When Trash Becomes Treasure: The Iridescent Beauty of Glass Beaches

A close-up of glass pebbles worn down by ocean waves, originally pieces of bottles and dishes, on Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California. (Photograph by mamajo, via Flickr) Nobody ever really meant to make a glass beach. Like many of the best things in the world, it just happened. Mother Nature took cast-off glass bottles, dishes, and vehicle tail lights, ground them down under the ceaseless motion of the ocean, and cast them back on the land, more beautiful than before.