Misquamicut Beach

If you're up with the gulls, visit Sam's Snack Bar for a diner-style breakfast out on the deck, which is right on the beach.

The omelet, served with Italian sausage and home fries, should hold you for several hours of either rest or exertion in the sun.

If you arrive later in the day - and ravenously hungry - go for the filling chicken-parmesan grinder.

To cool off, choose your flavor (there are plenty) and order an enormous milkshake.

Havens for cotton candy and sticky taffy, home to Skee-Ball and temporary tattoos.

Here, one can buy a T-shirt that says, "FBI, Female Body Inspector" and wear it in public, unashamed.

Welcome to Misquamicut Beach's honky-tonk beach, and they are endangered.

We're all getting pretty sophisticated referring to the more clean-cut and upscale folks enjoying his hometown.

Slowly, seaside amusement parks and boardwalk beaches that seemed forever preserved as downscale destinations are heading upscale instead.

They're not quite there yet; fried dough is still plentiful.

Still, those running these waterside spots who have looked to shed the honky-tonk label say that within 10 years there will be less trash and more class.

Misquamicut Beach is on its way to having high-end condos and retail shops.

Misquamicut Beach now features trendy novelty shops with expensive trinkets, similar to those on Martha's Vineyard, and a posh art gallery is on the way.

In Westerly, R.I., high-end time-shares and condos now stand next to Atlantic Beach Park, the amusement park at Misquamicut Beach, once the epicenter of bikini contests and nightclubs.

For those who cherish B-list musicians, crowded arcades, and a complete absence of pretentiousness, now is the time to visit Misquamicut Beach in transition, the one that for possibly a limited time only offer a season of guilty some might say tacky pleasures.