Summertime, and the living is easy..

I was just reading the comments section from the New Dharma Bums, all on the inconvenience caused by the heat wave that most Americans are experiencing. I couldn’t help but think of how we used to survive those days, back in the 1940’s. That was AD, but before A/C. (A little humor.) We lived at the beach, so most summers were a breeze. (More humor.) But there were summer days when we would have to go as a family to visit Auntie Jay, Uncle Rocky and Cousin Jill. And they lived in the second hottest place in California, the San Fernando Valley. Of course our family car had no air conditioning, so all of the windows were opened as we made our way up the Mulholland Highway and over Sepulveda Pass, dropping down into a heat that would quickly fray the tempers of all  (5) stuffed into the interior of a 1947 Oldsmobile 2 door sedan.

And the hottest place in California at the time? Well, that honor would change from time to time. Sometimes it was Bakersfield. Other times it was Colton. Once it was El Centro. It depended upon where Dad decided to take us. In a car with no A/C. But then, in the late 1940’s…Dad discovered a portable A/C unit at Pep Boys Auto Supply store. It fit into the passenger side window; just roll up the window to hold it in place. You would fill it with water and then pull a chain. That would drag the filter unit into the water supply. Release the chain and the wet filter would roll back into place and deliver moist and cool air. But more often it would simply spray the backseat passengers with water…the design needed some work. A second A/C unit that attracted Dad’s attention used a large “brick” of dry ice to cool the air. That worked better but we really missed the welcoming spray of water.