I'm going to ramble here generally about the different  factors or elements which make for difficulty in identifying Seaside, and why it is easily confused with other patterns, or where there are obscurities.  For a more complete discussion of SEASIDE, see separate guide article, even though I do introduce it here.

SEASIDE:

Seaside is very common easy to find dinnerware made by Laurel.  Evidently introduced by 1953.  It is never backstamped with name "Seaside"; instead often something generic like "Laurel Potteries" or "Laurel of California", but without pattern name.  Often is not backstamped at all.  Ephemera (various printed references) are scant, and the reason may be this:  It is likely that Seaside was a  promotional "premium" being exchanged for grocery receipts by at least one grocery chain. (Purity Markets.)  Since they were evidently contracted, not otherwise promoted, they seem to have therefore oft ommited or be much less mentioned in trade publications, etc.  (Seaside is only briefly mentioned in such.)

And further the same shapes and same glazes were repackaged and sold through assorted venues under different names or without names, and within these we find shape and color variants to further confound us.

However, having said all that:  What distinguishes Seaside are the pieces which have a wave form theme, thusly:

The design theme of these coffee carafes is repeated in creamer, sugar (albeit truncated), salt and pepper, and salad bowl.  (If you have a salad bowl we would very much appreciate a good photograph of it, if you would please be so kind.)  (I do not yet own one, but would like to.)

Beyond that, the divided serving  bowl, the gravy, and plain round serving bowls are the same molds or shapes Laurel used in earlier LIVING pattern (and indeed used in other lines as well). 

The molds or shapes for plates and chops, the bowls for cereal and soup, and the bowl portion of the cup (handle is altered), are same shapes as those used in LIVING and found in paler speckled colors, (and incidentally, excluding the bowls, also the same shapes as those used for PARADE, found in not-speckled maroon, grey, lime, and green).  (This reuse or recycleing of shapes is common in Laurel and other companies.)

Lines produced by Laurel generally have minimal array of shapes;  do not expect  a wide assortment of pieces in Seaside.

The colors are the same as for HOLIDAY, although the names of the colors remain unknown to us.  (Remember ephemera is scant.)   I will note that on the few boxes found unopened containing basic place settings of,  and labeled Seaside, the color names are not the same as Holiday....and this is the why of my not using the Holiday color names when referring to Seaside colors, even when the glaze is the same. 

Additional colors glazes, (not found on Holiday),  are found on Seaside, including the black you see in Photo (the only non-speckled Seaside I know of), a white the same as used on LIVING and on Living called White Sand.  Bright Yellow is not too rare.  Red was produced during Christmas Season but seems scarce  (as on this creamer):

(This red glaze was also used on shapes that are not Seaside.)

We have found place setting pieces in other colors, notably pastel and matte speckled shades, includeing the pink and another shade of pale turquoise seen in photo below, but as yet only shakers -note them in photo below- of the distinctive wave-form shapes, so I yet refrain from stating Seaside came in these colors.

If your pieces are in colors other than Holiday glazes, or black, and they are "place setting pieces" i.e. plates, bowls, cups, they may not be Seaside.  They could be another known line, most commonly Living, or...something else.

Ephemera give us names of a handful of pattern names which to date we have not enough information or pieces to identify...or...we have some examples of which we have plenty of pieces/samples, but remain uncertain of which name applies!  Same ephemera may name a pattern, but without information needed to know shapes the name applies to.  Pieces in matte speckles, (pale green, butter yellow-LIFE's Sierra yellow glaze), for example, remain unidentified. (If you have a wave form piece in these glazes please contact me - we have seen but few serving shapes in these glazes.)   (Unidentified pattern names include: Townhouse, Copperdust (There are found Laurel pcs marked Copperstone), [and, according to Pratt, Suburbia], at least these names are mentioned in ephemera such as RedBook records of companies pattern names in production.)

Reiterating:  Glazes were reused on various patterns, not all patterns identified.  Both cups shown below share identical glaze.  Below the cup on left remains of uncertain identity;  the cup on right is Seaside.  This same glaze can be found on Holiday (and was then called Cinnamon Brown - I refer to it as Seal Brown for Seaside).

If your item's glaze colors are very pale gloss and speckled, you may have LIVING aka California Living (not to be confused with California LIFE !!).

You'll want to know that Charles "Ted" Scarpino molded and designed Seaside, and that Seaside was marketed by 1953, and through the fifties.

Let me mention also that many pieces have factory flaws:  Laurel was not the tidiest plant, and "seconds" were distributed.  Wares made by Laurel prior to 1956 were not very durable; they chip easily.  glaze chips, "fleabites"or "jigger bites" - small glaze chips, usually on rims, are easily disguised by speckled glazes and many an eBay seller has overlooked them and sold chipped ware as without flaw - so you might want to be extra careful in looking for those before selling, or buying.

A few other companies made pieces with similar glazes.  Denwar, Redwing, Santa Anita, many others have glazes which can confuse the less experienced or novice.  Speckled glazes were popular with many manufacturers in the fifties.

IF I could cut and paste WORK documents this artical would be more replete with additional information.  So this is concise or at least abbreviated, with special consideration to those of you not so familiar with Laurel.  More information can be found in M. Pratt's book Mid-Century Modern Dinnerware. (Note his information is very good, but has a few minor mistakes.)