I did without ac for many years in my top floor tenemento,out of pride,and due to the low wages that I was earning. By 2013,I was feeling a little more flush, and wanting to do it right,went to Gringer’s on 1st avenue. I had long discussions about btu’s,square footage, and sprung for the $800 smackeroos,installation included. The biggest pleasure was the preset,wherein I could climb the steps after a day in the hot restaurant kitchen,and be greeted by a cool quiet room.
Such a brilliant move, the preset! The pride was definitely part of it, like these three showers I take a day and the fan I bought from the Fan Man on the corner (he was real, in Greenpoint) are all I need.
I grew up without AC for the most part, in 38C heat on the Adriatic, and I still honestly don’t know how to say ‘central air’ in Croatian. The idea of being able to afford AC, or wanting to, as a mark of some sort of adulthood, this resonated with me. We have two now, courtesy of our landlord, but when I’m home alone I still sometimes forget to turn them on, something about being used to the heat and maybe echoes of a poverty mindset.
Yeah I was there that summer in Chicago too, no AC. I hit the lake every day (a mile from my Rogers Park place) and occasionally slept on the floor of a friend’s place with AC with a little group of other climate refugees. Hot times.
well I sure do appreciate this one. my memories of that Godspeed album are soooo Chicago-based too. the hell of apartment ac window units....just nightmares, always. in our house now, it seems like it *might* stay cool enough to do without window units (no central air obvi), but that's partly because it doesn't get a lot of natural light---this is mostly fine with me (I don't like sun either!) but it's exacerbating the mold/moisture problem we're dealing with, which is also truly hellish. I've gained access to a new material class position as a homeowner, but buying an old affordable house and not having shit tons of money to fix it up means I am still navigating the reality of not being rich and having to live in dwellings that are inevitably impacted by the climate crisis and crumbling infrastructure of capitalism....
I hope the new AC works well but that you also get to enjoy a few more cooler days and nights. & thank goodness for music to make the ambience of whatever our home is to feel a little dreamier.
I love how a place can stay cool in the summertime. Inhabiting the space between the solutions money offer and the reality of our finances and the limits of our DIY capabilities appears to be vast, and frustrating. Here’s to the deep wells of patience this life demands of us!
Seriously the stuff you all are dealing with in your home is so tough. I feel like we’re supposed to be able to fix everything ourselves, but sometimes we can’t. And that’s ok.
I did without ac for many years in my top floor tenemento,out of pride,and due to the low wages that I was earning. By 2013,I was feeling a little more flush, and wanting to do it right,went to Gringer’s on 1st avenue. I had long discussions about btu’s,square footage, and sprung for the $800 smackeroos,installation included. The biggest pleasure was the preset,wherein I could climb the steps after a day in the hot restaurant kitchen,and be greeted by a cool quiet room.
Such a brilliant move, the preset! The pride was definitely part of it, like these three showers I take a day and the fan I bought from the Fan Man on the corner (he was real, in Greenpoint) are all I need.
I love a rainy holiday too! And also not putting in the AC to keep the windows wide open as long as possible haha
I grew up without AC for the most part, in 38C heat on the Adriatic, and I still honestly don’t know how to say ‘central air’ in Croatian. The idea of being able to afford AC, or wanting to, as a mark of some sort of adulthood, this resonated with me. We have two now, courtesy of our landlord, but when I’m home alone I still sometimes forget to turn them on, something about being used to the heat and maybe echoes of a poverty mindset.
Those concepts work in tandem I think.
Yeah I was there that summer in Chicago too, no AC. I hit the lake every day (a mile from my Rogers Park place) and occasionally slept on the floor of a friend’s place with AC with a little group of other climate refugees. Hot times.
well I sure do appreciate this one. my memories of that Godspeed album are soooo Chicago-based too. the hell of apartment ac window units....just nightmares, always. in our house now, it seems like it *might* stay cool enough to do without window units (no central air obvi), but that's partly because it doesn't get a lot of natural light---this is mostly fine with me (I don't like sun either!) but it's exacerbating the mold/moisture problem we're dealing with, which is also truly hellish. I've gained access to a new material class position as a homeowner, but buying an old affordable house and not having shit tons of money to fix it up means I am still navigating the reality of not being rich and having to live in dwellings that are inevitably impacted by the climate crisis and crumbling infrastructure of capitalism....
I hope the new AC works well but that you also get to enjoy a few more cooler days and nights. & thank goodness for music to make the ambience of whatever our home is to feel a little dreamier.
I love how a place can stay cool in the summertime. Inhabiting the space between the solutions money offer and the reality of our finances and the limits of our DIY capabilities appears to be vast, and frustrating. Here’s to the deep wells of patience this life demands of us!
Seriously the stuff you all are dealing with in your home is so tough. I feel like we’re supposed to be able to fix everything ourselves, but sometimes we can’t. And that’s ok.
Hot damn, as ever.