I hate summer.

[Absinthe_1900]

My house was built in 1931, at one time it still had the giant late 1940's early Carrier airconditioning units in the windows.
They actually stuck out two and a half feet on the inside of the windows.

 

[jake_fink]

The Biograph theatre in Chicago advertised that it was cooled by refrigeration in 1934 when a certain gentleman took a certain lady in red to see Manhatten Melodrama.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I'm with ya on this one, I'm just not a summer person.

It brings out all the enormous T-shirt/shorts wearing folk, the antithesis of vintage.
But being the eternal optimist and entrepeneur that I am, I think it's time to introduce my new,(well, not really) idea for summer casual wear.
I think this is the most practical and most logical progression in the evolution of the giant tent-sized T-shirt, and made for hot weather.

"New" for this summer, the caftan.
(The car is actually made of solid silver! But that is another story.)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

It's already been done, Major. The MuMu

bk

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Drat!

:eusa_doh:

 

[221b]

Summer

Four more months of this!:rage:
Khakis and a polo I guess!

 

[Wild Root]

A friend of mine has a late 30's Palm Beach DB suit in my size he keeps telling me the'll get to me soon... I need it now more then ever!!! That is if I'm going to dress up this month or the next... I NEED THAT SUIT!!!:rage:

=WR=

 

[Tomasso]

Yeah. I agree. There's nothing quite like the heat in Brazil- and the closest I was to the Amazon was only in Cuiaba.

The weather in the south of Brazil(Cuiaba, Campo Grande, Bonito.etc.) is actually more oppressive than that of the Amazon.

 

[Mike K.]

Some of us like it hot!!!

Forget a white Christmas...

I'm dreaming of some white beach sand
And palm trees swaying in the breeze
Where the seashells glisten
And beach bums listen
To waves lapping at the shore

A change in latitude does wonders for the soul. I get cold when the temps fall below 80. The days of gray skies and freezing rain aren't missed one bit; I'm glad I moved south. To me, snow is one of those profane 4-letter S words. Give me sand! Give me sun! Give me summer! Give me global warming!

Summer is the time for linen, cotton, guayabera & aloha shirts, white bucs, boardshorts, canvas sneakers, Bermuda shorts, sun dresses, bikinis, cooking on the grill, ice cream, riding the cruiser bicycle, picnics, etc. etc. etc. Enjoy what's been given to you; before you know it winter will be here again!

 

[Wild Root]

I could eat ice cream in the middle of the Klondike and freeze to death with a smile on my face! lol

I enjoy the sun and things of summer but, I live in a small 1920's house with poor ventilation and I'm not always able to hit the beach... winters here in CA are mild... gets no colder then say, 40oF at night? Some times 30oF. A nice vintage suit and a light over coat and I'm happy! So much easier to worm up on a cold day, I'm also a big fan of hot chocolate and that's not something I enjoy in the heat of July! But, I do enjoy all the summer fruits and there are good things to be had only in Summer! So, we have seasons to balance out the year because, if it were all the same, we'd be so board! It'd be like this:

Oh, look, it's another perfect sunny day, another prefect 75oF day in the sun... oh man, wish it would storm or something... I'm so board. lol

=WR=

 

[Benny Holiday]

Global warming is no myth

We just finished summer here a couple of months ago, and it was the worst summer ever. The humidity was stifling just about every day, and the average temperature was 98 degrees Fahrenheit, with the hottest day being New year's Day at 113 degrees!

I used to enjoy summer, you'd cop a few really hot days, but that's good beach weather. The last few years have just become plain nasty, though. Everybody laboured with the heat this year, even people who call themselves 'summer people' and who prefer the heat. It was so bad, I know that in October I'll start to dread the weeks to come when the weather starts to heat up.

 

[scotrace]

And yet

See the thread about snow in Reno.

 

[221b]

Well, the nice thing about summer is swimming in my pool and having bbq's.

 

[Michaelson]

I think in the old days, people just got used to sweat.

We NEVER got used to it. We just lived with it. It did make those 'simple joys' more enjoyable. I think back to those days before a/c, and remember now much we enjoyed standing in front of the large open front doors of a department store....all the cold air rushing out. Talk about heaven! Neat advertising too...made you WANT to go in just to cool down. You might even buy something while you're in there. That was another reason the movie was a great summer escape...they were almost always air conditioned. Who CARED what was showing...at least you were cool!

Nope. I don't miss those hot, summer days at all.

No escape from the heat at night but a fan that was just moving hot air around the room, and not a breath of air moving outside. You eventually passed out from heat exhaustion, only to get up the next day and do it all over again. THAT'S why us kids were outside all the time. It was miserable inside during the day.

Nope, I liked summers...but my memories are definitely tempered by the memory of those rotten hot days and nights.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Miss Neecerie]

We NEVER got used to it. We just lived with it.

No escape from the heat at night but a fan that was just moving hot air around the room, and not a breath of air moving outside. You eventually passed out from heat exhaustion, only to get up the next day and do it all over again.

Some of us still do not have a/c at home. Summer at work is actually a good thing, since they -do- have a/c and I would be passed out at home, you don't mind quite so much going to work.

Weekends, uggg...spray bottles with mist settings are a help, but that and a fan is as close to a/c as my victorian house has.

 

[Lauren]

Ummmm, they did have A/C in the 30's and 40's... not quite what it is today but, they did it!

And you betcha they took advantage of it, too

 

[Matt Deckard]

Bucket of ice in front of the vent.

 

[Michaelson]

I don't personally remember ever seeing them at the time, but the oddest thing I've ever read about (and seen 'after the fact' ) was the old swamp coolers that you mounted on the side of your car. It looked just like a torpedo launcher, and was filled with water. It hung on the passenger side, suspended in the closed rear window, and the movement of the car moved air through the front of the cooler, pushed air across the water, then into the car. REALLY odd looking, but from all reports, seemed to work fairly well at speeds of around 40+ mph.

As to ice....we had ice trays, so ice was a commodity used for special occasions...like meals. We did have a ice house in town that did quite a brisk business in summer. It lasted right up into the early 70's, and sold block ice. There was no such thing as bagged ice.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Cobden]

I've twice had to wear a dark suit (for memorial services) in the Egyptian desert in August (about 110-120 degrees) for pretty much an entire day. Of course, the only dark suit I had was vintage (all my modern dark suits where still back in the UK). And three piece. My one concession to the heat was a panama hat or a solar topee. Both times, I took two spare shirts with me and had to change my shirt - you literally have to peel the shirt of you. Not nice.

 

[Haversack]

Air conditioning has had a few side effects in keeping us all cool through Summer. One effect I remember learning about in High School US history was how air conditioning permited the Federal government to operate year round. Prior to 1928 when Carrier installed air conditioning to the Capitol Building in Washington D. C., Congress did all it could to finish up its business before the end of May so they could adjourn before the Summer heat set in. Other hot weather countries used to have a Summer capital to which the government moved during the hot months.

Another direct result of air conditioning is that it made modern high-rise office building possible. (along with steel frames, the elevator, and the fluorescent light.) Big office building generate heat from all the people, lights and office machinery. The bigger the building, the more heat which has to be dispossed of. In plan, the exteriors of the high rises of the 1920s and 1930s tended to be convuluted, (or "articulated" in architect-speak). This means there was a lot of surface area to the exterior. Just like a radiator to throw off this excess heat. And there were a lot of windows which could be opened for ventilation. The floor plans also promoted this. You would commonly have a central hall off of which offices would open. An office would consist of an outer office and an inner office. There would be frosted glass between the inner and outer offices to allow daylight to penetrate deeper into the building. (less electric lighting needed). There would also be transoms above every door. From hallway to outer office to inner office. These would be opened to permit cross ventilation of the hottest air. Think of Sam Spade's office arrangement in the Maltese Falcon to get the pattern. Pre-air conditioned hotels would also have transoms. Of course, transoms became a plot device in a whole variety of Golden Age fiction...

Some years back when I did some work on California's old Governors' Mansion in Sacramento, I realized that it had been designed to stay as cool as possible during the 95-105 degree Summers which that town is prone to. (Of course its generally dry heat). If you don't know the mansion, it was built in 1877 by the manager of the Huntington-Hopkins Hardware Company of Sacramento. (The store's owners had developed other interests by then). The manager, a Mr. Gallatin, said that he stopped counting the cost when it reached $70,000. (And that was wholesale!) In style it was Second Empire Italianate. Think of the house that Charles Addams drew for his 'family'. Here's a link to a photo of it:

http://www.parks.ca.gov/image_view.asp?src=../pages/498/images/image108.jpg&id=3944

Anyway, the house faces north with almost no windows or openings to the south. There are three covered porches with double doors to the east, west, and north. These open on to a T-shaped main hall on the main (second floor). (The ground floor is actually the basement and is brick. Floods were still a hazard.) The main floor has 14' ceilings and the third floor has 12' ceiling. There is actually a crawl space in the exterior walls. The outer studs are balloon-framed and the inner studs run floor to floor. (I actually found the remains of a workmans lunch from the 1920s in there - a dried up apple core wrapped in some newspaper). All the windows had awnings and shutters. The six-story tower in front had an open-well winding stair to the top where there were openable windows in all directions. With these windows open, the tower acted as a chimney and pulled the hottest air in the house up and exhausted it. You would either have the porch facing away from the sun open to draw in the coolest air on the main floor or draw from the brick basement. Lots of little things incorporated into the design to keep the place as cool as possible. A lot of the older architectural elements were there for a practical purpose. Nowadays, its build the box with the least cost;. slap on a few windows and decoration where it will be seen best; and calculate the size of the HVAC plant needed according to its intended use and loading. One building for all climates.

Anyway, linen, seersucker, straw hats, iced drinks, and broad, sheltered porches in the evening dusk remain your friends.

Haversack.