July 3, 2012
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BAC...Before Air Conditioning
My personal cut off between real grown ups (my age) and kids (a decade or more younger) is if they can remember summers without Air Conditioning.
I grew up in the 60's...and AC was rare.
The local public library had it...movie theaters...and the occasional rich relative...but that was it.
Buses and trains had windows...but not AC.
When cars started getting air conditioning, it was a BIG deal.
But I remember summer days when the heat was gruesome...and you would have killed for a decent breeze. Jersey City was mostly concrete and blacktop back then...and the local "park" didn't have grass, trees, or even bushes. There was next to no shade, and even the roof (think of it as a tiny beach made of tar) was only good for sun tanning...and in high heat you could feel it through your flip flops.
We drank water. (Soda was an expensive luxury, and even KoolAid was too expensive.)
I used to love Italian ices...they were better than ice cream when it was THAT hot...and I remember playing OUTSIDE, in the sun. I didn't LIKE to. But my mother was convinced that tans were "healthy", and she hated my pale skin. So every day I got kicked out during vacation. I figured out about the Library before I was 8. It was a long walk (seven or eight blocks away) but it had Air Conditioning, Books...and wonder of wonders, a CHILLED water fountain. When I was about ten, they also acquired another magic device...a XEROX MACHINE. I remember saving money for a week (I collected glass bottles for the deposits) so I could afford not only a coke, and a piece of melon on the way home, but for the privilege of COPYING something. I remember it cost a dime a page...and it seemed like alchemy. I can still remember the smell of the toner they used...sort of like ink, but not quite. I read my way through the kids section in one summer.
And the "park" near my house had a "sprinkler". It was a metal pole, topped with a circle that had an array of water nozzles on it. There was a metal door in the ground, usually painted green, and locked. We were city kids however...and most padlocks were no match for a decent sized rock, and some determined kids. (Not I...I was too terrified of authority and cops to risk it...but once the lock was gone, I was only too willing to open the latches.) Under the door was a deep square of concrete...with some pipes jutting from the ground. Once, they had handles on them, but too many kids ran the Sprinklers at night...so they removed them. If you were clever, and knew where to put a lock jaw wrench, you could turn it on again though.
My dad was usually the adult that did that...and you could stand under the sprinkler and soak up freezing cold water. Some of us preferred to splash in the puddles the Sprinkler made... and the water turned tepid fast after it hit the hot concrete. The routine was the same...you would get soaked, then sit in the sun until your hair dried...then back under the jets again...and during the day at least, this was how we survived the heat. Night was worse. Without a breeze, the house always felt oppressively hot. We didn't have fans, because my dad was a bear about the power bill. I remember hot, humid nights, trying to sleep on sweaty sheets and hating it. When the heat DID break, you were always so grateful...until the next heat wave.
I wonder how people make it today. My house lacks a working central air system. We use one window unit, which blessedly keeps us comfortable within reason...but when those storms hit DC, they took out power, and people today are just not used to heat anymore. I try not to think of how bad it can get without the unit, even if it does run up the power bill. But i remember popsicles, sucking on ice cubes, making fans out of just about anything...all sorts of ways to not be THAT hot...So...what do you remember?
Comments (10)
When I was a kid, we used to go camping every summer -- often to AZ, NM, NV, and other hot, dry places. Our car had no a/c, so we opened all the windows and had hot air rushing in our faces. If we complained, my dad would remind us that he had named the car TOYSASU -- "take off your sweater and shut up" Of course, the winter equivalent was POASASU!
I remember dream that was a tall twell oz. bottle of glass beverage. sure, I can get foreign coke or even canned sugar sodas but there just is something about the beauty of a cold beverage... maybe you remember nehi's I remember vernors. do you too remember the test pattern at the end of broadcast day? What about a 45's jukebox? not digital, records. here's something hard enough to find yet is everywhere- a real malt- not a shake, a Malt. did you remember the ridiculousness of a family competitive card game? perhaps you had the smart bottom card stacker slacker who never took it seriously...which made it the house game. here's another thing- oh am radio exist but when was the last time you tried to delicately tune it to the furthest station geographically away from you just for the thrill of hearing some city two states away called out?they still exist- but do you remember the dewie decimal cards? having to open up the drawer and dig about some?
We used umbrellas and hats to keep cool outside the sun. And best of all, the shade of anything like trees and buildings
I may not have been alive during the 60's but what you described seems like those opportunities with out AC created moments that will last you a lifetime. I would love to have those opportunities right now. We have the comforts of AC almost everywhere in this country. With no AC back then, it gives children and even adults to venture out of the house and socialize in a unique way. Now a days, we're all stuck in the house just trying to keep cool because we have the option to do so.
@thegirlwiththemacbookpro - I get your point, and it's valid...but I struggle with heat, even today. That thin layer you get waking up with a film of sweat....gruesome.
I also wonder how we wore so many clothes...my family insisted on underwear under everything. And the thought of a sheet at night weighing a thousand pounds because you are THAT hot...
I remember sitting under the big willow trees to stay out of the heat and riding bikes the three block to the river and jumping in.
I remember running to the corner to jump in the hydrant water when the fire dept drained it on a hot day.
I remember those long, hot days of summer sitting on the log jams as the tugs pulled them up river and swimming in the river that is not to polluted for even fish to survive in.
So many things I remember from my youth. Your story was refreshing like a brief respite from the oppressive heat, Inspiring!
I lived in Long Beach, only blocks from the ocean, so our weather was not that hot. Still I remember all those things. Once we had a heat wave and many people slept on the beach. We didn't get to. I remember stealing slivers of ice from the iceman's truck while he carried a big block of ice into the neighbor's house. We had to be careful because the bed of the truck was wooden and had splinters in it. We still have one of those sprinklers you described (only it's plastic) and I still use it. I should have had underground sprinklers put in when we built this house, but I was trying to save money at that point. Oh, I also remember huge sprinklers at the park that could be turned and aimed at other children when the adults weren't looking. That was fun. Thanks for the memories.
I grew up with A/C. But when I would go volunteer at a Christian summer camp in the summers as a teenager we had absolutely no A/C in our cabins and it was during July/August, the hottest months of Minnesota summer where it can get up to 110 with high humidity.
I'm descended from mainly cold climate Scandinavians. So the humid heat and the Viking in me don't mix well at all. I drink lots of water, eat Italian ice that I get from Sam's Club, and try to not keep the oven turned on too much during this season
living in the city i always seemed to live with someone who had a/c as far as i know. My hubby never had it, and didn't have indoor plumbing until he graduated high school. He still does very well without a/c!
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