Ed Pawlowski wrote:

> On 10/4/2018 10:41 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> > On Thu 04 Oct 2018 05:15:27p, Ed Pawlowski told us...
> >
> >> On 10/4/2018 11:22 AM, jmcquown wrote:
> >>> On 10/2/2018 1:50 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>> I spend most of January/February here hiding from the snow and
> >>>> cold. Down there I expect to hide in the house with the AC for
> >>>> July/August. At least there will be sunshine.
> >>>
> >>> Ed, unless you're comfortable with 80°F temps, you should expect
> >>> to spend time inside with AC from late May until some time in
> >>> October.
> >>>
> >>> It's still 88-90°F in the afternoons here in southern SC.ÂÂ* It's
> >>> not yet cool enough (for me) to not use the AC.ÂÂ* Then again, I
> >>> prefer 71F.
> >>>
> >>> Jill
> >>
> >> I'm ok to at least 90. I can take brief periods higher. When I
> >> was working, our plant used steam in the process so it was always
> >> 15+ degrees hotter than outside. I spent half my day out there
> >> and the boiler room to do testing, even hotter. Of course, my
> >> wife likes it cooler.
> >>
> >
> > For as long as I can remember until I was out of college my dad was a
> > VP in the HVAC division of York Corp. As a consequence I can't remember
> > a time when we didn't have central air conditioning and forced air
> > heating in every house we lived in. My dad believed in maintaining 72F
> > throughout the year. I was spoiled by this, and I never wanted to go
> > to anyone's home that didn't have A/C. :-)
> > AC is one of the great inventions of modern times. My parents bought
> one that did the entire downstairs of our house. That was in the 1950s.
> We slept in the living room on hot nights. Since that time, I spent
> maybe one summer without AC in at least the bedroom.
>
> I don't know how people survived years ago in the cities.


On really insufferable nights they'd sleep on their fire escapes or roofs, or even out in the parks if those options were available...in Chicago they'd go out to the lakeside and camp for the night. I've also read that every summer in NYC some peeps during the night would roll off of those fire escapes or roofs, sustaining injuries or death.

Movies were packed as movie houses had A/C, millions would pack a place like Jones Beach, pools, those who could afford it sent the fam off to the cooler countryside, e.g. the Catskills, SW Michigan for Chicagoans, etc...

You look at old films or pix of summer in the city during those days, and many simply lived out on the streets, kids around fire hydrants, people on stoops and porches, etc. By the late 40's that streetscape began to change a bit, corner bars were big buyers of the first room air conditioners, the adults at least could retire to the groggery for some cool comfort, and they could also watch sports on that brand new miracle device, a television set.

On 10/5/2018 7:16 AM, GM wrote:

> Peeps flocked to suburbia to escape the squalid hot and crowded cities...that combined with reliable and affordable A/C, TV, and then cheaper air travel changed the urban summertime streetscapes. You still see the old "living on the streets in the summer" thang, but usually only in poorer nabes now...and some still don't have A/C, during heat waves the cities open up public "cooling centers"...
>

I grew up in Philadelphia. Like most big cities, it had the downtown
core and as you left the center there were definite differences in the
way things were built. My grandmother lived in a section that was built
in the late 1800's with row houses, lots of concrete and asphalt. We
live another 5 miles that was mostly built in the 1940s. Twin houses
with yards and grass, wider streets. Not as noticeable in the middle of
a hot summer day, but later in the evening, there was a good 10 degree
temperature difference with less heat retention.

On Friday, October 5, 2018 at 11:53:52 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
> I grew up in Philadelphia. Like most big cities, it had the downtown
> core and as you left the center there were definite differences in the
> way things were built. My grandmother lived in a section that was built
> in the late 1800's with row houses, lots of concrete and asphalt. We
> live another 5 miles that was mostly built in the 1940s. Twin houses
> with yards and grass, wider streets. Not as noticeable in the middle of
> a hot summer day, but later in the evening, there was a good 10 degree
> temperature difference with less heat retention.
>
I can believe it. I live three miles from downtown one thing I have noticed
is trees, flowers, and bushes come into bloom much faster than those living
10-15 miles away. The temperature difference was also noticed to be lower
the further away I got from town; no jacket needed here but out in the sub-
burbs a sweater was appreciated.

On 2018-10-05 12:53 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

> I grew up in Philadelphia.Â* Like most big cities, it had the downtown
> core and as you left the center there were definite differences in the
> way things were built.


LOL thinking about the term "downtown core". It appeared in a letter to
the editor of the local weekly paper when they were talking about
putting in a traffic light for pedestrians. Someone wrote in about
others not understanding the complexities of the downtown core. This is
a bedroom community of less than 15,000 and the "downtown core" two
short blocks along one street.