Does Anyone Remember .....

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/17/14 at 5:02pm

..... Air coolers sold in Woolworth's as the poor mans alternative to air conditioners?

[ARTc3]

Posted: 4/17/14 at 5:12pm

I remember better... I remember movie theaters that were "air cooled" before the commonly adapted air conditioning.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/17/14 at 5:21pm

Yup

Imagine in the 30's this was a big deal.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/17/14 at 10:52pm

Trust me, it's still a very big deal here in the desert. Some people use air coolers INSTEAD of air conditioning, though I don't know how they do it: the coolers work by blowing air over water and don't work very well when the humidity rises in our summer "monsoon" season.

We have two large coolers on our roof and use them about 10 months per year. The other two months we use the a.c.

And I don't know if Woolworth still exists, but Walmart sells them:

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=Air%20Coolers&adid=22222222220206125630&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=25792799533&wl4=&veh=sem

[~~tiny3~~]

Posted: 4/17/14 at 11:24pm

really old school AC was the fire escape

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/18/14 at 12:01am

There are some who say the real factor behind the Golden Age of Cinema during the 30s was the fact that many movie theaters began installing air conditioners during the 20s and 30s, which of course very few people could afford in their homes.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/18/14 at 12:43am

The palaces flourished during the depression as they afforded the common man a chance to feel like a king. For 25 cents he went into a building where he felt important for a few hours. There was also no TV.

Updated On: 4/18/14 at 12:43 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/18/14 at 6:37am

I like Lucy Schmeeler (Alice Pearce) in "On the Town" when she tells Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly that she's going to a "nice, air-cooled movie" to help relieve her cold.