Story behind the photo: JFK swims in Santa Monica

A Los Angeles Times photo from 1962 of President John F. Kennedy emerging from the surf at Santa Monica Beach has circulated on the web in recent years. Not sure why that is, but it's a cool picture. Now the Times' Framework photo blog digs in to a sidebar angle: the woman seen exchanging grins with Kennedy was named Eva Ban, and she got a lot of attention at the time. Ban lived in West Hollywood and was the wife of architect Alexander Ban. The Times' photographer, Bill Beebe, also explains how he came to get the picture in the first place.

Photo: Bill Beebe / Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive / UCLA