The first pier at Old Orchard Beach was built in 1898, but was destroyed by fire in 1907. A new pier was quickly built, which was destroyed by a spring storm in 1909. Undaunted, as Yankees tend to be (especially when there's good tourist money to be had), the town put up a new pier, which was on the circuit of the great Jazz Age bands through the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1978, a storm destroyed the pier again, but a new (though somewhat truncated) pier was finished in 1980. It's not quite as glorious as the original, which extended 1,770 feet into the Atlantic, or as classy as the one in the '20s that featured a revolving crystal ball over the dance floor where Duke Ellington's band held court on summer evenings. But it's the pier, and that's enough for summer magic.

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