted, "sturdier" bathing suit is a must have as this year’s top beach look. It democratizes beauty, looking chic and flirty on any body type or any woman.

The flattering fifties silhouette encompasses high-waisted bottoms, skirted-briefs or halter neck types, or as one-pieces, which are great to accentuate the length of legs. Body types that are heavy about the waist and thighs should go with simpler styles, rather than giddy frills or lace, while those who are shorter should co with high-leg cut styles.

This season, designs are mad for fifties inspired designs, such as classical polka-dots or gingham prints in reds, blacks or whites. Ruffles, frills and fringes in subtle touches are coquettish and add to the feminine hour-glass form the bathing suits emphasize.

But the style is wide-ranging: from simply cut and demure, to single block bold colors, or delicate prints. The Marilyn Monroe look is catching eyes and starting trends because gone are the days when women felt the need to look sexy in something skimpy. Women today are sexy; and they are savvy, too. They are jet-setting, company-owning, ambitious and fearless. Why attract with skin, when smarts are just as alluring? The figure of the fifties-style bathing suit is a stunning and powerful statement, while the prints, the details, the embellishments (and of course, a smile), add only charm.

The retro look may be a throw-back to your mother or grandmother’s beach bunny days, but this season’s twists and turns on the style have it completely updated for the modern-day Gidget. All she needs is a set of pearls around her neck and a bottle of sunscreen.

Students in fashion design schools around the Boston area are already ahead of everyone else in catching onto this trend. From MassArt, come three graduating seniors: Janet Khuu, Alex Palmisanoa, and Rain Delisle.

Janet Khuu

Janet Khuu describes the fifties-style bathing suits as "cute, fun, form-fitting." She constructed the bathing suit over a series of days, taking inspirations from Lolita. The red and lime-green apple-print dress is a lower-cut leg one-piece, with frills at the bottom, a large bow tied across the front. She was attracted to the close-fitting and full-coverage style because of her own personal philosophy of mixing and matching.

Currently at MassArt, the future for Khuu is unclear, "but I don want to sell my designs and someday own my own boutique," she said. Her muses include anime, Asian and British-punk fashions from designers like Anne Sui, h.Naoto, Vivienee Westwood, and Rei Kawakubo (who she would someday like to work with).

In her own designs, Khuu utilizes a lot of cottons, wools, and lace, again, mixing and matching and just having "fun with it."

Her answer to how she finds the fashion industry? "Busy, but not as bad as people make it to be."

Alex Palmisanoa

Alex Palmisanoa tends to like the more retro-looking. Her favorite models include celebrities like Gwen Stefani or Marilyn Monroe types who have the classic blonde bombshell beauty. So the Hollywood glamour look which is hitting the beaches this summer was a perfect match for this designer’s style.

"The shapes and colors are really cute and just a lot of fun," Palmisanoa described the current trend. "It can be a flattering look for a lot of women, as a lot of us are on the curvy side. I also think that women like to bring a little fantasy into their lives."

The bathing suit is a red and black one-piece with leopard print accents (a print which is popular this season, especially over in Europe). "I thought the colors and the leopard pattern would be great for a more vixen-looking pin up," the designer said.

The bathing suit took two to three weeks of construction. Lining up the color-blocking became a challenge for Palmisanoa because "the smallest mistake could really interfere with its symmetry." The bust area also took the most construction as Palmisanoa tried to place where the bra cups would lie and how to shape the neckline correctly.

In her usual fashion designs, Palmisanoa is attracted to denim and wools because of their versatility, drawing much of her inspiration from fine art and historical costumes. She has interned in several Boston-area costume shops, including the Boston Ballet, CostumeWorks, Inc., Plimoth Plantation, as well as working as an assistant for the production of Voyeurs de Venus at the BCA, TJX, and Elie Tahari in New York.

Rain Delisle

"It’s titled When I was your age…" designer Rain Delisle said, describing her 50s-inspired bathing suit, "Because I want it to feel like a memory from the past by a woman who still lives today, but is made for a modern woman."

The wine and gold lycra suit has a detachable skirt "which makes it feel a little more modern," and is worn with a hand-dyed, vintage lace cover-up.

The piece took a week of construction: from original design to fabric shopping to finished product. It was inspired by fifties nostalgia, but also of the retrospective of women then and where they are now. The pin-up style initially got Delisle interested in fashion when she was younger. "The pin-up woman is fearless and totally comfortable with herself. She expresses herself through fashion," the designer said, "and isn’t that the kind of woman any designer would want to dress?"

The style is coming back, because in Delisle’s opinion, it has a sense of playfulness and humor that has been lacking in the fashion industry lately. The retro-style bathing suit uses a variety of rusching, paneling, and longer lines with lower-cut legs to be universally flattering. It’s an easy adoptable look to fit as a key in any wardrobe.

In her own fashions, Delisle is attracted to voluminous shapes, curved lines, asymmetrical closures, pattern-mixing, and brass hardware. She’s attracted to fabrics like thin wale corduroy and playing with the directions of stripes, plaids and cotton velveteen. Denims and twills make for heavier-weight fabrics, but Delisle also likes to use leather if it is recycled from another garment.

She draws from muses like photographs of bands and women from the sixties and seventies. "Everyone had such a definite sense of personal style then," the designer noted, especially in menswear.

Reconstruction and recycling is also motivates the designer, who likes to take new twists on vintage-inspired ideas. "I like to take something old and irrelevant and change it to make it new and relevant again. I think that’s an important factor in design today."

Fashion and music are huge to Delisle, who loves designers like Postlapsaria, Stormcloud brings Rainbows and I’m Your Present (who do handmade and recycled/upcylced pieces), Walter Van Beirendonk, Christian Joy and musicians from the Gorillaz to Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head to the Velvet Underground.

She had interned with Christian Joy last summer in Brooklyn, making stage costumes for Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. "Seeing Karen performing on stage wearing what you worked on and saw in the process of being designed and handmade was the most indescribable and rewarding experience." The intern is what led her to be interested in independent fashion and one-of-the-kind, handmade clothing. She wants to combine her first two loves: music and fashion, together, dressing musicians and performers.

Sammi Yang

For Lasell College fashion designer, Sammi Yang, the fifties-cut bathing exudes elegance and class. As she mentioned, "delicate details are particularly what attracts when I’m designing." She typically uses chiffon and cotton fabric, fragile laces and beads, and classic, cute buttons.

Yang did not always think she would be a designer, although she always dreamed of doing something in the fashion industry. "I didn’t realize that I like designing and creating fashion until I set foot in Lasell."

Yang is originally from China and may go back when she graduates in four years. "Shanghai is said to be the most fashionable city in China. Most fashion brands are scoped out there."

To create the fifties-styled swimsuit, she created the pattern baised on the Maillot sloper. She spent only two days making the tailored black and white suit with gold button detail "because my schedule is really tight!"

She channeled inspiration from Vera Wang and the classic little black dress, as well as the fifties idea of detachable straps. "I think the fifties pin-up style is very sexy and classic style in my eyes." She envisioned, "the pin-up vintage girl in some caf© in a 1950′s movie," much in tune with icons like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face or Jean-Luc Godard.

In Yang’s opinion, the bathing suit shape accentuates the body to show their curves in a more flattering light. More and more designers chose this style, Yang points out, because it fits the more natural and normal shapely body instead of an idealistically skinny one.

"Fashion is attitude and class," Yang said, "so I think the style will come back."

As we wave goodbye to those April showers and look forward to Summer, many locals will be searching for that perfect beach spot. True, there are many obvious choices for beach getaways-think Cape Cod, the Vineyard…and a few other beaches close enough to Boston.

Beaches such as Singing Beach, Manchester By the Sea (Listen to the sand. No, really. Do it!), Scusset Beach in Sandwich, Coffin’s Beach in Gloucester (We hear there is a pizza place that delivers to the beach. Reason for excitement), and yes, Revere Beach (Some call it a breath of fresh air, others used to less urban beach areas disagree) all get dropped into the list of ‘beach recommendations in the Boston area’ when searching through sites such as Yelp.

Many of us have fond memories of beaches we’ve visited growing up, or beaches we’ve traveled to with friends. But why not mix it up? Whether you’re a New Englander at heart, or staying in the area for school, there are plenty of ocean spots to check out.

On the lookout for some locations that may be off the path, Blast went out in search sunny spots, interesting environments, and local treats. Here are just a few to spark your interest:

Block Island, R.I.

A hop, skip, and jump off of Rhode Island sits Block Island, a tranquil and free spirited area nestled in the Atlantic. A ride on a ferry brings you to this beautiful and quaint island, full of free beaches, bed and breakfasts, lighthouses, and areas to for biking. Formed by glaciers 10,000 years ago, the island features beaches of warm and clear water, wildlife preserves and more. The Nature Conservancy has said to have named this gem “One of the 12 last great places in the Western Hemisphere.” For a place to eat, check out Mohegan Cafe Water‎. Word on the street is good food, good brews, and even vegetarian options!

Fore more information on Block Island check out http://www.blockislandinfo.com/.

Odiorne Point State Park, Rye, N.H.

The Seacoast Science Center (www.seacoastsciencecenter.org) boasts Odiorne Point as one of the most beautiful natural settings along New Hampshire’s 18-mile coastline. It is listed as the largest undeveloped stretch of land along the coast by the New Hampshire State Parks and contains several different types of habitats, old military bunkers, and bike paths. The Seacoast Science Center also holds exhibits, and cross country skiing is even listed by the park for the winter. If you’re a bird watcher get ready! Odiorne point is seen as a bird watching hot spot for the many types of species seen there, but don’t get too preoccupied with those binoculars there…the seagulls have been known to steel lunch from under your nose.

Rockport

About an hour’s drive North of Boston, Rockport offers access to the ocean and events throughout the season. Rockport’s beaches range from quiet to bustling, but beware of limited parking.

If you are in the mood for some music, don’t forget the Rockport Chamber Music Festival for some Wagner, Haydn, or Beethoven. Or if you are into some of the later stuff, the music of John Cage and Charles Ives will be featured June 18. And don’t forget the Rockport Acoustic Music Festival in August!

For some java in a cozy atmosphere, try local coffee shop the Bean and Leaf Caf©, which includes an ocean view and various espresso drinks. Or stop in to Helmut’s Strudel Shop! Both are located in Bearksin Neck of Rockport Harbor. And, because you know you will want some after spending the day at the beach, local ice cream stand (properly named The Ice Cream Store) is also located in this area, and has many happy Yelpers praising the sweet treats available there.

For more information on specific beaches, events, and more, go to Rockport’s website, http://www.rockportusa.com/.

Crane’s beach in Ipswich

Coastal dunes, sun, and the North Shore’s largest pitch pine forest. In addition, this beach is a popular site for a threatened bird-the piping plover-which had been hunted to near extinction in the 19th century. Nature lovers are sure to love Crane’s Beach!

Richard T. Crane purchased the land in 1910 that eventually became the foundation for the Crane Estate. Over generations the family has bought more land for conservation of Crane Beach and Castle Neck.

For sites to see one may visit the Great House on Castle. Miles of trails along the dunes are popular among visitors for walking. Many reviewers claim this beach to have extremely soft sand and warm water as well, and great for families. Picnics are recommended!

Castle Island

Castle Island is great for swimming, fishing and having a picnic. The South Boston beach has attracted visitors for years for these reasons. Connected to the mainland since the 1930s, Castle Island is the former site of a fort built in 1643, making it the oldest fortified military site in British North America.

On top of its historical significance, many enjoy the beach each year for the waves and to relax with loved ones.

Amanda Zayas of Canton, had only good things to say about the sunny spot, and got engaged there over the summer.

"I would have to say that Castle Island is the perfect family destination for summer time in Boston. I have been there many times (even for a family reunion!) and seen children on the swings, teenagers in the water, and families grilling up burgers and hot dogs during the warm afternoons,” Zayas said. “Castle Island is truly an amazing place" she said, adding, "Try and get there early, though, because parking does get a little crazy later on in the afternoon!"

If you’re still unsure of where to park your folding chair for a sit on the sand, more Massachusetts beaches can be found on http://www.visit-massachusetts.com/. If you’re feeling adventurous, visit http://www.visitnewengland.com/ for beaches in the surrounding area—Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and more!

I am a pro at living without water. When I grew up in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, we had a well, so in the winter when we had a bad ice storm and the power went out the water stopped running too. It was loads of fun, and helped me prepare for situations like the boil water advisor now in place for most of Boston.

Trust me I know the "I can’t drink the water and that’s all I can think about doing" feeling. Here are a few wonderful options to make your day healthy and hydrated.

Go to the beach: The sun is shining. The temperature is climbing. And we all know the ocean water is not safe to drink, so why not head over to the beach. Bring a towel, don’t forget the sunscreen, and listen to the waves come crashing in. If you’re heading over there you might as well make a day of it. Pack a meal and don’t forget bottled water.

Spa Day: Nothing says spa more than pots of boiling steaming water. If you have it, throw some lavender in one of the pots and carefully lean over the it while it’s steaming. — You should probably make sure it isn’t boiling when you try to do this — The steaming water will open your pores. Make a sugar scrub by adding granulated sugar to your favorite soap and massaging it into your face. Rinse it off with some cooled boiled water if you especially worried about water quality.

Smores: Camping, roughing it, living like people lived thousands of year ago. Ok so we still have electricity, but everyone knows nothing makes a bad day better quite like smores. If you have a gas stove, you can toast the marshmallows right over the stove using a fork to stick it. Top it with chocolate and graham cracker sandwich. Just be careful. If your stove is electric make a smore casserole by layering a glass pan with graham crackers, Hershey’s milk chocolate, and marshmallows. Make sure the top layer is marshmallows. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, or until everything is gooey. If you like the marshmallows a little more toasty pop it under the broiler for a few minutes. Smores go best with a nice cold glass of milk, so this is definitely a no-water-needed kind of treat.

Make Iced Tea: Boiling pots of water give me such an iced tea craving. After you’ve boiled the water for 2 minutes — just to be safe — throw in a few tea bags. Get creative.  Jasmine and black tea make a very tasty iced tea. Allow the pot to cool. Taste it. If it seems a little strong add some water you boiled to dilute it.  Refrigerate and the next time you get the urge to drink something pour yourself a glass.

Try Something New: We all know soda is terrible for us and most juice is filled with sugar, but you can’t drink the water unless you boil it so I think that’s a more than reasonable excuse to try some new beverages. Trader Joe’s is now selling a Trader Joe’s brand of soda made with cane sugar. It comes in a few different flavors, and would be terribly refreshing on a nice hot day like today.

And finally as my mother would say, "This is how people live every day.  Aren’t you grateful for what you have?" Remember as you’re boiling water to be thankful for the stove that conveniently boils water fairly quickly and for the luxury of being able to buy bottled water. Not everyone is so lucky.

Dear EarthTalk: I came home today to yet another set of phonebooks at my front door. I feel they are a great waste of paper, especially in this electronic age. How can I stop getting these books? Better yet: How can we get the phone companies to stop making them? – Bill Jones, via e-mail

Many of us have little or no use for phonebooks anymore. While such directories are helpful for that occasional look-up of a service provider or pizza place, consumers and businesses increasingly rely on the Internet to find goods and services. Directory publishers usually do make their listings available online nowadays, too, but the books are still money-makers for them as prints ads fetch top dollar even though their effectiveness is waning and much harder to track.

According to the nonprofit YellowPagesGoesGreen.org, more than 500 million phone directories-nearly two books for every American-are printed and distributed every year in the U.S., taking with them some 19 million trees. Upwards of 1.6 billion pounds of paper are generated to produce the books from these felled trees, while 7.2 million barrels of oil are churned through in creating them (not including the gasoline used for local deliveries). Producing the directories also uses up 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and generates 268,000 cubic yards of solid waste that ends up in landfills (not including the books themselves, many of which eventually end up in landfills in areas where recycling is not available or convenient).

Unfortunately, there is no centralized way for consumers to opt-out of receiving the big books like the National Do Not Call Registry for telemarketing.‚ Most individual yellow and white page publishers have “no deliver” lists they can add you to, but they will not be held accountable if the books show up anyway. The YellowPagesGoesGreen.org website will find your local/regional directory pages publishers and ask them not to deliver on your behalf. The site warns, though, that there are no guarantees with this either.

For their part, directory publishers insist they have made great strides in recent years to operate in an environmentally responsible manner. The Yellow Pages Association (YPA) and the Association of Directory Publishers (ADP) have collaborated on formal guidelines calling for source reduction in the production of directories, environmentally sensitive manufacturing practices and enhanced recycling programs. About 90 percent of industry members have adopted the guidelines so far. Examples in practice include the use of water soluble inks and recycling-friendly glues, not to mention forsaking the use of virgin trees in their books (many books are made from recycled old phonebooks, mixed with scrap wood; see a previous column that discussed this: www.emagazine.com/view/?3651).

Because of widespread and increasing use of the Internet, many sources of information-from newspapers and magazines to newsletters and, yes, directories-are forsaking print for online placement. So it is really just a matter of time before phone directories follow that lead. In the meantime, asking to be removed from the delivery list of your local directory publisher can only help to hasten that inevitability.

CONTACTS: YellowPagesGoesGreen.org, www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org; Yellow Pages Association (YPA), www.ypassociation.org; Association of Directory Publishers (ADP), www.adp.org.

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve noticed a lot of beach erosion along the eastern U.S. coast. Beaches are virtually non-existent in places. Is this a usual cycle that will self-correct, or are these beaches permanently gone from sea level rise or other environmental causes? – Jan Jesse, Morristown, TN

Unfortunately for beach lovers and owners of high-priced beach-front homes, coastal erosion in any form is usually a one-way trip. Man-made techniques such as beach nourishment-whereby sand is dredged from off-shore sources and deposited along otherwise vanishing beaches-may slow the process, but nothing short of global cooling or some other major geomorphic change will stop it altogether.

According to Stephen Leatherman (“Dr. Beach”) of the National Healthy Beaches Campaign, beach erosion is defined by the actual removal of sand from a beach to deeper water offshore or alongshore into inlets, tidal shoals and bays. Such erosion can result from any number of factors, including the simple inundation of the land by rising sea levels resulting from the melting of the polar ice caps.

Leatherman cites U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that between 80 and 90 percent of the sandy beaches along America’s coastlines have been eroding for decades. In many of these cases, individual beaches may be losing only a few inches per year, but in some cases the problem is much worse. The outer coast of Louisiana, which Leatherman refers to as “the erosion “Ëœhot spot’ of the U.S.,” is losing some 50 feet of beach every year.

Of particular concern is the effect climate change, which not only causes sea levels to rise but also increases the severity and possibly the frequency of harsh storms, has on beach erosion. “While sea level rise sets the conditions for landward displacement of the shore, coastal storms supply the energy to do the “Ëœgeologic work’ by moving the sand off and along the beach,” writes Leatherman on his DrBeach.org website. “Therefore, beaches are greatly influenced by the frequency and magnitude of storms along a particular shoreline.”

Besides collectively lowering our greenhouse gas emissions substantially, there is little that individuals-let alone coastal landowners-can do to stop beach erosion. Building a bulkhead or seawall along one or a few coastal properties may protect homes from damaging storm waves for a few years, but could end up doing more harm than good. “Bulkheads and seawalls may accelerate beach erosion by reflecting wave energy off the facing wall, impacting adjacent property owners as well,” writes Leatherman, adding that such structures along retreating shorelines eventually cause diminished beach width and even loss.

Other larger scale techniques like beach nourishment may have better track records, at least in terms of slowing or delaying beach erosion, but are expensive enough as to warrant massive taxpayer expenditures. In the early 1980s, the city of Miami spent some $65 million adding sand to a 10-mile stretch of fast-eroding shoreline. Not only did the effort stave off erosion, it helped revitalize the tony South Beach neighborhood and rescue hotels, restaurants and shops there that cater to the rich and famous.

CONTACTS: Stephen Leatherman, www.drbeach.org; National Healthy Beaches Campaign, www.ihrc.fiu.edu/nhbc.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

West Bridgewater, Mass.,-based metrostyle has released some of the upcoming bathing suit trends for summer, 2008.

Tankinis, which were so huge last year, are still popular, while geometric shapes and mix-and-match skirt or brief bottoms are looking popular this season.

Halters and swim dresses are popular. Halters get rid of some of your back tan lines, while the dresses offer a more modest approach.

metrostyle has a lot of high-cut bottoms that they’re showing off. I don’t think this trend will hold up. It gives a high tan line that’s above the waist and gives younger women an aged look. It’s not very flattering, but it’s gaining popularity among some women.

Our friends at Ujena are coming out with some sexy halters, especially their belted leopard bikini ($79) and a startlingly sexy ruffled polka dot thong set ($69).

Metallics are also looking to have a big year — shiny silver and gold will dazzle with the beach sun.