Most young people could get this information by just connecting with their own grandparents and record if they like. They seem to have time to record everything else, like selfies. Most older people like to talk with their grandchildren or just interested people. They are the living journals and diaries of the past. The history and adventures are written upon their hearts. The future they probably desire is for the younger generation to have the passion to open their minds and hearts to the real and personal experiences of our elders. They are valuable but society over-all has disconnected from the idea of their worth. So sad their stories gone.
Born in Tampa in 1967. I grew up in a house with an attic fan. Mom would turn that thing on and it literally sucked out hot air and blew fresh air into the house. Blew so hard that the curtains would flap with incoming fresh air. I went to school and the same attic fans would cool off class rooms. None of us knew anyone with air conditioning. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, central ac was being installed and my parents were on this bandwagon. I never knew such luxuries existed sleeping in this cool bliss. The house wasn’t damp in the morning from the humidity the attic fan blew in overnight. I didn’t have mosquito bites or heat rash. My hair laid down flat, I didn’t look like a poodle. The kids in the neighborhood would only talk about the glories of air conditioning and Saturday night wrestling matches with Gordon Solie and the bionic man. If you had ac you were popular and kids would beg their parents to stay a night at your house. I’m still in Tampa and I can tell you without air conditioning, I’d just die.
Right??!!I Live South Of Tampa & At Night We Keep Our Air At 68°(We Get Migraines', So Keeping It Cool Is Essential.)My Only Complaint Is Not Having An Above-Ground POOL,To Me It's Like Trying To Live In Alaska Without Heat!!!! PRAYER'SNLUV WWG1WGA 👼👼✝️✝️🙏🙏💝💝🕊️🕊️🌌🌌
Hi Rachelle, I moved to Tampa in 1979 to go to college at USF. USF cost only $15,00 per credit hour back then. The (female only) "Gamma Bldg." dorms room cost $60.00 a month but it INCLUDED air conditioning!!!! That was the first time in my life I had air conditioning in my room. It was glorious! Felt so modern! : )
@@HelenTudor-Douglas I’ll bet it was glorious. School for us back then was hot. I had an elementary teacher who was a larger lady and she was constantly swiping her brow and face with a hankie and I believe the heat made her contrary. She disciplined with a vengeance. By the time I was in high school ac was finally making its way into the classrooms. If you managed to earn that degree with a lighter, cooler and able to concentrate on studies, I’m proud for you! What a difference it made for students. Truly though, I’d still die without it😜
I spent 1968 in Tampa without air conditioning. Tampa bay was still polluted and mom took us to St Pete or Clearwater to swim all the time. I cant imagine doing it now.
No one mentioned iced tea. My mother always kept a gallon pitcher in the refrigerator. Ice was made in metal trays that had to be constantly refilled. Anyone who failed to do his/her part refilling got reprimanded. Tea helped a lot in central Florida in the 50’s.
I’m in Texas and still use ice trays and don’t have central air. I have two window units but they don’t cool much anything when it’s over 100 outside, which it has been for weeks now. I’m very happy to have them though. It’s 85+ in my house during the day
I'm 53 yr old and here in South Texas we have so much humidity it's like a oven. Every summer I keep 2 gallons of water in the fridge so the next day I'll make ice tea or Kool aid 😁 and I keep up with making ice each day, I'd refill 8 trays of water so we'd have plenty of ice, and a spray water bottle to mist myself in front of the fan... But this summer we have a 2 new AC and actually now we get too cold 👍😁❄️.
My Grandpa would put wet burlap sheets in front of a big fan. My job was to keep the burlap damp. It was the best job because I would sit in front of it. On a side note , The beautiful woman wearing green reminds me of my late wife. I miss her so much Thanks for this video
We didn’t have central air until the mid 80’s. I remember trying to sleep during the summer with a small fan and the windows open. It was miserable and we did complain lol.
My grandmother talks about living in Miami without AC and how she didn’t mind it. I’m like…..”bullshit.” Lmao Our home AC went out a couple weeks ago, house got up to 87F and she was definitely complaining. It was MISERABLE. I actually slept well when I took a cold shower and laid on my bed nude with a fan on me….it felt nice tbh. Lol
There is good and bad in every generation. One thing I miss, is debating a point for weeks until someone would break down and go to the library to research or ask a research librarian to help you look up whatever was in dispute: what film was the first "talkie", what was John Wayne's real name, or who invented ice cream. Now the Google settles most disputes in an instant. 😂
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with no air conditioning until I was about 13 (in 1970). Summer temperatures were routinely 100 degrees, with high humidity. So... you stayed up late at night, slept on a cot on the front porch or the back patio if the house was just too hot. We spent a lot of time in swimming pools and playing with the garden hose. The first time I ever experienced air conditioning was at the movie theater for a matinee showing of "Tarzan." We did not have any problem living this way. The hottest part of the afternoon was spent with a book under the shade of a tree, with a cold drink, waiting for the popsicle truck to come by. It was a great life.
People who inhabit areas where hot weather is the norm, live accordingly. This is why siestas are popular in many regions of the world. Its not by accident that in Spain, dinner can be eaten at a very late hour, and people enjoy late night strolls when the air is cooler.
@Karl with a K Your assertion is laughable. I have been a university professor for nearly 40 years. Generally speaking, Southerners are intelligent and educated enough to know that a man cannot become a woman. I have yet to discover anything so stupid or obviously insane that an Ivy League student or professor will not believe it and advocate it.
Here in Florida, many older houses had a “summer kitchen”. My grandparents version was a screened area of their carport, with a oven/stove and work surface. This allowed them to escape the small enclosed kitchen in the house that became brutally hot to work in during Miami summers. Some larger homes also had “sleep porches” - screened porches, often on the 2nd story, where beds were placed during the hot summer. I remember seeing these 2nd story porches in Coral Gables. Wide, roofed wrap-around porches in addition to cross-ventilation and 2nd story windows created a cooling breeze thru the entire house.
My grandma would open the doors and windows when the sun went down and turn on this huge fan that was recessed into the ceiling, with a screen over it. It would suck in the cool air from outside and send it into the attic. You could feel cool breezes through the whole house. It felt amazing and I miss it!
@@McBryce0 Indeed! Enjoy her while she's here. Maybe get your phone out and ask her some questions about how things used to be and record it. I lost my mom two years ago. She was a month shy of 92. The thing I miss the most is having an "old person" who knew the answers to questions about local history and the way things used to be.
I got to talk to my grandpas before they died and they told told me stuff about back then on the adult tip..back then they had the cars with romper seats and I guess on the weekends everybody would go out to the woods, lovers lane or whatever and just fuck like jackrabbits..especially when the men got back from ww2 , why they had the baby boom..hairy bushes and all ( this before genital hair trimming) every body just banging it out in the woods I guess, hanky panky listening to Elvis..No matter how conservative some of these older folks look, just remember, they were rebellious teens once too..smoking reefer cheefer on the weekends and boozin it up pussy galore from the active duty tours..like to hear more about them aspect as opposed to the sugar coated “We just kissed in the car.” Type of PG stuff..stag film partying with the guys smoking cigars in the man cave player poker and drinking
I'm a senior citizen and honestly I don't remember it getting as hot as it does nowadays. We didn't have air conditioning, we had fans in every room. We'd put the fans in the windows at night to bring the cool are inside, then first thing in the morning we'd close the windows, pull down the shades, shut the curtains and keep the fans running. It'd stay fairly cool (at least comfortable) till late afternoon. Even though I have AC, I still do that to save on electricity 😉
@Thonati m Ahh, the good ol days. 😃 The way the world is nowadays, the younger generation will never have an opportunity to experience carefree fun times. It's really sad!
I'm from Australia (where it can get hot) and in my 30s, and still never lived in a house with air conditioning. It's in my car... but it's like a special little treat. Plus, it's easier then to justify drinking lots of cold beer in summer heh
@@Omniverse0 I'm so glad! Grab all the good times, fun times that u can while u can sweetheart🤗. I still make sure that my grandkids have nice "normal" experiences and they're aged 16-25 😃
@@MattExzy LOL about the excuse for beer!!! 😂 I'm in West Virginia and the last few years we've had some really high temps (over 100°F) with added high humidity, it's miserable. Take care!!
Not a senior citizen (yet) but getting there. I don't know if it was that much cooler here in Texas when I was young, or if we've just gotten spoiled with air conditioning - so it just seems hotter now. That, and the heat just didn't bother you as much when you were young. We used to play out in the heat all day when I was little. We would drink from the nearest hose and get our heads wet to stay cool. Sometimes, one of the adults would even turn on a fire hydrant for a few minutes. That would probably get you arrested today.
What no one seems to mention is that these days most people have a lot of electronics in their home and a/c is essential for cooling them AND keeping out the humidity (although that may be a bigger concern where we live in the deep south). I learned this when our a/c went out for a week and even though we were a little sweaty it was bearable - but my digital camera, a phone, and my mother's hearing aids died from the humidity. That was expensive! The desktop computer I use for work also slows to a crawl when it is too warm in the house 😕
@@jameshill8493 learn and get to know the culture before you vote in local politics. where I live people move in and don't look at what the way of life was here and end up voting for stuff like tearing down pine savannas, filling in swamps, approving developments, and not letting mobile homes 11 years old be moved without paying thousands in permits and fees.
Other stuff too. Like medications. I've had pills stick together due to humidity even WITH AC. This summer I'm running both a dehumidifier and an AC simultaneously in my apartment. My electric bill is just ludicrous and I bet there are more efficient setups I could have implemented if I owned the place, but what I have gets the job done.
From what saw in old pictures, people spent time in the basement where it was a lot cooler, sofas, tables t.v. set up, even if the basement wasn't finished. When my Grandfather died in the early 60s, they took the large a.c. unit out of the restaurant he owned and put it in Grandmas house. Visiting Grandmas house in the summer was like walking into a walk in freezer lol. And Grandma always wore a button up sweater inside.
Houses were designed differently back then. Back then, they utilized whatever breeze they could get, so the front entrance was mostly a hallway. You left the door open (because back then, why would you need to close it?) the wind would go through the hallway, and pour into the rooms along it. Each room had at least one window, and there was a backdoor at the end of the hall where the breeze could sweep the hot air back out, but also be used as insurance if the wind direction ever were to change. Modern homes would NEVER be designed like this. We get a lovely southern breeze that knocks 10 degrees off. I know that if they ever build houses behind me, that breeze will be gone.
I came here to point this out. Old buildings used to have higher ceilings, too, to 'trap' hot air, while cooler air circulated below for the reasons you mentioned. Wrap-around porches or large trees also shaded the windows from harsh sunlight.
Long windows all the way down to the floor on all sides of the house helped to draw in a breeze to circulate the air. I can barely get any kind of a breeze in my 1981-built house, I’ve opened the back door, the front door with the storm window up, and bedroom windows early in the day in the spring and early summer and can barely drop the house temp a couple degrees. I remember living on the farm and we had one box fan for the entire house. We had a good size front porch and screened it in so we could sit out there and catch some cooler air in the summer. Had a spring-fed creek and would walk down to it in the afternoons some days and cool off, the spring started on the farm so the air above the creek was nice & cool and the water too. When we moved to town I’d grab a hand towel and soak it and freeze it to wipe myself down to cool off.
That and the shape of building were important too. Many old hotels and apartments had a "U" or "E" shaped footprint, which was designed to catch breezes in the courtyards.
I use to hate going to my grandmother’s house because she lived in Orange Beach and didn’t believe in spending money on air conditioning. I remember large, white box fans being in every room and windows and doors kept open to let the breeze through. The house was partially shaded by a HUGE grapefruit tree out front as well. The first couple of nights were always brutal but your body would acclimate to the heat and by the end of the visit, it was actually comfortable.
@@mysticamethyst1398 My uncles live in VA and they’re the opposite. It’s always 62 degrees in their houses. Personally I love it. My mother is the opposite of them and gets cold so easy she doesn’t run it often. I enjoy the contrast when they get together and argue over what temp the house should be especially bc it affects going to the bathroom haha but I loved going to their houses bc for once I was truly comfortable.
I'm another who doesn't believe in paying for air conditioning; I live in Wisconsin, which gets hot and humid in the summer, and I _refuse_ to pay for air conditioning after paying attrocious winter heating bills. Adjusting to the summer heat is part of it's enjoyment.
My sister-in-law's grandfather, who has since died, told me back in the 1990's how he and others coped with Phoenix summers before air conditioning. He arrived in Phoenix in 1933 and worked on a cotton farm. He said that during the day they would swim in the irrigation ditches. It was very unsanitary as there were sometimes dead horses and mules in there, but it was cooling. At night they would soak their bed sheets and sleep on the porch wrapped in the wet sheets.
I never complain about the weather. Because at the end of the day it's just another part of life, and my life is eternal. I was lucky to be born that way. Others aren't so lucky, and that's why air conditioning has been so instrumental for society
I lived without A/C all through college. Let me tell you, a rain storm is an absolute godsend. Nothing like running out and standing in the rain after weeks of enduring sweltering heat!
Yes we didn’t have ac in college either and we grew up with just one “swamp cooler” in our house. But everyone was in the same boat so nobody knew the difference. You slept with open windows at night with screens to keep out as many of the bugs as possible. My husband said they didn’t have ac of any kind when he grew up in Mexico so he rigged up a box fan to the ceiling.
@@tribequest9 you are not lying LOL. We have Central AC in the house but since my bedroom is on the second story it just doesn't get that cool. It's the reason I bought myself a window unit. It might be 95° outside but I have to bundle up like it's winter.
I have central air but when it rains I love to go out walking in the rain totally Barefoot and getting drenched and I don't care what the neighbors think
In Texas, at my grandmother's house, they didn't have central airconditioning in the 70s and 80s. In summertime, we'd take a bath before bed, and sleep on top of the sheets. A box fan was setup by the open bedroom window to draw in the cooler night air. It was coolish, but somewhat humid. Not the coolest sleep, but doable. Funtime kid activities were playing in the sprinkler in summer, or playing in a kiddie pool for hours. Alot of tanktops and shorts. Luckily there were huge pecan trees that shaded the house. Yes, ice tea or Kool-aid to drink. It was considered a treat to drive to the city pool, which was not close by. All the insects would be buzzing during the hot day, and crickets at night.
yes!!! the sprinklers!! or somebody spraying us with the garden hose! how fun!! yes, my dad would blowup our three ring wading pool with a tire pump, God bless him for that!, and then we would have to wait what seemed like the longest time for it to fill and we just kept refilling it all summer. inthe "Dog Days of Summer", mom and dad also put their swimsuits on and splashed around.
Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, hardly anybody had aircon. I grew up in the outter Sydney suburbs. Dry and hot in summer. The only places with aircon was the roller skating rink and the big enlosed super markets and shopping centres. My grandparents had a farm in the 50s and 60s. Hessian sacks were hung on nails over widows and wet down with cold water to cool any breezes. Blinds and drapes were always drawn in summer. Houses closed up during the day to keep the cool air in. Meals were cold in warmer months. Pedestal fans were used everywhere. In school we were allowed to go home when the temperature reached 40°c and above. We had overhead fans and big windows open. Lights were turned off during the day. We had water fountains (bubblers) we would use throughout the day to wet our faces and drink from. Teachers woud tell you to wet your handkerchief in cold water and tie it around your neck. Also to reduce your temperature, run cold water over our wrists. It works. We were allowed to wear sandals as our summer uniform with no socks. Summer clothing was all cotton. Crisp dresses, play suits. I now live in a house beautifully designed in the early 1950s in a coastal location. Ingenious designand remains in it's original design layout. The angles of the verandahs and the consideration of north easterly positioning and large sliding glass doors and louvred and casement windows catch light and the breezes and cool the open plan living area. In Australia, we bbq outside often and usually have a patio or verandah or courtyard as extended living space. Much older homes can often have screened porches we call 'sleepouts'. My husband grew up in rural country where it really is hot and dry. The irony is that we do have aircon in each bedroom for hot nights to be more comfortable to sleep but we never use it. Only if we have guests visiting. I still make home made frozen ice pops in moulds. Many nutritious options can be blended to be frozen and taste great whilst keeping cool. I don't know what the big deal is about aircon. I drove a 1961 model car for 20 years. It had quarter pane windows called venti panes', I would turn them in certain angles and the cross flow breeze was just as good as ac. We also used to wind all the windows down and call it 360° aircon for a laugh. We don't dress or even eat by the seasons anymore. And eaven forbid we perspire a little! I hate aircon. I can live without it.
I grew up in North Shore Sydney in the 1980s. Hardly anyone had a/c. Pymble Primary School had big fans. We just stayed out of the sun during the day, kept the blinds down, and opened up all the windows in afternoon when the heat dropped. Wearing light cool clothing and having iced drinks. It was just being sensible. And going swimming, or going to Macquarie shopping centre which was air conditioned.
Loved these posts, lived in Perth in the 80s, no A/C. We would soak beach towels in a bath of cold water, wrap ourselves up and lie out in the sleep out, wasn’t screened in, just concrete 😅 Now I’m in Texas and always give thanks for a cool home I never take for granted
Your post was appreciated for its sobriety and common sense. People at one time applied their lives, customs, habits and dressing, according to the weather and the changes in seasons. People coped with the elements in a very oeganic and non mechanized manner.
In Nigeria, Africa they built some houses as one long line where all rooms where single file and on both walls of each room were huge louvred windows which opened all the rooms to breezes. The living/dining room area was flanked by 2 huge open screened in porches so essentially it was all open.
Having grown up in Florida during the 50s-70s, where we didn't have heat or air conditioning, I can attest to all the ways you survive the brutal heat and humidity. Somehow I gravitated to the Ozarks where it is going to be hot and humid with a heat index of 110 today. A straight week of this and no rain in sight. I think I can handle it. I get up early to work the garden before 8 am, then sit on the covered deck with a fan blowing and sip cold drinks--mostly iced well water or a citrus-aid. No sugar! I eat tomato and cucumber salads from the garden, cold boiled eggs, and cold macaroni or potato salad if I get hungry. Nothing hot except black coffee while in the garden in the AM. We have an outdoor shower, a pool, a creek, and a springhouse. I will sit in the cold springhouse having a home brewed IPA on a very miserable day. I plan to sit on the deck after 7 pm tonight to start some containers of salad greens to grow in the house. We have air conditioning but only turn it on when truly necessary. And our house is earth sheltered which brings down the basic temperature. You can't do this easily in Florida due to the high water table. In Florida tile floors on concrete pads was the answer. And thick stucco walls in the Spanish style. And fans, pans of chipped ice, Florida rooms with three sides of large screened windows. And laying on the cool clay bank of a creek. The good old days. My school uniform in the un-air conditioned 60s and 70s was shorts, sleeveless tops, and flip flops. We dressed up for gym and wore tennis shoes. I think the early conditioning to heat and humidity helped me stay fit and healthy into my retirement years. I still regularly backpack in all kinds of weather. Florida tough is a thing.
In Britain they swear by hot tea because it makes you sweat in the summer and that is cooling, as if you didn't sweat in the heat on your own. It seems to go back to India in the time of the Raj where the humidity could be 100% and you just couldn't sweat, like being in a pool. Hot tea forced them to sweat. Even today a lot of Brits think drinking something cold in summer is all wrong. I call that overgeneralizing from their experience in India. :)
@@653j521 I understand the need to sweat but often the sweat just stays on your skin and makes it worse. We had to find ways to cool the body down without relying on sweating so much. Laying on cool tile or clay helped with heat exchange. My British friend has lived in the Ozarks for over 50 years and she still doesn't like ice, cold drinks, or air conditioning. I am eating homemade cherry juice popsicles because it seems to help me--and they are tasty!
I also live in the Ozarks. This summer has been pretty unbearable especially with the lack of rain. Can only bear being outside for 5 minutes at a time
Boiling eggs, macaroni and potatoes heats everything up, though. I lived without A/C until the 90's, and I'll never go back. However, I do believe we should be building houses with thick walls for summer heat and winter cold and we should go back to using awnings to shade our windows.
Texas tough is even a higher level. I've known people from Florida who came to Texas in the summer, and they couldn't take it. They were surprised how it is worse here in summer.
I grew up in Baton Rouge without air conditioning. We didn’t know any different. Dad installed an attic fan. At night he would open some windows and close others so it would pull a cool breeze through the house. I love my central a/c now.
I remember being about 3 years old and going into Woolworths about 1963 and they had these huge fans in the walls and above the door and those things terrified me cause I thought the blades were going to chop me up but in the early 1960's had no AC. I remember being in church with the full gear, petticoats etc hat, gloves and fanning myself to all heaven and that was again about 1963. God help women having hot flashes back in those days.
Very hard to explain to someone with a hot flash like if they never went through it . They don't understand that even if you're in air conditioning how hot you will feel inside your body your upper body and how horrible it is
@@gardensofthegods There's nothing worse than having a hot flash while wearing a coat, scarf, and hat in the winter and walking into a department store to shop. My hair and clothes would be drenched. 🥵
I slept in an uninsulated attic in a very old no AC home in the piedmont of NC for 2 years. The summer made that room literally like an oven. It got direct sunlight at high noon. Super fun. We had three fans going and slept on a floor mattress. This was less than 15y ago. It is very miserable even if you're used to it. It wouldn't have been so bad downstairs but that upstairs area was just brutal every summer and Winter.
My mom inherited her grandparent's farm, so the house I grew up in had a great attic fan! In the evenings, she'd turn off the monstrous window-unit and walk around the house flinging open the windows. By the the end of her lap around the house she arrived at the dial for the Attic fan . She'd slowly rotate the stiff dial and the fins for the Attic fan. The fins of the opening would shriek open then a glorious blast of cool, humid air would woosh through the whole house, and flow like heavy wind up until she had taken her shower and cranked it back closed.
It's funny, I remember life without air conditioning, it really still is a luxury when you think about it. The poorer population in certain locations in this world does not have access to air conditioning. However, being super poor living in the Bronx during the early 90's, my mom will come with soaked cold towels to drape over us as we slept during the hot summer nights. Good memories.
Native Floridain here. We didn't have AC until I was 14. I'm 58 now. It was just the way it was. We slept on top of the sheets with several box fans running. To this day I cannot sleep without a fan on. Edit: We also had the very unpleasant experience of having cockroaches run acros your body while sleeping. Freaky.
I live upstairs in old brick building. In July, my kitchen is like an oven. On days 90 degrees I sleep backwards on the bed, so my face is closer to the fan, so I can breathe.
My mother and I live in the Mojave Desert of California. We have no AC. We have a swamp cooler (evaporative cooler) but it doesn’t work very well. Temps reach 120F here! The ocean is four hours away and the nearest lake is two hours away, but we can’t afford to go (maybe once or twice per year, which is hardly a true escape from the heat!) We survive by going for LOTS of drives in my car, with the AC in my car blasting. We take our pets for drives so they can cool down too. We don’t own a fridge, we can’t afford one. So we buy a bag of ice each day. We cool our dogs down and our pet rats down this way as well! I’m 29 and mother is 60. It’s a tough life but we’re making it through !! I absolutely adore these folks !! Lots of good tips !!
Air conditioning is my FAVORITE invention! I have said this all my life growing up in Louisiana where the summer lasts 9 months and the humidity makes the air like jello! There is not a single thing I do that is not improved by air conditioning! God bless that man! I used to know his name … I looked it up as teen after a hurricane that knocked out our power. Even now 30 years later I can remember just how miserable it was …. Heat rash, mosquitoes buzzing, everything everywhere sticky & wilting! Or … thats it felt to me ☺️ and salute these older folks I have no idea how they survived it! I have to believe it simply was not as hot back then as it is now or not as much concrete & asphalt? Either way so grateful for the ac humming along outside my window right now!
Wasn't that Mr. Carrier? God bless him lol. I have one that's older than I am. No thermostat so you can't let it overheat. Ugly and loud, but EXTREMELY effective.
"It's summer in Florida with the sun blazing, the asphalt sizzling, and humidity fit for a sauna" that's just any season in Florida. Of course with a touch of both rain of the water kind...and of the iguana kind during the winter.
I was born in 1951. My parents moved to the San Fernando Valley in California in 1956. The home my parents bought and that I lived in just had an evaporative cooler on the roof to cool the home, sometimes called a swamp cooler. During the summer the evaporative cooler was run constantly. On humid days the evaporative cooler did very little to cool the home. Also with my parents cars, the only thing that could be done was to roll down all the windows and let hot air blow on you. A trip across the Nevada desert on a very hot day in a 1964 Ford Station Wagon convinced my parents that the next car needed to have Air Conditioning. So those were my experiences when growing up.
I live in the San Fernando Valley and I live in an apartment without central cooling so we have to make due with shitty AC units that barely keep the home cool. California is known for nice, weather but not here in the Valley during summer.
David Grisez - I was born in 1950, but in New England. Neither my Grandmother's New Englander style house or our classic Cape Cod featured a front to back hallway. This video had a good point regarding the older homes being specifically designed to help stay cool. I especially like wrap around, screened porches that you could sleep on and also the low windows. Our 2016 modular farm cottage is well insulated and situated in the woods. We had ceiling fans installed that work well. Hot days do require the window air conditioner, along with closed blinds through the mid-day. We did design a cathedral ceiling for our open concept living room/ kitchen area. I feel this really helps.
I lived in an old stucco farmhouse in Homestead FL during the 1970s. We relied on the 12foot ceilings and tall windows and transoms over the doors. We had a whole house fan in the attic positioned in the hallway that drew cool air in at night. On really hot days we would hose down the exterior tabby stucco walls and let the evaporation cool down the entire structure.
I remember our teachers taking us outside to a shady area for classes when it was extremely hot. People still work in extremely hot conditions such as farm work, factories, construction, road work, etc..
I install and repair air conditioning systems in South Florida...I enjoy my work and take pride in it, but listening to your body, taking breaks and staying hydrated are very important. There are some professions that you just can't avoid the heat, but embrace it and work smart. I used to work in a refrigerated warehouse that was 36F all day... I'd rather be in your sweltering attic making sure folks stay cool.
We had a hell of an experience last summer here in central Oregon. No AC. No problem, open the windows at night because it gets nice and cool. But that summer we had terrible forest fires and the accompanying smoke, so you could not open the windows at any point for days on end. Trapped in a hot house with toxic air outside, it was torture.
Sounds like a typical summer here in Southern California. 😜 no really though, once in a while wildfire smoke would be so bad here that it’s hard to breathe outside, can’t open windows, can’t exert yourself outside. I feel ya on that one.
Similar experience living in california. Gotta go smart and use natures cooling mechanics. Cool damp rags and a fan to evaporate the water and take the heat with it. Hopefully you don’t have the same ac problem but it might save you in a pinch. I always keep some chemical ice packs in my first aid kit too.
I was raised in Miami in the 70's and we didn't have ac in our home. Many of us didn't. We had fans and opened windows and we just didn't know anything else. One elementary school I went to didn't have ac, and our teacher would take us outside and sit our class under the cool shade of an enormous banyan tree and share her big batch of lemonade she'd bring us from home. I wouldn't change my childhood for the world.
Back in the 60s/70s in NJ+PA we had houses with gun slot windows. They were narrow, opened horizontally, high up for both privacy and blocking the elements. In the summer a trap door to the attic exposed a whole house fan that would suck air thru these windows and vent it thru the attic. It worked.
My mom grew up in the 60/70s with a few window units that were only turned on occasionally. Her jr highschool didn't have air conditioning, and she always tells this story about doing a group dissection of a cow heart and the formaldehyde smell was so overwhelming that she and a few other people threw up. When they went to the nurse they were told it wasn't a big deal and they all needed to toughen up and go back to class.
For old Florida homes that did not have wrap-around porches, clamshell window awnings helped provide cooling shade, and allowed you to keep the windows opened when it rained...an option few houses have these days. Made of sturdy aluminum, they are hinged at the top, and held up by 2 side poles. Pins attached the side poles to the awning - remove the pins and the awning folded down to cover the window...instant hurricane protection. Took one person all of 2 minutes to do without any tools. A brilliant design that deserves to return! Here is a good demonstration: ua-cam.com/video/IZoSQsDKMBs/v-deo.html
I just looked at that video and we had a number of neighbors that had those awnings when I was growing up . I can imagine they would protect your windows pretty well during Hurricane but not completely since they are not flush at the bottom and not totally blocking the air from sucking or pushing at the window .
In the mid-50s, we used to go to Miami, among other places in FL with Daddy on his business trips. Back then many of the grand old seasonal hotels were closed in the summer and those clamshell awnings covered the windows. The newer air conditioned hotels and restaurants were open year round. In Sarasota, the only business open in the summer on St. Armand's Key was the drugstore.
Im a young person but ive lived my whole life in a house without air conditioning. North Carolina's heat and humidity aren't quite as bad as Florida's but they're close. My summers are just like this! Popsicles (homemade or storebought), fans, and leaving the house to find somewhere cool; as well as spending time on the lower floors and keeping the doors and windows open for a cross breeze. Its something that you just get used to if you live with it long enough.
Same here. My childhood home never had a/c, and still doesn't. Our family car's air died when I was about 10. To this day, I've only owned one car with an air conditioner, and I never used it unless it was over 100°. I just roll all the hand crank windows down. People act like I'm a Neanderthal! X3
I grew up without A/C at night in North Texas. It was absolutely sweltering, no way to sugar coat it. Each child a fan, which cools the nighttime 85 degree air by 1 degree. I set up mine right next to my face with a small wet towel. It was all we knew, so there were no complaints at the time. When I reached junior high, some school rooms had central air. Wow, this is awesome, who thought of this. When I reached high school, every school room had A/C, & they kept it really cold. The only down side was I started working at 15 & by age 17 I was working the night shift. I REALLY needed quick rest for school tomorrow, but it's hard to sleep when you are both tired & sweating.
My elementary and high school did not have a/c just huge fans; at that time it felt okay but I did not have a/c at home either just attic fans; I don't remember complaining; live in Texas so it gets hot here.
Yes the high ceilings really helped. In Cincinnati, my parents used to wet the bed sheets and we sometimes slept in our back yard of our new development post WW2.
I personally didn't have air conditioning until 1976 when I move out of the house. The house we grew up in had an attic fan in the hallway. The windows in each room was open about two inches which allowed a breeze to come through the room. In the summertime we would move our beds to the windows. In the winter we'd move them to the inner wall. It really wasn't bad. I miss the good old days, but I enjoy these good old days I'm living in now, Typing this from a computer in my air conditioned home in Texas.
I remember growing up in the midwest with no air conditioning at home or at school, we had fans and we went swimming a lot! but the heat and humidity didnt really bother us a lot because we did a lot of outdoor work in the Gardens with our parents, then we would go swimming or on picnics by the water. and baths before bedtime. It was a precious time i look back on with fond memories. I remember the hand fans we would use in church to stay cool.they kept us cool. ohh the memories .
I live in my grandparents' house. It faces south. Deciduous trees on south side; shade in summer, sunshine in winter. Evergreens on north side to protect from cold winter winds. Deep soffit (roof overhang) for shade and so doesn't rain in when windows open. High ceilings. Fireplace. There are modern amenities I sometimes consider, but I love living in a home where older sensibilities informed their decisions.
My father was born June 7, 1929, one month into the brutally hot season in the Coachella Valley, California. Fortunately, the climate was dry at the time, so evaporation was helpful. Temps would be 110+ in the day and low 90s at night well into the middle of October. Any way,, my.grandmother told me she kept her new little baby comfortable (and alive!) by covering him with a damp cloth.
@@653j521 wow my heart goes out to that poor child what he went through . Did he live to be an adult ... so did he move to a better climate that suited him ?
My mother told us about growing in no air conditioning Kentucky in 1920’s and 1930’s. They had a sleeping porch on the second floor, open the windows on three sides. Whole family slept there on hot nights.
as someone in their early 20s, it’s just amazing to listen to our elders recount their early lives. the differences between our childhoods are enormous in a relatively short time period
In 1959 my family took a cross country road trip from New York to California. Our car had no AC. I taught for 42 years, retiring in 2019. Not a single school had AC.
I grew up with no power till I was 11 yrs old, no phone, no indoor plumbing. And certainly no air conditioning. And we used a real icebox, had to buy ice to put in there 2 times a week to keep food cold. Fact is, I bought my first refrigerated window air conditioner July 2021. I've worked outside all my life, hay-hauler and farmer/farmhand/sharecropper, but done other jobs, carpenter work, building fences and such. I've never been in a swimming pool, those ladies in the video were lucky. But, I had a good tank, or pond some call them, that was pretty clear, and pretty cold since it was spring fed, I'd take a bath there in summer, after hoeing cotton, or cutting broomcorn, or hay work, kept some dishwashing soap in the haytruck, and slather up, and jump in the tank, clean up. And I see some saying in the comments, that it's hotter now, naa...trust me, working in the heat all these years, I watched the weather and farm reports each morning before working, and I saw plenty of 100 plus degrees back in the 60's on. I remember this farmer had a thermometer in his barn, and I remember to this day, that thing read 130 degrees in there. Anyway, I can live with air conditioning, not that big of a deal, I don't use mine much now.
Yours is one of my favorite replies, you had a good life. All these comments are wonderful, the older we get the more the stories bring such bittersweet nostalgia for those old days. I also agree, this global warming business they keep trying to panic people with is baloney. This old planet has been hot as heck every so often as long as the planet's been here! Your AC unit is celebrating its one year anniversary this month.
@@playsindirtnapsalot.299 Yep, enjoying that cool air this evening, it was 104 here, and I worked in that all day, so it was nice to come home, turn that window unit on.
@@dalesmyth7398 yes, A/C can b nice as we get older, and I thank God we can still work outside in heat, even if at a slower pace. 104 could cause a slower pace, and more running the cold hose over your head. At least we can still move & be outdoors, it's one of lifes greatest joys. Still living where it's cold in winter, I enjoy every bit of summer heat that comes our way and do not like A/C, love the heat & sun. I lived and worked down the Keys in the late 70's, outside & inside jobs and it was always tolerable. I've almost always worked outdoors, and count my 35 yrs driving truck as sort of being outdoors. Only in my last 10 yrs did the trucks have A/C, we got used to it, opened the WINDOWS & the vents! May very soon be relocating midstate near friends and will get to enjoy it all again. Each season is so very short, enjoy your days outside, a life lived working outside is truly a gift.
@@playsindirtnapsalot.299 Ya, I've always worked outside, I cringe to think working inside, too cooped up for me. You mentioned running the hose over your head, be very careful about that, but I realize the water is not as cold out of a hose...Back in 72 or so, I was chopping cotton for a fella, me and about 20 other hands, 80% were women, 10% older men, and rest of us teenagers or younger. There was a woman there, we called ''skunk''. She had a white stripe like a skunk running thru her hair, you know how kids are...anyway, she got real hot, went over to water can, and took that dipper of water, and doused her head but good. About 30 seconds later, she was on the ground, shaking like a leaf, eyes rolled back and she was dead, us kids freaked out. They took her to the hospital in the bed of a pickup, and of course, pronounced her DOA. The docs said that ice water, or even just cold water, can cause that if someone is over-heated. So, I was always real careful about that.
@@dalesmyth7398 Thanks for heads up, that's quite a story to remember. Had to soak head under hose today, pretty warm everywhere! After your story I took a little longer to entirely soak whole head and neck LOL.
I remember in the early to mid 70s when I was a kid AC wasn't very popular here in Canada yet. Here in Toronto summers get very hot but the only places that had AC were restaurants, malls etc. so we would often go to the mall and hang out to cool down. My aunt and uncle and cousins lived in Florida at the time and the first time I saw a car with AC was when they drove up to visit, we thought that was the coolest thing we ever saw (pun intended). Last week my nephew got married and it was 31c or about 88f with an outdoor ceremony and the sun beating down and wouldn't you know it, the AC was broken inside where the reception was held.
My grandfather had a house built in the 1920s which had vents near the floor. These vents were open to the crawl space underneath so it would bring in fresher breezes from below the house where it was cooler.
I would visit my grandmother every summer here in Arizona and she had an old Adobe home. All it had was a window evaporative cooler in the front room. She always had the front door in the back door open which allowed for a Cross breeze. That house remain fairly cool even though it might’ve been 115° outside all although we were children so we probably didn’t notice the heat too much going back to visit her as an adult the house still felt really cool surprisingly. I remember Ashley I slept in the front room on a mattress that she would pull off her bed right in front where the window unit was blowing the sound of the cooler and the breeze I was put me to sleep really quickly.
Born in Miami Beach in '55, I was used to heat and humidity, summers were on the beach rarely going into the water. But, we used our pool and all the neighbors' pools all the time. Homes had breezeways and usually lots of surrounding tropical trees, and if you could, you don't go out in the heat of the day. We did do a lot of sailing too which was a break from the heat most of the time. I'm in Colorado now and have been since '77, and can't leave now as I am used to it, though I do go back to So. Fla once a year... do not miss it.
I went to elementary school that was Not air conditioned in rural MS. This was even in the 80s!!. You learned to work in the morning and late evening. The window descriptions and ceiling heights were dead on! Lots of screened porches and fans. You also put your houses in areas that would capture a breeze if at all possible. My grandfather built his house with a under house fan. It would suck air out from under the house and into the house. Attic fan to reduce that heat as well. Did a lot of swimming in the cold creek right next to the house too
I remember those days. A cold Pepsi or Root Beer from the machine outside the grocery store. Popsicles like crazy. Sitting under a tree to get out of the sun. Riding bikes as fast as you could just to get a breeze! And pony tails to keep your hair off your neck.
I was born in 1946 and grew up without ac, and have never lived in a house with it, including the home I have owned for 50 years. My great-great grandparents in Ohio had a spring house, a small building with a spring flowing through it, in which they kept milk, butter and other perishables. Since that time our whole family has lived in Baltimore, Maryland. My widowed great-aunt Ada had a summer kitchen so she could bake and sell apple pies to support her small children during the Great Depression. Her brother, my grandfather, built a screened in second floor porch for the family to sleep in during hot spells, and on miserably hot weekends took the whole family to the movies for the day- the theater was cool and dark. In his downtown office he kept a large black electric fan, which my mother used through the 1990's until it finally gave out. Porches and trees helped keep houses cool. My maternal grandmother's mom took her to spend summers on her parents' farm in the country to avoid heat and disease in the city, and her dad joined them on weekends. All my great grandparents and grandparents kept their shutters closed on hot days and their curtains drawn, and dressed in loose cotton gowns. My grandmother always kept ice water in the fridge. Socializing was done in the evenings on the front porch, with iced tea or cocktails! Housework was done in the early morning. I've never been able to stand the sharp unnatural cold of ac, but nowadays people and businesses don't keep it as high as they used to, probably because energy is so much more expensive. Likewise, the unbearably high heat people used to use in the winter, commonly in the 80's, is much less common. I live now in a middle townhouse with a northeast and a southwest exposure, and this keeps the house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Fans, including window fans in the upper stories, keep the cooler air from the tree-lined alley in back flowing through the house, and the hot air, which rises above the cooler air, is vented out to the front. Even in the hottest weather the house is quite comfortable, although when the humidity is high I do use a small dehumidifier, which has an excellent effect. All told, hot weather isn't that bad, and perspiration helps cleanse the body of impurities... I can still remember the hot, sweaty, dusty smell of us small kids playing energetically outside on the hottest days, the smell of damp hair, and the fun we had while not minding heat in the high 90's and even over 100 degrees, but little kids are very resilient!
Here in Charlotte, North Carolina my great grandmother didn't have air conditioning. Her brick Craftsman bungalow had thick plaster walls that kept the heat out in the Summer, & the cold out in the Winter, & crank casement windows that caught the breezes. She also used box fans. When visiting you hardly noticed the heat & it was actually pretty cool. Growing up in our big 70's tract home we had central air, but upstairs could be very hot. Mom got my brother and I one single 6in. desk fan each for our bedrooms and my Dad ran the attic fan early in the season to save on the bill. I still used the desk fan in my own home (upstairs bathroom) until it quit around 2015 after 30+years. When I came of age, I was so glad once Mom got ceiling fans for the 4 upstairs bedrooms, & a new roof/roof-vents in the 90's...it seemingly saved our lives from the heat in the attic above the second floor. Yes, despite being prosperous my parents were frugal & passed it on to us. Now I own a (somewhat) big old home in the same 70's era neighborhood that I grew up in. I keep the central air on 74-75 and close off certain doors to reroute the airflow & save on the bill. I have an 8000 BTU window ac unit in the 288 square foot bedroom that I sleep in & keep it on the eco mode. My attic fan went a few years ago so the heat stays trapped in the walk-in attic, will replace or fix one day once I can afford it. I love my house but I can't afford new windows/doors right now so it's nearly impossible to heat & cool efficiently-just grateful to be a homeowner with more house (2338 sq.ft.) & land (.50 ac) than I'd get in a brand new house/neighborhood. I admire these older folks who learned to cope with the heat before ac, & pray for those of all ages, still coping without it. 👍🏽💯🤗
Yeah you're lucky to be a homeowner ... especially of a decent-sized house in this day and age when so many people will never have that experience and it's just really a shame .
My grandma lived in Cocoa & my great grandma did till the day she died. We visited every summer. Of course she had air by then but there was a bedroom just big enough for a bed upstairs off of one of the regular bedrooms that they called the sunporch. It was upstairs and only had walls about 2ft up then the rest of the wall were screens then the ceiling of course. I used to love to sleep there! The sun would wake me up in the morning coming up across the Indian river thru the palm trees. It truly looked like paradise. They had a large front porch as well. A side sunporch on the side of the house. And a large back screened in porch but that had their washer & dryer on it or in the old days the clothes lines and a bathroom with a claw foot tub. My fav place to take a bath! Grandma said they used to swim in the river with the sea cows, dolphins or as she called them porpoises, and rays. She said you had to scoot your feet so you wouldn’t get stung as you walked out. I know grandma wouldn’t let us go out in the water till 3 so we wouldn’t get burned. No one had sunscreen when I was growing up. She turned 100 May 6th this year and passed away June 25th. Her mind was sharp till the day she died. But she had a wonderful amazing life that I could only wish to live! I wish I’d documented so many things she said and asked more questions.
Friend, how blessed you were to have shared the life and stories of your grandma! And I'm so sad for your loss; it is always too soon to lose someone we love. You, too, will be old someday. Unless you write these precious stories down they will be lost. Please, please write a little down every day. It is a tribute to your grandmother; far more significant than flowers and fancy headstones. Thank you for sharing your memories here. With sincere sympathy, Debbie
Awhile back I talked to a woman around the age of 60, who in conversation told me that she was from Phoenix, AZ. Upon further talking it turned out her parents and even grand-parents were from there too. Of course this piqued my curiosity as I'd always wondered how anyone could live there before A/C! She told me what her grandparents did was take blankets and sheets down to the Salt River, wet them, and them hang them all around the perimeter of their porch. The super dry desert air would blow through them and cool the porch area off at night which is where they would sleep at. Of course that was just for sleeping. She had no idea what they did in the day to not die of heat stroke.
Jeeze ... what a pain in the butt to have to go through that every evening before you go to bed ... wow . I have no idea why people ever want to live in deserts ... ? I know some people do it because of asthma and bad lungs but I can't think of any other reason . Just crazy .
@@gardensofthegods The deserts are beautiful any time of year. I love the space we have here in Arizona. Yes, cities can be crowded but you can get away from that. And it's only brutal for about three months. The rest of the year we laugh at people who shovel snow and slip and slide to work. I moved here from NJ in 2001 and would never go back. Not ever! So many have gardens that people don't come here for asthma anymore. We're not crazy. We just don't want to be cooped up the way it is back east or deal with the snow/ice and freezing temps.
A few years back I went to an education conference in Phoenix. I found the lack of humidity and the flat neighborhoods perfect for walking. One time when out for my daily constitution I spotted...could it be?!?!...an emerald green lawn shimmering in the distance. I resolved to walk to that place. With every step I thought about water bills and grass type and mowing. It was like contemplating Oz. I finally arrived. The entire lawn was gravel, spray painted green. Amazing.
I’m moving to the desert in a few years for reasons not related to the weather, but after some research I found that it will actually be nice weather. The summer will be hot and I’ll probably go somewhere else for that time (camping, etc). But where I’m from, summers are too hot to go out and winters are too cold to go out. That means I can only enjoy the outdoors in spring and fall. In the desert, I can enjoy outdoors for spring, fall, AND winter.
I'm 22 and I appreciate hearing the perspectives of this generation in this video 👍 I don't have AC in my apartment, so I leave the windows wide open all night (thankfully I'm on the second story) and close them during the hot afternoons to trap the cool air in. I usually works unless it gets in the high 90s! Thanks for the video
Here are some tips for people without AC this helped me when I had no AC. Go and cover all your windows with a UV ray blocking window film and put the frosted kind up it’ll help block the some of the suns heat. Buy blinds that block more of the suns heat and keep the blinds closed. Now go buy bunch of fans best ones are desk fans so you can put them on a table or a desk and position them where you sit one by the couch one by your bed one at the kitchen table so on. Forget the evaporator coolers those will just make you feel more hot a typical fan that can push air around it works great. Wear less clothing why’ll home if you can just wear your boxers that’s it less clothing you have on at home more cool you’ll feel. My last tip is too skip the hot showers that will just raise your body temp and when you get out the body will take longer to cool off. You wanna take a somewhat cold shower and since it’s hot and humid after you dry off go sit in front of one your fans for a few minutes this will help any moisture still on your skin evaporate and not make you still feel hot after your shower.
It was really all about the house design that made it bearable. Dogtrots were made with that breezeway in the middle and long roofs over the porches so that they caught wind like a kite. It was also advantageous to be up on a hill as there was nothing to block the breeze, or off a body of water on a slope. High ceilings let hot air rise up and if you had a cupola or transoms above the doors and windows- that would move air as well. House design in the 50s and 60s when I was growing up really was developing towards a dependence on electric fans... in the 70s, low ceilings and dark rooms shrouded by heavy curtains kept your window unit functioning more effectively.
It’s genuinely amazing how much cooler buildings can be because of architecture. When I was in Cuba a few years ago I was baking in the sun and dipped into a bar/ cafe for something to drink and was shocked how much cooler it was in there. Easily a 20 degree difference between inside and outside with no ac.
@@gardensofthegods Nobody is losing this knowledge. Houses were built that way because they had no other option and it was affordable with plenty of room to build. Now you have to cram a house wherever it fits and since the occupants arent going to give up AC, you make it as good as an insulated box can be. In the 1920s you could buy or build a house like these for 5x the average income. That is simply not reality anymore for any kind of house. And if you want a house like this, it will be closer to 20x the average income.
@@NoLongo anybody who has ever had a blackout where there was no electricity for days or even weeks where they live during unbearably hot and or humid weather or a heat wave would have loved to have had the kind of structure and Design where they could direct some of that heat out of their home simply due to the way it was designed . Yes in the future there still will be blueprints and visuals were people will know how to design and build those homes but the problem is a good number of them will not understand that some of those designs were intended also to direct out Heat ... ... I'm saying that knowledge yes will be lost just like nowadays people might see some kind of instrument or tool that was used in the home hundreds of years ago but they cannot tell you what it's purpose was . I wasn't talking about what kind of neighborhoods they were in or if they have some land or not . We all know the way they build houses nowadays is horrible the way they have them too close together on tract housing and that wasn't exactly what I was talking about as much as the actual design of the house . But yes having them too close together would prevent them in some cases from getting good breezes if they could during hot weather if their electricity wasn't working . And yes we have better knowledge of insulation but what good is that going to be if there is a blackout in your area and no electricity during a heat wave for 3 weeks . So I say yes years from now a lot of people won't understand why some houses were built with an entrance hall going straight from front to back with a door at each entrance or exit .... just like a lot of people won't understand why it's good sometimes to have high ceilings and windows way up high that you can open up at the top to direct the heat out . There will be people believe it or not he won't know this because if you look at a lot of people nowadays they don't have common-sense on a number of things .
When I was a kid, my mom, brother and I lived in several different homes in California. None of them were air conditioned. The top floor apartments were always the worst…I remember just laying there at night with a spray bottle filled with water, intermittently spritzing myself off and a wet washcloth on my head, trying to sleep. Now that summers are hotter I’m grateful for the air conditioning that we have now but we also use an attic fan when temps aren’t too high. We actually didn’t make the investment into AC until 18 years into our marriage, and I use it to level out the temp at 73-75 bc I don’t like it freezing cold in the house…guess I’m used to the heat!
I had prickly heat my first month of life in the hottest summer near Chicago up to that time. I think that influenced my parents to get window air conditioners when they could finally afford them. I think I was about 5. It would get so hot and humid I thought I was going to die from it and then a huge thunderstorm or tornado would sweep through and it was wonderfully cool. I now live where it is a lot dryer. Heat and humidity still leaves me rashy. :)
Love all these memories. The gentleman who talked about swimming in the gravel pit tickled me no end, especially, the part about 30 dogs following the children to the forbidden gravel pit, who wanted to swim too.
When I was a kid we used a whole house fan or attic fan. Also ceiling fans and room darkening curtains. Dress in light clothing like dresses, shorts with cotton as king of fabrics. I live in Houston Texas. We canned outside at night preparing the article to be canned during the day. We also cooked at night over a grill. We slept during the day to work at night.
Back in the 50's and 60's growing up with 6 siblings it was little things my Mom would do. A wet cold wash rag slapped on your face a few times a day. After the sun went down everyone packed in the car for a cool ride before bed. A trip to A&W for a few gallons of Root Beer. Sleeping downstairs on the floor because it was cooler than upstairs. We didn't even have fans. Now that I think about it we was kinda like poor folk.
My husband, who’s actually ten years older than me, had a/c in his house growing up but I didn’t. He cannot stand doing the old school “box fan in the window” trick 😂. That’s all I knew back in the day.
My aunt and uncle built a swamp cooler into the side of their greenhouse, and if you haven't experienced on of those _you'd be amazed_ at how comfortable that contraption keeps a space, even in 100+ degree weather.
We live in West Tennessee and my grandfather had a large box fan (42"×42")built out of a commercial size vent fan meant for barns/greenhouses! It kept the air moving throughout the whole house! We had something similar (built into most homes in the area in the 1950/60s) a "whole house fan"! These fans were usually 4ft x 4ft and built into the ceilings, pulling air in through the windows, blowing up into the attic space and out through the vents! Kept a refreshing breeze throughout the whole house!!
Hell even when I was growing up in Cape Coral FL, back in the 70s we didn't have any air conditioning. That was a luxury back then. But as a little kids I don't ever remember minding the heat. We were always outside.
I was born in the 50's and grew up in New Orleans during the 60's. I remember not having A/C until the late 60's when we got a whole house window unit. Before then,we used one of those big attic fans in the hallway. We also only had a 13" B&W tv until 1968,when we finally got a 25" RCA color console tv.
My in-laws house was still using the attic whole house fan when I was dating my husband back in 1984. I asked them why they didn't have air-conditioning. I guess my husband told them I was a keeper, because in July they installed a Ruud heat pump air conditioner and heater. I can't recommend one of those, but it was better than the whole house fan. Just that the outside unit had a positive and negative pole the exact same width as a lizard, and that little critter fried the outside unit, costs almost a thousand dollars to fix it. The second time it happened, we just cranked open the windows and plugged in the whole house fan again. Kinda happy we sold the house. It only had 8ft ceilings, the heat and humidity build up was awful. I don't think Florida should have indoor wall to wall carpet either, tile floors are much cooler. Put throw rugs down in the winter. I moved to Florida in 1974, we moved into new apartments for the first few years, all had AC/heaters. Just don't want to live on the second floor, heat rises. Lady I worked with had a townhouse unit, she said they opened up the upstairs windows and turned the fans to blow outside in front of the windows. And downstairs to blow inside from the windows. That would chase the heat out faster, then turn the AC on overnight to sleep, trying to save money. But we survived the heat, and lived to tell the tale. More stories from the elderly need to be recorded before it's too late and they're all gone. I loved the stories these people told, and I'd like to hear more of them about the old days. When I was a tiny child my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would sit around telling stories from long ago, it's important for kids to hear these stories. I'd never have known about ball lightning if it wasn't for my Great-grandmother. These stories need to be recorded though, in their own voices, and accents, before it's too late. Please make more. Thank you for the video, greatly appreciated. Take care, stay safe, have a nice day. 👵🙂✌️🖖 😷 🙉🙈🙊 🌎☮️🕊️
Amen. Oral histories are the real deal. You can see it, feel it, taste it. Tell you what, tell oral history yourself, too. What do you remember? What was it like when you were younger? And what are you glad has changed?
I can agree. The older folks have a treasure trove of stories and wisdom to back them up. So very interesting to hear their story of how different life was compared to these modern times. I can see it and feel it.
I grew up in Florida in the 60s and 70s (Daytona Beach). None of the schools I went to had ac until I went to a new one in 10th grade. I honestly don’t remember the heat being a problem or concern at school. We lived in a small 2 bedroom house and were somewhat poor and had 2 window units that never seemed to get the job done especially at sleep time. Glad those days are behind me!
I started teaching in Central Texas in 1979. No air conditioning. We had one box fan that I would put in the window in the morning because it was in the shade. As the day went on I moved the fan into the room. I don’t remember being that uncomfortable. But I was young. The kids were fine as well. My second year I taught kindergarten. 35 students in the morning and another group of 35 in the afternoon. Same box fan. Only difference was I was pregnant! My principal insisted that I lay down in the nurses office during my lunch break and conference time that were back to back in the middle of the day. So glad when I got to a school with air conditioning! What a difference!
We are very fortunate to have something at Texas Tech University called the Southwest Collection. And for many decades, they have had people who go out and voice record and later video record older folks who had lived through interesting times. Not all these people were famous. But they all had interesting memories. Kids now in history classes should have visitors and also field trips to learn what where they live and where their families lived was like in years past. But back to the Southwest Collection. I feel they should be congratulated and frequently honored for conserving these memories that would otherwise be lost. And they continuously find better ways to conserve and store these memories so they won't be lost. I remember one episode of Star Trek the original where a planetary civilization had stored its data and history in special cubes which still existed. Cheers to all, don't forget the simple history! /Dr. Chase
I lived out in the country without air conditioning for almost 10 years. All I did was stick box fans in the windows after 7 PM and that did a pretty good job of cooling my room provided there was airflow from other windows in the house. I only just recently moved to a condo with full, effective HVAC and I am already completely addicted to it.
My family didn't have AC until we moved into an apartment complex in 1970. Each room had a window AC unit. A real luxury. Before that it was a lot of screened windows and fans
Growing up in hot SoCal l remember in the 60s when we went on vacation to the Serria we would leave from LA at about 3AM so we could cross the desert when it was cool. My dad put a canvas bag with a picture of a cow skull full of water on the front of the car. This was all to go about 300 miles. I've lived here most of my 67 years and have only lived in one house with AC for 8 years. I live at 6k feet now and it still gets hot. I sit in front of a fan and wet myself with a spray bottle of water. I wet my dog down when we go for a walk. People have become kinda sissified.
Lord I swear it didn't get this hot when I was a kid. I live in Kentucky and we are averaging around 90 to 100° all summer Plus thick humidity. I never noticed it when I was a kid. I'd say most of us didn't we were too busy playing. I grew up in the time of air conditioning even if it was just one window unit in the main parts of the house. And I have often wondered what it would have been like to live prior to air conditioning. Going from the hot house, to the hot work, to the hot car (if you even had one), back again to the hot house. Although I would assume that a car would be probably one of the main release of the heat since you could create a wonderful breeze. Our AC broke a few weeks ago and I was soooo glad and fortunate that I had bought a window unit for my bedroom a couple years ago. Sometimes I do think we humans have gotten way too spoiled but it is what it is.
Same here in E. TN. It NEVER used to get this hot for days on end. And yes I was in the same boat with the central A/C breaking down and I too had bought a window unit for the bedroom about 3 yrs ago when the central went on the blink the first time. Our new heat pump was delivered this week😆🥵🥵
Maybe the reason we think it never got this hot is because we were used to the heat before air conditioning? I've gotten used to 105° and -20° (truck driver. X3) but the shift between winter and summer is murder.
@@jamesgizasson Former truck driver here. The WORST for me was that 110⁰ dry heat in AZ. Everyone always said that dry heat was better...yeah not so much🥵🥵
@@TWBlack Not much, but you aren't drowning in sweat when you try to sleep at night! I'm on the east coast now, and it's something. Can't wait to get back to Cali! :3
@@jamesgizasson East coast heat is definitely different for us West coast people. I rode across the country a couple of different summers with my dad when he used to drive semi truck back in the 90's. I remember it felt like I couldn't breath normally until we got back into the western states like Colorado or so, due to the higher humidity that the Midwest and East coast has. First time I ever went to Phoenix in 1998 it was 118 degrees at 8 PM. We had no A/C in the truck as it had quit working sometime around crossing the Arizona/NM border. That night was truly miserable.
Last week here in central Illinois it was oppressive with the heat and humidity the heat index was 106. I remember telling people how i felt sorry for that anyone had to live and sleep in this weather. I thank God I have the means to deal with it.
My parents grew up in CHICAGO, my mom's family of, 9 people in a 1 bedroom apartment, with no AC. Growing up in California and Denver, we did not have a house with AC until 1976. The first home I bought in 1994 only had a swamp cooler, and we survived for the first year until we had enough money to add in an AC system. One adapts and doesn't complain.
We stayed outside all summer long. We went to the lake and swam. We turned the sprinkler on and ran through it. When it rained every afternoon, it was glorious. Our beds were next to the window. Late May and August in school was the worst.
If it cools off at night those are the best times open the windows the breeze would cool off the home. But in Florida it’s not always like that when it’s still humid at night
Fun fact: This is why we have summer vacation. It has nothing to do with farming. It was so that rich families could take their kids on vacation to cooler climates.
@@UmmYeahOk Fun fact: Yeah, it DID have to do with farming, although daylight savings time didn't. That was due to wartime issues. Farmers worked from sun up to sun down, and beyond.
@@653j521 summer is the absolute worst time for farming. Before the creation of summer vacation, rural areas had school in the summer and winter because they were needed at home to plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. In urban areas where there was no farming, they had school year round. If you are a farmer and needed extra hands, why on earth would you send your kids off when you needed them the most? Springtime planting and fall time harvest.
We opened all our windows at night and had fans drawing in the cooler air. In the morning we would shut and draw the blinds and curtains on all the windows but the north side of the house. Fans would remain in them drawing in the cooler air. No meals were cooked in the oven. We would set up a sprinkler under the shade of a tree and let it soak us.
In Texas here. I know the tall windows very well. I normally keep mine on 81 and it's comfortable. If I need to cool down more, I'll sit by a fan. But I prefer Winter. I always say, I can build a fire, but I can't build an AC.
I didn't grow up with air conditioning because my parents would say it's too expensive. I would just sit in my room hot and wait until night time to move around in the summer. Fast forward I still live with them and I'm going to invest in an air conditioning unit lol
Good video and story. Thanks for posting! My brother and I shared a bedroom on the 2nd floor of our parents home. We didn't have AC and the summer was hot in that room. We had one oscillating fan and it was terrible. I don't miss those days for a second!
Growing up in the 80s in Lawrence, Mass, most of the places, except the department stores and supermarkets had no AC. At home we survived the summers with the surrounding trees, and the schools were extremely hot! On those really hot days in school, they would turn off the lights and have the students watch movies for the remainder of the day or have early dismissals to go home. Now, as buildings are getting more modern, there is AC everywhere! Right now (7/5/22) as I'm watching this video, I have 2 window fans cooling my condo at 65° outside. If I want, I could technically turn on the AC, but the natural cool air is way better than the AC, yet the fans do a better job cooling off my condo!
We really need to document small stuff like this befor its lost to time.
We have lost entirely too much.
That’s literally what this is 😂🤦🏻♂️
@@josheakins5137 He's referring to the plethora of information and memories these people carry with them.
Most young people could get this information by just connecting with their own grandparents and record if they like. They seem to have time to record everything else, like selfies. Most older people like to talk with their grandchildren or just interested people. They are the living journals and diaries of the past. The history and adventures are written upon their hearts. The future they probably desire is for the younger generation to have the passion to open their minds and hearts to the real and personal experiences of our elders. They are valuable but society over-all has disconnected from the idea of their worth. So sad their stories gone.
@@hanginlaundry360 Thankyou, exactly 100% correct.
Born in Tampa in 1967. I grew up in a house with an attic fan. Mom would turn that thing on and it literally sucked out hot air and blew fresh air into the house. Blew so hard that the curtains would flap with incoming fresh air. I went to school and the same attic fans would cool off class rooms. None of us knew anyone with air conditioning. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, central ac was being installed and my parents were on this bandwagon. I never knew such luxuries existed sleeping in this cool bliss. The house wasn’t damp in the morning from the humidity the attic fan blew in overnight. I didn’t have mosquito bites or heat rash. My hair laid down flat, I didn’t look like a poodle. The kids in the neighborhood would only talk about the glories of air conditioning and Saturday night wrestling matches with Gordon Solie and the bionic man. If you had ac you were popular and kids would beg their parents to stay a night at your house. I’m still in Tampa and I can tell you without air conditioning, I’d just die.
Right??!!I Live South Of Tampa & At Night We Keep Our Air At 68°(We Get Migraines', So Keeping It Cool Is Essential.)My Only Complaint Is Not Having An Above-Ground POOL,To Me It's Like Trying To Live In Alaska Without Heat!!!! PRAYER'SNLUV WWG1WGA 👼👼✝️✝️🙏🙏💝💝🕊️🕊️🌌🌌
Hi Rachelle, I moved to Tampa in 1979 to go to college at USF. USF cost only $15,00 per credit hour back then. The (female only) "Gamma Bldg." dorms room cost $60.00 a month but it INCLUDED air conditioning!!!! That was the first time in my life I had air conditioning in my room. It was glorious! Felt so modern! : )
@@HelenTudor-Douglas I’ll bet it was glorious. School for us back then was hot. I had an elementary teacher who was a larger lady and she was constantly swiping her brow and face with a hankie and I believe the heat made her contrary. She disciplined with a vengeance. By the time I was in high school ac was finally making its way into the classrooms. If you managed to earn that degree with a lighter, cooler and able to concentrate on studies, I’m proud for you! What a difference it made for students. Truly though, I’d still die without it😜
I spent 1968 in Tampa without air conditioning. Tampa bay was still polluted and mom took us to St Pete or Clearwater to swim all the time. I cant imagine doing it now.
I live in a house with an attic fan. I love it.
No one mentioned iced tea. My mother always kept a gallon pitcher in the refrigerator. Ice was made in metal trays that had to be constantly refilled. Anyone who failed to do his/her part refilling got reprimanded. Tea helped a lot in central Florida in the 50’s.
Ice tea cools you down fast!
People from American states weren't that king on ice tea only the southern states were.
@@oliverharris7366 they're talking about southerner.
I’m in Texas and still use ice trays and don’t have central air. I have two window units but they don’t cool much anything when it’s over 100 outside, which it has been for weeks now. I’m very happy to have them though. It’s 85+ in my house during the day
I'm 53 yr old and here in South Texas we have so much humidity it's like a oven. Every summer I keep 2 gallons of water in the fridge so the next day I'll make ice tea or Kool aid 😁 and I keep up with making ice each day, I'd refill 8 trays of water so we'd have plenty of ice, and a spray water bottle to mist myself in front of the fan... But this summer we have a 2 new AC and actually now we get too cold 👍😁❄️.
My Grandpa would put wet burlap sheets in front of a big fan.
My job was to keep the burlap damp.
It was the best job because I would sit in front of it.
On a side note , The beautiful woman wearing green reminds me of my late wife.
I miss her so much
Thanks for this video
God bless you and your wife sir
Loving this comment. Hope the lovely lady saw your compliment.
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure she was a wonderful person ❤
The burlap is such a great idea!!
"They didn't complain. They persevered". They absolutely 100% complained lol
A truth teller!
Thank you!
Yes, they did! I'm old enough to remember all the complaining!
We didn’t have central air until the mid 80’s. I remember trying to sleep during the summer with a small fan and the windows open. It was miserable and we did complain lol.
My grandmother talks about living in Miami without AC and how she didn’t mind it. I’m like…..”bullshit.” Lmao
Our home AC went out a couple weeks ago, house got up to 87F and she was definitely complaining.
It was MISERABLE.
I actually slept well when I took a cold shower and laid on my bed nude with a fan on me….it felt nice tbh. Lol
Stories like this are actually valuable. It makes me realize how lucky we are, and also makes me feel very nostalgic for times I’ve never lived in…
There is good and bad in every generation. One thing I miss, is debating a point for weeks until someone would break down and go to the library to research or ask a research librarian to help you look up whatever was in dispute: what film was the first "talkie", what was John Wayne's real name, or who invented ice cream. Now the Google settles most disputes in an instant. 😂
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with no air conditioning until I was about 13 (in 1970). Summer temperatures were routinely 100 degrees, with high humidity. So... you stayed up late at night, slept on a cot on the front porch or the back patio if the house was just too hot. We spent a lot of time in swimming pools and playing with the garden hose. The first time I ever experienced air conditioning was at the movie theater for a matinee showing of "Tarzan." We did not have any problem living this way. The hottest part of the afternoon was spent with a book under the shade of a tree, with a cold drink, waiting for the popsicle truck to come by. It was a great life.
People who inhabit areas where hot weather is the norm, live accordingly. This is why siestas are popular in many regions of the world. Its not by accident that in Spain, dinner can be eaten at a very late hour, and people enjoy late night strolls when the air is cooler.
Im from tulsa too
man tulsa summers are no joke too
Nice!!
@Karl with a K Your assertion is laughable. I have been a university professor for nearly 40 years. Generally speaking, Southerners are intelligent and educated enough to know that a man cannot become a woman. I have yet to discover anything so stupid or obviously insane that an Ivy League student or professor will not believe it and advocate it.
Here in Florida, many older houses had a “summer kitchen”. My grandparents version was a screened area of their carport, with a oven/stove and work surface. This allowed them to escape the small enclosed kitchen in the house that became brutally hot to work in during Miami summers.
Some larger homes also had “sleep porches” - screened porches, often on the 2nd story, where beds were placed during the hot summer. I remember seeing these 2nd story porches in Coral Gables.
Wide, roofed wrap-around porches in addition to cross-ventilation and 2nd story windows created a cooling breeze thru the entire house.
My grandma would open the doors and windows when the sun went down and turn on this huge fan that was recessed into the ceiling, with a screen over it. It would suck in the cool air from outside and send it into the attic. You could feel cool breezes through the whole house. It felt amazing and I miss it!
It was still humid and hot as ever outside at night.
@@StellaWaldvogel That's what's known as a whole house fan i believe. I could be wrong though.
@@JennsCorner777 I googled and you're correct - thank you! I've gone my whole life wondering what it was called!
I was telling my husband how much I missed screened porches. I haven't seen one in many years! Used to love sleeping on my grandma's porch.
These seniors are an absolute treasure! Please continue to make videos chatting with them! They have so much wisdom to share.
We certainly are losing some great generations of people by the day. That's why I cherish my Grandma whos 92 as of now.
@@McBryce0 Indeed! Enjoy her while she's here. Maybe get your phone out and ask her some questions about how things used to be and record it.
I lost my mom two years ago. She was a month shy of 92. The thing I miss the most is having an "old person" who knew the answers to questions about local history and the way things used to be.
Yes, but with a different narrator. He killed it.
I agree.
I got to talk to my grandpas before they died and they told told me stuff about back then on the adult tip..back then they had the cars with romper seats and I guess on the weekends everybody would go out to the woods, lovers lane or whatever and just fuck like jackrabbits..especially when the men got back from ww2 , why they had the baby boom..hairy bushes and all ( this before genital hair trimming) every body just banging it out in the woods I guess, hanky panky listening to Elvis..No matter how conservative some of these older folks look, just remember, they were rebellious teens once too..smoking reefer cheefer on the weekends and boozin it up pussy galore from the active duty tours..like to hear more about them aspect as opposed to the sugar coated “We just kissed in the car.” Type of PG stuff..stag film partying with the guys smoking cigars in the man cave player poker and drinking
I'm a senior citizen and honestly I don't remember it getting as hot as it does nowadays. We didn't have air conditioning, we had fans in every room.
We'd put the fans in the windows at night to bring the cool are inside, then first thing in the morning we'd close the windows, pull down the shades, shut the curtains and keep the fans running. It'd stay fairly cool (at least comfortable) till late afternoon. Even though I have AC, I still do that to save on electricity 😉
@Thonati m
Ahh, the good ol days. 😃 The way the world is nowadays, the younger generation will never have an opportunity to experience carefree fun times. It's really sad!
I'm from Australia (where it can get hot) and in my 30s, and still never lived in a house with air conditioning. It's in my car... but it's like a special little treat. Plus, it's easier then to justify drinking lots of cold beer in summer heh
@@Omniverse0
I'm so glad! Grab all the good times, fun times that u can while u can sweetheart🤗. I still make sure that my grandkids have nice "normal" experiences and they're aged 16-25 😃
@@MattExzy
LOL about the excuse for beer!!! 😂 I'm in West Virginia and the last few years we've had some really high temps (over 100°F) with added high humidity, it's miserable. Take care!!
Not a senior citizen (yet) but getting there. I don't know if it was that much cooler here in Texas when I was young, or if we've just gotten spoiled with air conditioning - so it just seems hotter now. That, and the heat just didn't bother you as much when you were young. We used to play out in the heat all day when I was little. We would drink from the nearest hose and get our heads wet to stay cool. Sometimes, one of the adults would even turn on a fire hydrant for a few minutes. That would probably get you arrested today.
What no one seems to mention is that these days most people have a lot of electronics in their home and a/c is essential for cooling them AND keeping out the humidity (although that may be a bigger concern where we live in the deep south). I learned this when our a/c went out for a week and even though we were a little sweaty it was bearable - but my digital camera, a phone, and my mother's hearing aids died from the humidity. That was expensive! The desktop computer I use for work also slows to a crawl when it is too warm in the house 😕
Hey about the desktop PC... Try opening it up and cleaning out the dust. It could really help!
Yes. I do draughting...sometimes on paper. I need it below 20 deg so I don't perspire all over the drawings! 18 degrees is nice.
I’m moving to Louisiana in a month and have never heard of this, thanks for info, is there anything else like this I should know?
@@jameshill8493 learn and get to know the culture before you vote in local politics. where I live people move in and don't look at what the way of life was here and end up voting for stuff like tearing down pine savannas, filling in swamps, approving developments, and not letting mobile homes 11 years old be moved without paying thousands in permits and fees.
Other stuff too. Like medications. I've had pills stick together due to humidity even WITH AC. This summer I'm running both a dehumidifier and an AC simultaneously in my apartment. My electric bill is just ludicrous and I bet there are more efficient setups I could have implemented if I owned the place, but what I have gets the job done.
From what saw in old pictures, people spent time in the basement where it was a lot cooler, sofas, tables t.v. set up, even if the basement wasn't finished. When my Grandfather died in the early 60s, they took the large a.c. unit out of the restaurant he owned and put it in Grandmas house. Visiting Grandmas house in the summer was like walking into a walk in freezer lol. And Grandma always wore a button up sweater inside.
Yeah what a luxury to have to wear a sweater because the house is that cool in the summertime ... sure beats sweating .
They never really had deep basements they were just deep enough to stand in them
Houses were designed differently back then. Back then, they utilized whatever breeze they could get, so the front entrance was mostly a hallway. You left the door open (because back then, why would you need to close it?) the wind would go through the hallway, and pour into the rooms along it. Each room had at least one window, and there was a backdoor at the end of the hall where the breeze could sweep the hot air back out, but also be used as insurance if the wind direction ever were to change.
Modern homes would NEVER be designed like this. We get a lovely southern breeze that knocks 10 degrees off. I know that if they ever build houses behind me, that breeze will be gone.
shutup
I came here to point this out. Old buildings used to have higher ceilings, too, to 'trap' hot air, while cooler air circulated below for the reasons you mentioned. Wrap-around porches or large trees also shaded the windows from harsh sunlight.
Also nowadays, it's suicide to leave your door open. Even out in the country, pervs wandering around looking for victims.
Long windows all the way down to the floor on all sides of the house helped to draw in a breeze to circulate the air. I can barely get any kind of a breeze in my 1981-built house, I’ve opened the back door, the front door with the storm window up, and bedroom windows early in the day in the spring and early summer and can barely drop the house temp a couple degrees. I remember living on the farm and we had one box fan for the entire house. We had a good size front porch and screened it in so we could sit out there and catch some cooler air in the summer. Had a spring-fed creek and would walk down to it in the afternoons some days and cool off, the spring started on the farm so the air above the creek was nice & cool and the water too. When we moved to town I’d grab a hand towel and soak it and freeze it to wipe myself down to cool off.
That and the shape of building were important too. Many old hotels and apartments had a "U" or "E" shaped footprint, which was designed to catch breezes in the courtyards.
I use to hate going to my grandmother’s house because she lived in Orange Beach and didn’t believe in spending money on air conditioning. I remember large, white box fans being in every room and windows and doors kept open to let the breeze through. The house was partially shaded by a HUGE grapefruit tree out front as well. The first couple of nights were always brutal but your body would acclimate to the heat and by the end of the visit, it was actually comfortable.
I don't run the AC in my hoise here in VA. Only when I have guests. I hate it (AC)!!
Yes u have to acclimate to it
Otherwise it’s hellacious
@@mysticamethyst1398 My uncles live in VA and they’re the opposite. It’s always 62 degrees in their houses. Personally I love it. My mother is the opposite of them and gets cold so easy she doesn’t run it often. I enjoy the contrast when they get together and argue over what temp the house should be especially bc it affects going to the bathroom haha but I loved going to their houses bc for once I was truly comfortable.
I'm another who doesn't believe in paying for air conditioning; I live in Wisconsin, which gets hot and humid in the summer, and I _refuse_ to pay for air conditioning after paying attrocious winter heating bills. Adjusting to the summer heat is part of it's enjoyment.
@@hazel555 u have no clue what summer heat is lol
But we have little concept of cold
Ok
I do
I lived in western NY
Brrrrrrrrr 🥶
My sister-in-law's grandfather, who has since died, told me back in the 1990's how he and others coped with Phoenix summers before air conditioning. He arrived in Phoenix in 1933 and worked on a cotton farm. He said that during the day they would swim in the irrigation ditches. It was very unsanitary as there were sometimes dead horses and mules in there, but it was cooling. At night they would soak their bed sheets and sleep on the porch wrapped in the wet sheets.
The wet bed sheets is actually very smart
My family in Phoenix used to sleep with the sheets soaked in cold water when the power went out or if the a/c wasn't working.
I never complain about the weather. Because at the end of the day it's just another part of life, and my life is eternal. I was lucky to be born that way. Others aren't so lucky, and that's why air conditioning has been so instrumental for society
Very grateful for your grandfather for inventing air conditioner.
I lived without A/C all through college. Let me tell you, a rain storm is an absolute godsend. Nothing like running out and standing in the rain after weeks of enduring sweltering heat!
Yes we didn’t have ac in college either and we grew up with just one “swamp cooler” in our house. But everyone was in the same boat so nobody knew the difference. You slept with open windows at night with screens to keep out as many of the bugs as possible. My husband said they didn’t have ac of any kind when he grew up in Mexico so he rigged up a box fan to the ceiling.
which reminds that the worse part about the heat is the sticky night sweats.....
@@tribequest9 you are not lying LOL. We have Central AC in the house but since my bedroom is on the second story it just doesn't get that cool. It's the reason I bought myself a window unit. It might be 95° outside but I have to bundle up like it's winter.
I have central air but when it rains I love to go out walking in the rain totally Barefoot and getting drenched and I don't care what the neighbors think
In Texas, at my grandmother's house, they didn't have central airconditioning in the 70s and 80s. In summertime, we'd take a bath before bed, and sleep on top of the sheets. A box fan was setup by the open bedroom window to draw in the cooler night air. It was coolish, but somewhat humid. Not the coolest sleep, but doable. Funtime kid activities were playing in the sprinkler in summer, or playing in a kiddie pool for hours. Alot of tanktops and shorts. Luckily there were huge pecan trees that shaded the house. Yes, ice tea or Kool-aid to drink. It was considered a treat to drive to the city pool, which was not close by. All the insects would be buzzing during the hot day, and crickets at night.
yes!!! the sprinklers!! or somebody spraying us with the garden hose! how fun!! yes, my dad would blowup our three ring wading pool with a tire pump, God bless him for that!, and then we would have to wait what seemed like the longest time for it to fill and we just kept refilling it all summer. inthe "Dog Days of Summer", mom and dad also put their swimsuits on and splashed around.
And 'skeeters'!!!
Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, hardly anybody had aircon. I grew up in the outter Sydney suburbs. Dry and hot in summer. The only places with aircon was the roller skating rink and the big enlosed super markets and shopping centres. My grandparents had a farm in the 50s and 60s. Hessian sacks were hung on nails over widows and wet down with cold water to cool any breezes. Blinds and drapes were always drawn in summer. Houses closed up during the day to keep the cool air in. Meals were cold in warmer months. Pedestal fans were used everywhere.
In school we were allowed to go home when the temperature reached 40°c and above. We had overhead fans and big windows open. Lights were turned off during the day. We had water fountains (bubblers) we would use throughout the day to wet our faces and drink from. Teachers woud tell you to wet your handkerchief in cold water and tie it around your neck. Also to reduce your temperature, run cold water over our wrists. It works. We were allowed to wear sandals as our summer uniform with no socks. Summer clothing was all cotton. Crisp dresses, play suits.
I now live in a house beautifully designed in the early 1950s in a coastal location. Ingenious designand remains in it's original design layout. The angles of the verandahs and the consideration of north easterly positioning and large sliding glass doors and louvred and casement windows catch light and the breezes and cool the open plan living area.
In Australia, we bbq outside often and usually have a patio or verandah or courtyard as extended living space. Much older homes can often have screened porches we call 'sleepouts'.
My husband grew up in rural country where it really is hot and dry. The irony is that we do have aircon in each bedroom for hot nights to be more comfortable to sleep but we never use it. Only if we have guests visiting.
I still make home made frozen ice pops in moulds. Many nutritious options can be blended to be frozen and taste great whilst keeping cool.
I don't know what the big deal is about aircon. I drove a 1961 model car for 20 years. It had quarter pane windows called venti panes', I would turn them in certain angles and the cross flow breeze was just as good as ac. We also used to wind all the windows down and call it 360° aircon for a laugh. We don't dress or even eat by the seasons anymore. And eaven forbid we perspire a little! I hate aircon. I can live without it.
I grew up in North Shore Sydney in the 1980s. Hardly anyone had a/c. Pymble Primary School had big fans. We just stayed out of the sun during the day, kept the blinds down, and opened up all the windows in afternoon when the heat dropped. Wearing light cool clothing and having iced drinks. It was just being sensible. And going swimming, or going to Macquarie shopping centre which was air conditioned.
Loved these posts, lived in Perth in the 80s, no A/C. We would soak beach towels in a bath of cold water, wrap ourselves up and lie out in the sleep out, wasn’t screened in, just concrete 😅 Now I’m in Texas and always give thanks for a cool home I never take for granted
My pickup has 260 air conditioning...
2 windows down at 60 miles an hour! :3
Your post was appreciated for its sobriety and common sense. People at one time applied their lives, customs, habits and dressing, according to the weather and the changes in seasons. People coped with the elements in a very oeganic and non mechanized manner.
I think having high humidity makes it a bit worse
In Nigeria, Africa they built some houses as one long line where all rooms where single file and on both walls of each room were huge louvred windows which opened all the rooms to breezes. The living/dining room area was flanked by 2 huge open screened in porches so essentially it was all open.
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This was at the IITA tropical research center in Ibadan.
Having grown up in Florida during the 50s-70s, where we didn't have heat or air conditioning, I can attest to all the ways you survive the brutal heat and humidity. Somehow I gravitated to the Ozarks where it is going to be hot and humid with a heat index of 110 today. A straight week of this and no rain in sight. I think I can handle it.
I get up early to work the garden before 8 am, then sit on the covered deck with a fan blowing and sip cold drinks--mostly iced well water or a citrus-aid. No sugar! I eat tomato and cucumber salads from the garden, cold boiled eggs, and cold macaroni or potato salad if I get hungry. Nothing hot except black coffee while in the garden in the AM. We have an outdoor shower, a pool, a creek, and a springhouse. I will sit in the cold springhouse having a home brewed IPA on a very miserable day. I plan to sit on the deck after 7 pm tonight to start some containers of salad greens to grow in the house.
We have air conditioning but only turn it on when truly necessary. And our house is earth sheltered which brings down the basic temperature. You can't do this easily in Florida due to the high water table. In Florida tile floors on concrete pads was the answer. And thick stucco walls in the Spanish style. And fans, pans of chipped ice, Florida rooms with three sides of large screened windows. And laying on the cool clay bank of a creek. The good old days. My school uniform in the un-air conditioned 60s and 70s was shorts, sleeveless tops, and flip flops. We dressed up for gym and wore tennis shoes.
I think the early conditioning to heat and humidity helped me stay fit and healthy into my retirement years. I still regularly backpack in all kinds of weather. Florida tough is a thing.
In Britain they swear by hot tea because it makes you sweat in the summer and that is cooling, as if you didn't sweat in the heat on your own. It seems to go back to India in the time of the Raj where the humidity could be 100% and you just couldn't sweat, like being in a pool. Hot tea forced them to sweat. Even today a lot of Brits think drinking something cold in summer is all wrong. I call that overgeneralizing from their experience in India. :)
@@653j521 I understand the need to sweat but often the sweat just stays on your skin and makes it worse. We had to find ways to cool the body down without relying on sweating so much. Laying on cool tile or clay helped with heat exchange. My British friend has lived in the Ozarks for over 50 years and she still doesn't like ice, cold drinks, or air conditioning. I am eating homemade cherry juice popsicles because it seems to help me--and they are tasty!
I also live in the Ozarks. This summer has been pretty unbearable especially with the lack of rain. Can only bear being outside for 5 minutes at a time
Boiling eggs, macaroni and potatoes heats everything up, though. I lived without A/C until the 90's, and I'll never go back. However, I do believe we should be building houses with thick walls for summer heat and winter cold and we should go back to using awnings to shade our windows.
Texas tough is even a higher level. I've known people from Florida who came to Texas in the summer, and they couldn't take it. They were surprised how it is worse here in summer.
I grew up in Baton Rouge without air conditioning. We didn’t know any different. Dad installed an attic fan. At night he would open some windows and close others so it would pull a cool breeze through the house. I love my central a/c now.
I remember being about 3 years old and going into Woolworths about 1963 and they had these huge fans in the walls and above the door and those things terrified me cause I thought the blades were going to chop me up but in the early 1960's had no AC. I remember being in church with the full gear, petticoats etc hat, gloves and fanning myself to all heaven and that was again about 1963. God help women having hot flashes back in those days.
Can you imagine ? My God .
Very hard to explain to someone with a hot flash like if they never went through it .
They don't understand that even if you're in air conditioning how hot you will feel inside your body your upper body and how horrible it is
@@gardensofthegods There's nothing worse than having a hot flash while wearing a coat, scarf, and hat in the winter and walking into a department store to shop. My hair and clothes would be drenched. 🥵
I slept in an uninsulated attic in a very old no AC home in the piedmont of NC for 2 years. The summer made that room literally like an oven. It got direct sunlight at high noon. Super fun. We had three fans going and slept on a floor mattress. This was less than 15y ago. It is very miserable even if you're used to it. It wouldn't have been so bad downstairs but that upstairs area was just brutal every summer and Winter.
My God how are you alive?
My mom inherited her grandparent's farm, so the house I grew up in had a great attic fan!
In the evenings, she'd turn off the monstrous window-unit and walk around the house flinging open the windows. By the the end of her lap around the house she arrived at the dial for the Attic fan . She'd slowly rotate the stiff dial and the fins for the Attic fan. The fins of the opening would shriek open then a glorious blast of cool, humid air would woosh through the whole house, and flow like heavy wind up until she had taken her shower and cranked it back closed.
We had an attic fan too! It was amazing, but by morning we would be wringing wet.
My best childhood memory is going to sleep with that blast of air and the rumble of the attic fan!
Yes!!! I remember that in my grandparents house growing up !
It's funny, I remember life without air conditioning, it really still is a luxury when you think about it. The poorer population in certain locations in this world does not have access to air conditioning. However, being super poor living in the Bronx during the early 90's, my mom will come with soaked cold towels to drape over us as we slept during the hot summer nights. Good memories.
Omg! My mom did that too! I’d fall asleep with a cold rag on my forehead or a box fan with a bowl of ice in front of it
Wrapped in wet sheets
Native Floridain here. We didn't have AC until I was 14. I'm 58 now.
It was just the way it was. We slept on top of the sheets with several box fans running.
To this day I cannot sleep without a fan on.
Edit: We also had the very unpleasant experience of having cockroaches run acros your body while sleeping. Freaky.
I live upstairs in old brick building. In July, my kitchen is like an oven. On days 90 degrees I sleep backwards on the bed, so my face is closer to the fan, so I can breathe.
Fans have an ambience sound many can't resist
My mother and I live in the Mojave Desert of California. We have no AC. We have a swamp cooler (evaporative cooler) but it doesn’t work very well. Temps reach 120F here! The ocean is four hours away and the nearest lake is two hours away, but we can’t afford to go (maybe once or twice per year, which is hardly a true escape from the heat!) We survive by going for LOTS of drives in my car, with the AC in my car blasting. We take our pets for drives so they can cool down too. We don’t own a fridge, we can’t afford one. So we buy a bag of ice each day. We cool our dogs down and our pet rats down this way as well! I’m 29 and mother is 60. It’s a tough life but we’re making it through !! I absolutely adore these folks !! Lots of good tips !!
Air conditioning is my FAVORITE invention! I have said this all my life growing up in Louisiana where the summer lasts 9 months and the humidity makes the air like jello! There is not a single thing I do that is not improved by air conditioning! God bless that man! I used to know his name … I looked it up as teen after a hurricane that knocked out our power. Even now 30 years later I can remember just how miserable it was …. Heat rash, mosquitoes buzzing, everything everywhere sticky & wilting! Or … thats it felt to me ☺️ and salute these older folks I have no idea how they survived it! I have to believe it simply was not as hot back then as it is now or not as much concrete & asphalt? Either way so grateful for the ac humming along outside my window right now!
AC adds heat. CO2 does not.
How do you like your man made global warming now?
Wasn't that Mr. Carrier? God bless him lol. I have one that's older than I am. No thermostat so you can't let it overheat. Ugly and loud, but EXTREMELY effective.
"It's summer in Florida with the sun blazing, the asphalt sizzling, and humidity fit for a sauna" that's just any season in Florida. Of course with a touch of both rain of the water kind...and of the iguana kind during the winter.
I was born in 1951. My parents moved to the San Fernando Valley in California in 1956. The home my parents bought and that I lived in just had an evaporative cooler on the roof to cool the home, sometimes called a swamp cooler. During the summer the evaporative cooler was run constantly. On humid days the evaporative cooler did very little to cool the home. Also with my parents cars, the only thing that could be done was to roll down all the windows and let hot air blow on you. A trip across the Nevada desert on a very hot day in a 1964 Ford Station Wagon convinced my parents that the next car needed to have Air Conditioning. So those were my experiences when growing up.
My mother would keep her window half rolled up. She was always afraid too much air was blowing on us. Come on Mom!
I live in the San Fernando Valley and I live in an apartment without central cooling so we have to make due with shitty AC units that barely keep the home cool. California is known for nice, weather but not here in the Valley during summer.
David Grisez - I was born in 1950, but in New England. Neither my Grandmother's New Englander style house or our classic Cape Cod featured a front to back hallway. This video had a good point regarding the older homes being specifically designed to help stay cool. I especially like wrap around, screened porches that you could sleep on and also the low windows. Our 2016 modular farm cottage is well insulated and situated in the woods. We had ceiling fans installed that work well. Hot days do require the window air conditioner, along with closed blinds through the mid-day. We did design a cathedral ceiling for our open concept living room/ kitchen area. I feel this really helps.
I lived in an old stucco farmhouse in Homestead FL during the 1970s. We relied on the 12foot ceilings and tall windows and transoms over the doors. We had a whole house fan in the attic positioned in the hallway that drew cool air in at night. On really hot days we would hose down the exterior tabby stucco walls and let the evaporation cool down the entire structure.
I remember our teachers taking us outside to a shady area for classes when it was extremely hot. People still work in extremely hot conditions such as farm work, factories, construction, road work, etc..
I install and repair air conditioning systems in South Florida...I enjoy my work and take pride in it, but listening to your body, taking breaks and staying hydrated are very important.
There are some professions that you just can't avoid the heat, but embrace it and work smart. I used to work in a refrigerated warehouse that was 36F all day... I'd rather be in your sweltering attic making sure folks stay cool.
We had a hell of an experience last summer here in central Oregon. No AC. No problem, open the windows at night because it gets nice and cool. But that summer we had terrible forest fires and the accompanying smoke, so you could not open the windows at any point for days on end. Trapped in a hot house with toxic air outside, it was torture.
This is what happened in British Columbia as well.
Sounds like a typical summer here in Southern California. 😜 no really though, once in a while wildfire smoke would be so bad here that it’s hard to breathe outside, can’t open windows, can’t exert yourself outside. I feel ya on that one.
Similar experience living in california. Gotta go smart and use natures cooling mechanics. Cool damp rags and a fan to evaporate the water and take the heat with it. Hopefully you don’t have the same ac problem but it might save you in a pinch. I always keep some chemical ice packs in my first aid kit too.
@@gregmercil3968 oh, I can't imagine! I love New Hampshire.
I'm in Oregon too. No ac, the air was unbreathable, and the heat!! I ended up with three lung infections in a row. Horrible
I was raised in Miami in the 70's and we didn't have ac in our home. Many of us didn't. We had fans and opened windows and we just didn't know anything else. One elementary school I went to didn't have ac, and our teacher would take us outside and sit our class under the cool shade of an enormous banyan tree and share her big batch of lemonade she'd bring us from home. I wouldn't change my childhood for the world.
Back in the 60s/70s in NJ+PA we had houses with gun slot windows. They were narrow, opened horizontally, high up for both privacy and blocking the elements. In the summer a trap door to the attic exposed a whole house fan that would suck air thru these windows and vent it thru the attic. It worked.
My mom grew up in the 60/70s with a few window units that were only turned on occasionally. Her jr highschool didn't have air conditioning, and she always tells this story about doing a group dissection of a cow heart and the formaldehyde smell was so overwhelming that she and a few other people threw up. When they went to the nurse they were told it wasn't a big deal and they all needed to toughen up and go back to class.
Lol 😂
For old Florida homes that did not have wrap-around porches, clamshell window awnings helped provide cooling shade, and allowed you to keep the windows opened when it rained...an option few houses have these days.
Made of sturdy aluminum, they are hinged at the top, and held up by 2 side poles. Pins attached the side poles to the awning - remove the pins and the awning folded down to cover the window...instant hurricane protection. Took one person all of 2 minutes to do without any tools. A brilliant design that deserves to return!
Here is a good demonstration:
ua-cam.com/video/IZoSQsDKMBs/v-deo.html
I just looked at that video and we had a number of neighbors that had those awnings when I was growing up .
I can imagine they would protect your windows pretty well during Hurricane but not completely since they are not flush at the bottom and not totally blocking the air from sucking or pushing at the window .
yes! awnings!!
In the mid-50s, we used to go to Miami, among other places in FL with Daddy on his business trips. Back then many of the grand old seasonal hotels were closed in the summer and those clamshell awnings covered the windows. The newer air conditioned hotels and restaurants were open year round. In Sarasota, the only business open in the summer on St. Armand's Key was the drugstore.
Awnings havent gone anywhere?
I still have clam shell awning 😅
Im a young person but ive lived my whole life in a house without air conditioning. North Carolina's heat and humidity aren't quite as bad as Florida's but they're close. My summers are just like this! Popsicles (homemade or storebought), fans, and leaving the house to find somewhere cool; as well as spending time on the lower floors and keeping the doors and windows open for a cross breeze. Its something that you just get used to if you live with it long enough.
Do you mean that you currently do not have AC ? Just curious. I grew up without AC, my wife did too. Didn't have it til sometime in the 80s.
Same here. My childhood home never had a/c, and still doesn't. Our family car's air died when I was about 10.
To this day, I've only owned one car with an air conditioner, and I never used it unless it was over 100°. I just roll all the hand crank windows down. People act like I'm a Neanderthal!
X3
@@jamesgizasson Do what suits yourself ! That's the way to be. If you're ok without it that's fine. But, I am very very thankful for AC and fans.
@@oldblackstock2499 Oh, I loooove box fans! I like a/c too... but I refuse to pay so much money for something so fragile. :3
@@oldblackstock2499 currently don't, never did
I grew up without A/C at night in North Texas. It was absolutely sweltering, no way to sugar coat it. Each child a fan, which cools the nighttime 85 degree air by 1 degree. I set up mine right next to my face with a small wet towel. It was all we knew, so there were no complaints at the time. When I reached junior high, some school rooms had central air. Wow, this is awesome, who thought of this. When I reached high school, every school room had A/C, & they kept it really cold. The only down side was I started working at 15 & by age 17 I was working the night shift. I REALLY needed quick rest for school tomorrow, but it's hard to sleep when you are both tired & sweating.
I could only imagine there’s ac now and it’s still hot and humid 😂
My elementary and high school did not have a/c just huge fans; at that time it felt okay but I did not have a/c at home either just attic fans; I don't remember complaining; live in Texas so it gets hot here.
Yes the high ceilings really helped. In Cincinnati, my parents used to wet the bed sheets and we sometimes slept in our back yard of our new development post WW2.
I personally didn't have air conditioning until 1976 when I move out of the house. The house we grew up in had an attic fan in the hallway. The windows in each room was open about two inches which allowed a breeze to come through the room. In the summertime we would move our beds to the windows. In the winter we'd move them to the inner wall. It really wasn't bad. I miss the good old days, but I enjoy these good old days I'm living in now, Typing this from a computer in my air conditioned home in Texas.
Yep I'm here in Dallas and I hate this kind of weather we have in the summer ... we don't get enough rain and just constant glaring bright sunlight
I remember growing up in the midwest with no air conditioning at home or at school, we had fans and we went swimming a lot! but the heat and humidity didnt really bother us a lot because we did a lot of outdoor work in the Gardens with our parents, then we would go swimming or on picnics by the water. and baths before bedtime. It was a precious time i look back on with fond memories. I remember the hand fans we would use in church to stay cool.they kept us cool. ohh the memories .
I live in my grandparents' house. It faces south. Deciduous trees on south side; shade in summer, sunshine in winter. Evergreens on north side to protect from cold winter winds. Deep soffit (roof overhang) for shade and so doesn't rain in when windows open. High ceilings. Fireplace. There are modern amenities I sometimes consider, but I love living in a home where older sensibilities informed their decisions.
Thee most common sense used and eschewed nowadays. Stay put as long as you can. That abode is a living treasure!
My father was born June 7, 1929, one month into the brutally hot season in the Coachella Valley, California. Fortunately, the climate was dry at the time, so evaporation was helpful. Temps would be 110+ in the day and low 90s at night well into the middle of October. Any way,, my.grandmother told me she kept her new little baby comfortable (and alive!) by covering him with a damp cloth.
My mother's cousin, born in 1916 in Glendale, AZ, couldn't breathe in the heat and had to be put into water to survive.
@@653j521 wow my heart goes out to that poor child what he went through .
Did he live to be an adult ... so did he move to a better climate that suited him ?
I don't understand why people moved to horrible places like that that are so hot in the summer
My mother told us about growing in no air conditioning Kentucky in 1920’s and 1930’s. They had a sleeping porch on the second floor, open the windows on three sides. Whole family slept there on hot nights.
as someone in their early 20s, it’s just amazing to listen to our elders recount their early lives. the differences between our childhoods are enormous in a relatively short time period
In 1959 my family took a cross country road trip from New York to California. Our car had no AC. I taught for 42 years, retiring in 2019. Not a single school had AC.
I grew up with no power till I was 11 yrs old, no phone, no indoor plumbing. And certainly no air conditioning. And we used a real icebox, had to buy ice to put in there 2 times a week to keep food cold.
Fact is, I bought my first refrigerated window air conditioner July 2021. I've worked outside all my life, hay-hauler and farmer/farmhand/sharecropper, but done other jobs, carpenter work, building fences and such. I've never been in a swimming pool, those ladies in the video were lucky.
But, I had a good tank, or pond some call them, that was pretty clear, and pretty cold since it was spring fed, I'd take a bath there in summer, after hoeing cotton, or cutting broomcorn, or hay work, kept some dishwashing soap in the haytruck, and slather up, and jump in the tank, clean up.
And I see some saying in the comments, that it's hotter now, naa...trust me, working in the heat all these years, I watched the weather and farm reports each morning before working, and I saw plenty of 100 plus degrees back in the 60's on.
I remember this farmer had a thermometer in his barn, and I remember to this day, that thing read 130 degrees in there.
Anyway, I can live with air conditioning, not that big of a deal, I don't use mine much now.
Yours is one of my favorite replies, you had a good life. All these comments are wonderful, the older we get the more the stories bring such bittersweet nostalgia for those old days. I also agree, this global warming business they keep trying to panic people with is baloney. This old planet has been hot as heck every so often as long as the planet's been here! Your AC unit is celebrating its one year anniversary this month.
@@playsindirtnapsalot.299 Yep, enjoying that cool air this evening, it was 104 here, and I worked in that all day, so it was nice to come home, turn that window unit on.
@@dalesmyth7398 yes, A/C can b nice as we get older, and I thank God we can still work outside in heat, even if at a slower pace. 104 could cause a slower pace, and more running the cold hose over your head. At least we can still move & be outdoors, it's one of lifes greatest joys. Still living where it's cold in winter, I enjoy every bit of summer heat that comes our way and do not like A/C, love the heat & sun. I lived and worked down the Keys in the late 70's, outside & inside jobs and it was always tolerable. I've almost always worked outdoors, and count my 35 yrs driving truck as sort of being outdoors. Only in my last 10 yrs did the trucks have A/C, we got used to it, opened the WINDOWS & the vents! May very soon be relocating midstate near friends and will get to enjoy it all again. Each season is so very short, enjoy your days outside, a life lived working outside is truly a gift.
@@playsindirtnapsalot.299 Ya, I've always worked outside, I cringe to think working inside, too cooped up for me.
You mentioned running the hose over your head, be very careful about that, but I realize the water is not as cold out of a hose...Back in 72 or so, I was chopping cotton for a fella, me and about 20 other hands, 80% were women, 10% older men, and rest of us teenagers or younger. There was a woman there, we called ''skunk''. She had a white stripe like a skunk running thru her hair, you know how kids are...anyway, she got real hot, went over to water can, and took that dipper of water, and doused her head but good.
About 30 seconds later, she was on the ground, shaking like a leaf, eyes rolled back and she was dead, us kids freaked out. They took her to the hospital in the bed of a pickup, and of course, pronounced her DOA.
The docs said that ice water, or even just cold water, can cause that if someone is over-heated. So, I was always real careful about that.
@@dalesmyth7398 Thanks for heads up, that's quite a story to remember. Had to soak head under hose today, pretty warm everywhere! After your story I took a little longer to entirely soak whole head and neck LOL.
Women were so classic and beautiful back then. Absolutely timeless
All women??
As someone who lives in Arizona I have to say that I am incredibly thankful to be here today with a nice air conditioned roof over my head.
I remember in the early to mid 70s when I was a kid AC wasn't very popular here in Canada yet. Here in Toronto summers get very hot but the only places that had AC were restaurants, malls etc. so we would often go to the mall and hang out to cool down. My aunt and uncle and cousins lived in Florida at the time and the first time I saw a car with AC was when they drove up to visit, we thought that was the coolest thing we ever saw (pun intended). Last week my nephew got married and it was 31c or about 88f with an outdoor ceremony and the sun beating down and wouldn't you know it, the AC was broken inside where the reception was held.
My grandfather had a house built in the 1920s which had vents near the floor. These vents were open to the crawl space underneath so it would bring in fresher breezes from below the house where it was cooler.
Interesting
Your grandfather was a smart man.
I would visit my grandmother every summer here in Arizona and she had an old Adobe home. All it had was a window evaporative cooler in the front room. She always had the front door in the back door open which allowed for a Cross breeze. That house remain fairly cool even though it might’ve been 115° outside all although we were children so we probably didn’t notice the heat too much going back to visit her as an adult the house still felt really cool surprisingly. I remember Ashley I slept in the front room on a mattress that she would pull off her bed right in front where the window unit was blowing the sound of the cooler and the breeze I was put me to sleep really quickly.
Born in Miami Beach in '55, I was used to heat and humidity, summers were on the beach rarely going into the water. But, we used our pool and all the neighbors' pools all the time. Homes had breezeways and usually lots of surrounding tropical trees, and if you could, you don't go out in the heat of the day. We did do a lot of sailing too which was a break from the heat most of the time. I'm in Colorado now and have been since '77, and can't leave now as I am used to it, though I do go back to So. Fla once a year... do not miss it.
I went to elementary school that was Not air conditioned in rural MS. This was even in the 80s!!. You learned to work in the morning and late evening. The window descriptions and ceiling heights were dead on! Lots of screened porches and fans.
You also put your houses in areas that would capture a breeze if at all possible.
My grandfather built his house with a under house fan. It would suck air out from under the house and into the house. Attic fan to reduce that heat as well.
Did a lot of swimming in the cold creek right next to the house too
I never went to a single air conditioned school, graduated in 1997. Even had some college classes that didn't have it. I don't remember it fondly.
The elementary I work is just getting A/C this summer. Many of the schools in our district don't have it still.
Great Video- we should be so grateful in FL today.
I remember those days. A cold Pepsi or Root Beer from the machine outside the grocery store. Popsicles like crazy. Sitting under a tree to get out of the sun. Riding bikes as fast as you could just to get a breeze! And pony tails to keep your hair off your neck.
I was born in 1946 and grew up without ac, and have never lived in a house with it, including the home I have owned for 50 years. My great-great grandparents in Ohio had a spring house, a small building with a spring flowing through it, in which they kept milk, butter and other perishables. Since that time our whole family has lived in Baltimore, Maryland. My widowed great-aunt Ada had a summer kitchen so she could bake and sell apple pies to support her small children during the Great Depression. Her brother, my grandfather, built a screened in second floor porch for the family to sleep in during hot spells, and on miserably hot weekends took the whole family to the movies for the day- the theater was cool and dark. In his downtown office he kept a large black electric fan, which my mother used through the 1990's until it finally gave out. Porches and trees helped keep houses cool. My maternal grandmother's mom took her to spend summers on her parents' farm in the country to avoid heat and disease in the city, and her dad joined them on weekends. All my great grandparents and grandparents kept their shutters closed on hot days and their curtains drawn, and dressed in loose cotton gowns. My grandmother always kept ice water in the fridge. Socializing was done in the evenings on the front porch, with iced tea or cocktails! Housework was done in the early morning. I've never been able to stand the sharp unnatural cold of ac, but nowadays people and businesses don't keep it as high as they used to, probably because energy is so much more expensive. Likewise, the unbearably high heat people used to use in the winter, commonly in the 80's, is much less common. I live now in a middle townhouse with a northeast and a southwest exposure, and this keeps the house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Fans, including window fans in the upper stories, keep the cooler air from the tree-lined alley in back flowing through the house, and the hot air, which rises above the cooler air, is vented out to the front. Even in the hottest weather the house is quite comfortable, although when the humidity is high I do use a small dehumidifier, which has an excellent effect. All told, hot weather isn't that bad, and perspiration helps cleanse the body of impurities... I can still remember the hot, sweaty, dusty smell of us small kids playing energetically outside on the hottest days, the smell of damp hair, and the fun we had while not minding heat in the high 90's and even over 100 degrees, but little kids are very resilient!
Here in Charlotte, North Carolina my great grandmother didn't have air conditioning. Her brick Craftsman bungalow had thick plaster walls that kept the heat out in the Summer, & the cold out in the Winter, & crank casement windows that caught the breezes. She also used box fans. When visiting you hardly noticed the heat & it was actually pretty cool.
Growing up in our big 70's tract home we had central air, but upstairs could be very hot. Mom got my brother and I one single 6in. desk fan each for our bedrooms and my Dad ran the attic fan early in the season to save on the bill. I still used the desk fan in my own home (upstairs bathroom) until it quit around 2015 after 30+years. When I came of age, I was so glad once Mom got ceiling fans for the 4 upstairs bedrooms, & a new roof/roof-vents in the 90's...it seemingly saved our lives from the heat in the attic above the second floor. Yes, despite being prosperous my parents were frugal & passed it on to us.
Now I own a (somewhat) big old home in the same 70's era neighborhood that I grew up in. I keep the central air on 74-75 and close off certain doors to reroute the airflow & save on the bill. I have an 8000 BTU window ac unit in the 288 square foot bedroom that I sleep in & keep it on the eco mode. My attic fan went a few years ago so the heat stays trapped in the walk-in attic, will replace or fix one day once I can afford it.
I love my house but I can't afford new windows/doors right now so it's nearly impossible to heat & cool efficiently-just grateful to be a homeowner with more house (2338 sq.ft.) & land (.50 ac) than I'd get in a brand new house/neighborhood.
I admire these older folks who learned to cope with the heat before ac, & pray for those of all ages, still coping without it.
👍🏽💯🤗
TL;DR
@@_BusterHighmen
ua-cam.com/video/q_BU5hR9gXE/v-deo.html
👍🏽💯🤗
@@_BusterHighmen really??
Yeah you're lucky to be a homeowner ... especially of a decent-sized house in this day and age when so many people will never have that experience and it's just really a shame .
My grandma lived in Cocoa & my great grandma did till the day she died. We visited every summer. Of course she had air by then but there was a bedroom just big enough for a bed upstairs off of one of the regular bedrooms that they called the sunporch. It was upstairs and only had walls about 2ft up then the rest of the wall were screens then the ceiling of course. I used to love to sleep there! The sun would wake me up in the morning coming up across the Indian river thru the palm trees. It truly looked like paradise. They had a large front porch as well. A side sunporch on the side of the house. And a large back screened in porch but that had their washer & dryer on it or in the old days the clothes lines and a bathroom with a claw foot tub. My fav place to take a bath! Grandma said they used to swim in the river with the sea cows, dolphins or as she called them porpoises, and rays. She said you had to scoot your feet so you wouldn’t get stung as you walked out. I know grandma wouldn’t let us go out in the water till 3 so we wouldn’t get burned. No one had sunscreen when I was growing up. She turned 100 May 6th this year and passed away June 25th. Her mind was sharp till the day she died. But she had a wonderful amazing life that I could only wish to live! I wish I’d documented so many things she said and asked more questions.
Friend, how blessed you were to have shared the life and stories of your grandma! And I'm so sad for your loss; it is always too soon to lose someone we love. You, too, will be old someday. Unless you write these precious stories down they will be lost. Please, please write a little down every day. It is a tribute to your grandmother; far more significant than flowers and fancy headstones. Thank you for sharing your memories here. With sincere sympathy, Debbie
Awhile back I talked to a woman around the age of 60, who in conversation told me that she was from Phoenix, AZ. Upon further talking it turned out her parents and even grand-parents were from there too. Of course this piqued my curiosity as I'd always wondered how anyone could live there before A/C!
She told me what her grandparents did was take blankets and sheets down to the Salt River, wet them, and them hang them all around the perimeter of their porch. The super dry desert air would blow through them and cool the porch area off at night which is where they would sleep at.
Of course that was just for sleeping. She had no idea what they did in the day to not die of heat stroke.
Jeeze ... what a pain in the butt to have to go through that every evening before you go to bed ... wow .
I have no idea why people ever want to live in deserts ... ? I know some people do it because of asthma and bad lungs but I can't think of any other reason . Just crazy .
@@gardensofthegods The deserts are beautiful any time of year. I love the space we have here in Arizona. Yes, cities can be crowded but you can get away from that. And it's only brutal for about three months. The rest of the year we laugh at people who shovel snow and slip and slide to work. I moved here from NJ in 2001 and would never go back. Not ever! So many have gardens that people don't come here for asthma anymore. We're not crazy. We just don't want to be cooped up the way it is back east or deal with the snow/ice and freezing temps.
@@gardensofthegods not really much work, you're just lazy
A few years back I went to an education conference in Phoenix. I found the lack of humidity and the flat neighborhoods perfect for walking. One time when out for my daily constitution I spotted...could it be?!?!...an emerald green lawn shimmering in the distance. I resolved to walk to that place. With every step I thought about water bills and grass type and mowing. It was like contemplating Oz. I finally arrived. The entire lawn was gravel, spray painted green. Amazing.
I’m moving to the desert in a few years for reasons not related to the weather, but after some research I found that it will actually be nice weather. The summer will be hot and I’ll probably go somewhere else for that time (camping, etc). But where I’m from, summers are too hot to go out and winters are too cold to go out. That means I can only enjoy the outdoors in spring and fall. In the desert, I can enjoy outdoors for spring, fall, AND winter.
I'm 22 and I appreciate hearing the perspectives of this generation in this video 👍 I don't have AC in my apartment, so I leave the windows wide open all night (thankfully I'm on the second story) and close them during the hot afternoons to trap the cool air in. I usually works unless it gets in the high 90s! Thanks for the video
Here are some tips for people without AC this helped me when I had no AC. Go and cover all your windows with a UV ray blocking window film and put the frosted kind up it’ll help block the some of the suns heat. Buy blinds that block more of the suns heat and keep the blinds closed. Now go buy bunch of fans best ones are desk fans so you can put them on a table or a desk and position them where you sit one by the couch one by your bed one at the kitchen table so on. Forget the evaporator coolers those will just make you feel more hot a typical fan that can push air around it works great. Wear less clothing why’ll home if you can just wear your boxers that’s it less clothing you have on at home more cool you’ll feel. My last tip is too skip the hot showers that will just raise your body temp and when you get out the body will take longer to cool off. You wanna take a somewhat cold shower and since it’s hot and humid after you dry off go sit in front of one your fans for a few minutes this will help any moisture still on your skin evaporate and not make you still feel hot after your shower.
After I take a shower, I let the cold water spray in the tub for awhile. It really cools the bathroom back down.
Now u say a semi cool shwr. Can u please be more specific?
Could I get a #? Me & my wife are sitting here, wanting to shower but how cool
Use sunscreens on windows that get direct sun. They block a great amount of heat.
My first AC! !977! 2018 I could not live without the AC!
What absolutely beautiful and kind people used to be !! a perfect world !xx
It was really all about the house design that made it bearable. Dogtrots were made with that breezeway in the middle and long roofs over the porches so that they caught wind like a kite. It was also advantageous to be up on a hill as there was nothing to block the breeze, or off a body of water on a slope. High ceilings let hot air rise up and if you had a cupola or transoms above the doors and windows- that would move air as well. House design in the 50s and 60s when I was growing up really was developing towards a dependence on electric fans... in the 70s, low ceilings and dark rooms shrouded by heavy curtains kept your window unit functioning more effectively.
It’s genuinely amazing how much cooler buildings can be because of architecture. When I was in Cuba a few years ago I was baking in the sun and dipped into a bar/ cafe for something to drink and was shocked how much cooler it was in there. Easily a 20 degree difference between inside and outside with no ac.
@@maggiee639 yes regrettably soon it's going to be lost ... the knowledge of building houses to a specific design to reduce the Heat .
@@gardensofthegods Nobody is losing this knowledge. Houses were built that way because they had no other option and it was affordable with plenty of room to build. Now you have to cram a house wherever it fits and since the occupants arent going to give up AC, you make it as good as an insulated box can be.
In the 1920s you could buy or build a house like these for 5x the average income. That is simply not reality anymore for any kind of house. And if you want a house like this, it will be closer to 20x the average income.
@@NoLongo anybody who has ever had a blackout where there was no electricity for days or even weeks where they live during unbearably hot and or humid weather or a heat wave would have loved to have had the kind of structure and Design where they could direct some of that heat out of their home simply due to the way it was designed .
Yes in the future there still will be blueprints and visuals were people will know how to design and build those homes but the problem is a good number of them will not understand that some of those designs were intended also to direct out Heat ...
... I'm saying that knowledge yes will be lost just like nowadays people might see some kind of instrument or tool that was used in the home hundreds of years ago but they cannot tell you what it's purpose was .
I wasn't talking about what kind of neighborhoods they were in or if they have some land or not .
We all know the way they build houses nowadays is horrible the way they have them too close together on tract housing and that wasn't exactly what I was talking about as much as the actual design of the house .
But yes having them too close together would prevent them in some cases from getting good breezes if they could during hot weather if their electricity wasn't working .
And yes we have better knowledge of insulation but what good is that going to be if there is a blackout in your area and no electricity during a heat wave for 3 weeks .
So I say yes years from now a lot of people won't understand why some houses were built with an entrance hall going straight from front to back with a door at each entrance or exit .... just like a lot of people won't understand why it's good sometimes to have high ceilings and windows way up high that you can open up at the top to direct the heat out .
There will be people believe it or not he won't know this because if you look at a lot of people nowadays they don't have common-sense on a number of things .
When I was a kid, my mom, brother and I lived in several different homes in California. None of them were air conditioned. The top floor apartments were always the worst…I remember just laying there at night with a spray bottle filled with water, intermittently spritzing myself off and a wet washcloth on my head, trying to sleep. Now that summers are hotter I’m grateful for the air conditioning that we have now but we also use an attic fan when temps aren’t too high. We actually didn’t make the investment into AC until 18 years into our marriage, and I use it to level out the temp at 73-75 bc I don’t like it freezing cold in the house…guess I’m used to the heat!
I had prickly heat my first month of life in the hottest summer near Chicago up to that time. I think that influenced my parents to get window air conditioners when they could finally afford them. I think I was about 5. It would get so hot and humid I thought I was going to die from it and then a huge thunderstorm or tornado would sweep through and it was wonderfully cool. I now live where it is a lot dryer. Heat and humidity still leaves me rashy. :)
@Tami. 😊 65--68° works for me. I must be a Polar Bear. 😆
Well I'm a 50yr old Australian and I grew up without AC, and Summer without AC here in Australia can be brutal.
Love all these memories. The gentleman who talked about swimming in the gravel pit tickled me no end, especially, the part about 30 dogs following the children to the forbidden gravel pit, who wanted to swim too.
When I was a kid we used a whole house fan or attic fan. Also ceiling fans and room darkening curtains. Dress in light clothing like dresses, shorts with cotton as king of fabrics. I live in Houston Texas.
We canned outside at night preparing the article to be canned during the day. We also cooked at night over a grill. We slept during the day to work at night.
Back in the 50's and 60's growing up with 6 siblings it was little things my Mom would do. A wet cold wash rag slapped on your face a few times a day. After the sun went down everyone packed in the car for a cool ride before bed. A trip to A&W for a few gallons of Root Beer. Sleeping downstairs on the floor because it was cooler than upstairs. We didn't even have fans. Now that I think about it we was kinda like poor folk.
My husband, who’s actually ten years older than me, had a/c in his house growing up but I didn’t. He cannot stand doing the old school “box fan in the window” trick 😂. That’s all I knew back in the day.
My aunt and uncle built a swamp cooler into the side of their greenhouse, and if you haven't experienced on of those _you'd be amazed_ at how comfortable that contraption keeps a space, even in 100+ degree weather.
I've never heard of a swamp cooler...
@@kathleencardincpm4435 Sounds like these old timers never have, either. 🙂
We live in West Tennessee and my grandfather had a large box fan (42"×42")built out of a commercial size vent fan meant for barns/greenhouses! It kept the air moving throughout the whole house! We had something similar (built into most homes in the area in the 1950/60s) a "whole house fan"! These fans were usually 4ft x 4ft and built into the ceilings, pulling air in through the windows, blowing up into the attic space and out through the vents! Kept a refreshing breeze throughout the whole house!!
Hell even when I was growing up in Cape Coral FL, back in the 70s we didn't have any air conditioning. That was a luxury back then. But as a little kids I don't ever remember minding the heat. We were always outside.
The heat don't get to me as much as the Humidity
Thank you Mr. Carrier! God bless you.
I was born in the 50's and grew up in New Orleans during the 60's.
I remember not having A/C until the late 60's when we got a whole house window unit.
Before then,we used one of those big attic fans in the hallway.
We also only had a 13" B&W tv until 1968,when we finally got a 25" RCA color console tv.
My in-laws house was still using the attic whole house fan when I was dating my husband back in 1984. I asked them why they didn't have air-conditioning. I guess my husband told them I was a keeper, because in July they installed a Ruud heat pump air conditioner and heater. I can't recommend one of those, but it was better than the whole house fan. Just that the outside unit had a positive and negative pole the exact same width as a lizard, and that little critter fried the outside unit, costs almost a thousand dollars to fix it. The second time it happened, we just cranked open the windows and plugged in the whole house fan again. Kinda happy we sold the house. It only had 8ft ceilings, the heat and humidity build up was awful. I don't think Florida should have indoor wall to wall carpet either, tile floors are much cooler. Put throw rugs down in the winter.
I moved to Florida in 1974, we moved into new apartments for the first few years, all had AC/heaters. Just don't want to live on the second floor, heat rises. Lady I worked with had a townhouse unit, she said they opened up the upstairs windows and turned the fans to blow outside in front of the windows. And downstairs to blow inside from the windows. That would chase the heat out faster, then turn the AC on overnight to sleep, trying to save money.
But we survived the heat, and lived to tell the tale.
More stories from the elderly need to be recorded before it's too late and they're all gone. I loved the stories these people told, and I'd like to hear more of them about the old days. When I was a tiny child my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would sit around telling stories from long ago, it's important for kids to hear these stories. I'd never have known about ball lightning if it wasn't for my Great-grandmother. These stories need to be recorded though, in their own voices, and accents, before it's too late. Please make more.
Thank you for the video, greatly appreciated.
Take care, stay safe, have a nice day.
👵🙂✌️🖖 😷 🙉🙈🙊 🌎☮️🕊️
Amen. Oral histories are the real deal. You can see it, feel it, taste it. Tell you what, tell oral history yourself, too. What do you remember? What was it like when you were younger? And what are you glad has changed?
I can agree. The older folks have a treasure trove of stories and wisdom to back them up. So very interesting to hear their story of how different life was compared to these modern times. I can see it and feel it.
I grew up in Florida in the 60s and 70s (Daytona Beach). None of the schools I went to had ac until I went to a new one in 10th grade. I honestly don’t remember the heat being a problem or concern at school. We lived in a small 2 bedroom house and were somewhat poor and had 2 window units that never seemed to get the job done especially at sleep time. Glad those days are behind me!
Thank you for this video. It brought back many childhood memories.
I remember in school in New York that our classroom had a big box fan placed on each corner to try and keep us cool...until the Fall arrived.
I started teaching in Central Texas in 1979. No air conditioning. We had one box fan that I would put in the window in the morning because it was in the shade. As the day went on I moved the fan into the room. I don’t remember being that uncomfortable. But I was young. The kids were fine as well. My second year I taught kindergarten. 35 students in the morning and another group of 35 in the afternoon. Same box fan. Only difference was I was pregnant! My principal insisted that I lay down in the nurses office during my lunch break and conference time that were back to back in the middle of the day. So glad when I got to a school with air conditioning! What a difference!
1979! Why did they not have a/c in 1979?
@@jehouse61 that school was built in the 1950’s. They finally put air conditioning in in the middle 1980’s.
We are very fortunate to have something at Texas Tech University called the Southwest Collection. And for many decades, they have had people who go out and voice record and later video record older folks who had lived through interesting times. Not all these people were famous. But they all had interesting memories. Kids now in history classes should have visitors and also field trips to learn what where they live and where their families lived was like in years past. But back to the Southwest Collection. I feel they should be congratulated and frequently honored for conserving these memories that would otherwise be lost. And they continuously find better ways to conserve and store these memories so they won't be lost. I remember one episode of Star Trek the original where a planetary civilization had stored its data and history in special cubes which still existed.
Cheers to all, don't forget the simple history! /Dr. Chase
And how did they keep cool .. the stories
I lived out in the country without air conditioning for almost 10 years. All I did was stick box fans in the windows after 7 PM and that did a pretty good job of cooling my room provided there was airflow from other windows in the house. I only just recently moved to a condo with full, effective HVAC and I am already completely addicted to it.
My family didn't have AC until we moved into an apartment complex in 1970. Each room had a window AC unit. A real luxury. Before that it was a lot of screened windows and fans
Growing up in hot SoCal l remember in the 60s when we went on vacation to the Serria we would leave from LA at about 3AM so we could cross the desert when it was cool. My dad put a canvas bag with a picture of a cow skull full of water on the front of the car. This was all to go about 300 miles.
I've lived here most of my 67 years and have only lived in one house with AC for 8 years.
I live at 6k feet now and it still gets hot. I sit in front of a fan and wet myself with a spray bottle of water. I wet my dog down when we go for a walk.
People have become kinda sissified.
Lord I swear it didn't get this hot when I was a kid. I live in Kentucky and we are averaging around 90 to 100° all summer Plus thick humidity. I never noticed it when I was a kid. I'd say most of us didn't we were too busy playing. I grew up in the time of air conditioning even if it was just one window unit in the main parts of the house. And I have often wondered what it would have been like to live prior to air conditioning. Going from the hot house, to the hot work, to the hot car (if you even had one), back again to the hot house. Although I would assume that a car would be probably one of the main release of the heat since you could create a wonderful breeze. Our AC broke a few weeks ago and I was soooo glad and fortunate that I had bought a window unit for my bedroom a couple years ago. Sometimes I do think we humans have gotten way too spoiled but it is what it is.
Same here in E. TN. It NEVER used to get this hot for days on end. And yes I was in the same boat with the central A/C breaking down and I too had bought a window unit for the bedroom about 3 yrs ago when the central went on the blink the first time. Our new heat pump was delivered this week😆🥵🥵
Maybe the reason we think it never got this hot is because we were used to the heat before air conditioning?
I've gotten used to 105° and -20° (truck driver. X3) but the shift between winter and summer is murder.
@@jamesgizasson Former truck driver here. The WORST for me was that 110⁰ dry heat in AZ. Everyone always said that dry heat was better...yeah not so much🥵🥵
@@TWBlack Not much, but you aren't drowning in sweat when you try to sleep at night!
I'm on the east coast now, and it's something. Can't wait to get back to Cali! :3
@@jamesgizasson East coast heat is definitely different for us West coast people. I rode across the country a couple of different summers with my dad when he used to drive semi truck back in the 90's. I remember it felt like I couldn't breath normally until we got back into the western states like Colorado or so, due to the higher humidity that the Midwest and East coast has. First time I ever went to Phoenix in 1998 it was 118 degrees at 8 PM. We had no A/C in the truck as it had quit working sometime around crossing the Arizona/NM border. That night was truly miserable.
I truly enjoyed this! Growing up, I remember porch swings and sitting in front of grandparents window units before they got central air.
Last week here in central Illinois it was oppressive with the heat and humidity the heat index was 106. I remember telling people how i felt sorry for that anyone had to live and sleep in this weather. I thank God I have the means to deal with it.
My parents grew up in CHICAGO, my mom's family of, 9 people in a 1 bedroom apartment, with no AC. Growing up in California and Denver, we did not have a house with AC until 1976. The first home I bought in 1994 only had a swamp cooler, and we survived for the first year until we had enough money to add in an AC system.
One adapts and doesn't complain.
We stayed outside all summer long. We went to the lake and swam. We turned the sprinkler on and ran through it. When it rained every afternoon, it was glorious. Our beds were next to the window. Late May and August in school was the worst.
If it cools off at night those are the best times open the windows the breeze would cool off the home. But in Florida it’s not always like that when it’s still humid at night
Fun fact: This is why we have summer vacation. It has nothing to do with farming. It was so that rich families could take their kids on vacation to cooler climates.
@@UmmYeahOk Fun fact: Yeah, it DID have to do with farming, although daylight savings time didn't. That was due to wartime issues. Farmers worked from sun up to sun down, and beyond.
@@UmmYeahOk Gee, how dub I must be. I thought it was to allow children to help work on their family farms.
@@653j521 summer is the absolute worst time for farming. Before the creation of summer vacation, rural areas had school in the summer and winter because they were needed at home to plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. In urban areas where there was no farming, they had school year round. If you are a farmer and needed extra hands, why on earth would you send your kids off when you needed them the most? Springtime planting and fall time harvest.
We opened all our windows at night and had fans drawing in the cooler air. In the morning we would shut and draw the blinds and curtains on all the windows but the north side of the house. Fans would remain in them drawing in the cooler air. No meals were cooked in the oven. We would set up a sprinkler under the shade of a tree and let it soak us.
One of my favorite inventors❤️❤️❤️ thank you so much for AC. I cannot live without it.
In Texas here. I know the tall windows very well. I normally keep mine on 81 and it's comfortable. If I need to cool down more, I'll sit by a fan. But I prefer Winter. I always say, I can build a fire, but I can't build an AC.
That's like my feeling I can put on more clothes for the cold but at some point I can't take any more off for the heat. :D
I didn't grow up with air conditioning because my parents would say it's too expensive. I would just sit in my room hot and wait until night time to move around in the summer. Fast forward I still live with them and I'm going to invest in an air conditioning unit lol
thank you for sharing your wisdom and stories with us ! what a lovely video. it was wonderful to hear about your lives
Good video and story. Thanks for posting! My brother and I shared a bedroom on the 2nd floor of our parents home. We didn't have AC and the summer was hot in that room. We had one oscillating fan and it was terrible. I don't miss those days for a second!
Growing up in the 80s in Lawrence, Mass, most of the places, except the department stores and supermarkets had no AC. At home we survived the summers with the surrounding trees, and the schools were extremely hot! On those really hot days in school, they would turn off the lights and have the students watch movies for the remainder of the day or have early dismissals to go home. Now, as buildings are getting more modern, there is AC everywhere! Right now (7/5/22) as I'm watching this video, I have 2 window fans cooling my condo at 65° outside. If I want, I could technically turn on the AC, but the natural cool air is way better than the AC, yet the fans do a better job cooling off my condo!
65° I wouldn't need a fan at all because it would be nice and cool at that temperature