I remember growing up in the 1950s in Los Angeles area in the August heat

 In the 1950s I grew up mostly in Glendale California. At that time temperatures of 105 to 115 degrees in Glendale were not unusual. However, most homes did not have air conditioners. I remember my father buying a portable air conditioner when I was about 16 years old for our home and this made quite a difference in how cool we were able to get.

My first car at age 16 was a 1956 Ford Station wagon which did not have air conditioning. At 20 my 3rd car, a brand new 1968 Camaro I bought from working also did not have air conditioning. However, my mother's Chevy Impala did have air conditioning but it was the only car in the family to have air conditioning.

In fact, I didn't own a car with air conditioning until I met my present wife in the 1990s and her 4Runner had air conditioning and then every car after that we bought had air conditioning. It just wasn't the way most people thought in the 1950s to 1980s especially, (to have air conditioning in one's car or truck).

We were just sort of used to "toughing it out and having headaches in the heat" during summers in California.

So, heat headaches were the norm from my California  childhood on until the 1990s.

So, it wasn't until I was in my middle to late 40s that I thought having an air conditioner an important thing in my life.