Coastal L.A. once went without A/C. Record heat changed that

Longtime Santa Monica resident Lori Woods used to love the one-bedroom apartment she and her husband shared. The second-floor unit had large, west-facing French doors that let in plenty of afternoon sunlight. It didn’t have built-in air conditioning, but Woods was not too worried given its location seven blocks from the beach. The ocean breeze would keep temperatures moderate, she thought. And it did, for nearly four years. However, this year, Woods, an ADHD coach who works from home, found herself “holed up” in the bedroom.

It was so hot that she had to run a portable A/C unit around the clock to avoid feeling dizzy and nauseated. Global warming has been increasing temperatures for decades. But the summer of 2026, with its endless heat waves and unprecedented humidity levels due to El Niño, may be a tipping point for those in Southern California who thought they could survive without air conditioning. Air conditioning has long been a necessity in L.A.-area hot spots such as the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys as well as part of the L.A. Basin, but people who lived within a few miles of the ocean used to boast they didn't need it.

Sure, you suffered for a few miserable days, but the ocean breeze and cloud cover were a form of air conditioning. Especially at night. Not anymore. This summer was notable for the number of heat waves that offered no relief to coastal areas, with temperatures sometimes topping 100. Moreover, nighttime did not bring the usual cooldown, prompting forecasters to warn that the lack of overnight recovery could cause physical stress. Many Angelenos can remember the days when living west of the 405 meant heat was not a major concern.

But this might be the year the Westside, South Bay and other coastal areas realize that A/C is now mandatory. Making matters worse for tenants, getting A/C is often no simple matter. Although L.A. County has an ordinance in place requiring landlords in unincorporated areas to keep units from getting dangerously hot, a similar law for the city is stalled. Woods, 65, has dysautonomia and overheats easily. She began cooking a day’s worth of meals at 8 a.m., or ordering takeout, to avoid the kitchen’s afternoon heat.

She turned a maroon tablecloth into a makeshift curtain, attaching it to the French doors with suction cups. Now, she’s thinking about moving. “In the afternoon, it really feels like an oven,” Woods said. “I would not want to go through another year where I can't use my kitchen, I can't use my bathroom, when it's hot.” The average yearly temperature has been rising for decades in the L.A. area. California's latest climate forecast projects that by the middle of the century average temperatures will likely increase in the state by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

An August heat wave brought record-shattering temperatures to Southern California. It was followed by significant heat waves in September and October. And the Westside was not spared. In 2026, record-breaking temperatures were recorded at Los Angeles International Airport, with the highest average monthly temperature in August 82.5 degrees and, in October, 89 degrees, according to data from the National Weather Service. “Extreme heat is, without any ambiguity, the biggest hazard globally and in the U.S.,” said UC San Diego environmental epidemiologist Tarik Benmarhnia.

Thousands of people in the U.S. die each year because of extreme heat, he said. Extreme heat is particularly dangerous to people with existing health conditions, as it worsens many conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and dementia. A 2021 investigation by The Times found that, between 2010 and 2019, extreme heat caused 3,900 deaths in California. The heat that Southern California experienced this year was unprecedented, both in intensity and duration, according to Benmarhnia.

Heat events happened in such quick succession that it seemed nonstop. “It’s a new normal,” Benmarhnia said. These changes to California’s climate are being driven by human-made emissions, and warming oceans are increasing the risk of humid heat events, he said. The National Weather Service doesn’t keep historical dew-point records, but anecdotally, summer and early fall in the Los Angeles area were more humid than usual, said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist at the agency’s Oxnard office.

Overnight lows have remained warmer than usual, contributing to residents’ discomfort, he said. In April, scientists told The Times that unusually warm ocean temperatures would make it harder for the marine layer to develop, meaning there would be less "May gray" and "June gloom." The blanket of low-hanging gray clouds known as the marine layer has been essential in shielding heavily populated coastal Southern California from heat, but it has been in decline as the climate warms.

In some ways, this year’s heat has been reminiscent of California’s deadly heat event of July 2006, which revealed coastal California’s vulnerability to humid heat, Benmarhnia said. Before 2006, A/C use was low along coastal California, even in wealthy neighborhoods including Santa Monica and La Jolla, Benmarhnia said. Unlike in much of the U.S., wealth and A/C in those places were not strongly correlated, since the ocean moderated summer temperatures and A/C did not seem necessary.

Valerie Kong, 41, a Pilates instructor who has lived in a studio in Los Angeles’ Palms neighborhood since 2024, recently bought a $600 portable air conditioner after trying several more affordable alternatives, including blackout curtains and a swamp cooler — which she later returned because it made her apartment too humid. On the worst nights, she slept on a friend’s couch. After weeks of sleep deprivation, Kong in August fell asleep in her parked car with the A/C running before tennis practice.

The experience made Kong realize just how much the heat and humidity were affecting her body. “I was like, ‘This is not something I can ignore,’” she said. There have been some efforts to require landlords to cool down their units. Los Angeles County in 2025 passed an ordinance to require landlords in unincorporated areas to provide a way to keep rental units at 82 degrees or below. Enforcement will begin in January 2027, but landlords can ask for an extension.

A similar proposal was introduced in the Los Angeles City Council in September 2025 but has not become law. City officials said they chose the threshold because Los Angeles County sees more emergency room visits when indoor temperatures rise above 82 degrees. Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the measure with Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Adrin Nazarian, told The Times that the proposal couldn't move forward until the city's housing department released a report expected soon on how it would be implemented.

She is also waiting for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to release its analysis on how the electrical grid could handle such a requirement. Hernandez said it was unclear when that analysis would be complete. Although she couldn't say when the legislation would come to a final vote, Hernandez said she'd like to see it passed soon to allow landlords time to implement changes by next summer. “There’s laws for heaters,” Hernandez said.

“In the times we live in now … cooling also has to be a part of the basics so that folks can live appropriately and not have to go to the hospital or die.” For Benmarhnia, A/C is “part of the equation, but not the only solution.” More structural changes are needed to help residents cope with extreme heat, he said. Even if every L.A. resident were to have A/C, the most heat-vulnerable people might not be able to afford to run it, Benmarhnia said.

Some Canadian cities are experimenting with subsidies to help residents cover cooling costs, he said. Pam McFarlane, 78, got creative as she tried to cool off. The retired financial consultant, who rents a second-floor apartment near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, said she surrounded her bed with large box fans blowing in every direction. If she felt that her head was “about to blow up from heat,” she would look for reasons to go outside, including watching a movie at the Laemmle and taking hourlong joyrides to Marina del Rey with the car A/C blasting.

McFarlane has been reluctant to buy a portable A/C unit because it would take up precious space. She’s thinking of buying a window unit for next year, but she’s not sure her landlord will approve. Several Westside renters said they were concerned not only about themselves but also their pets. Justin Berg, 32, an energy policy analyst, said he worried about the hot floors in his Santa Monica apartment, which lacks A/C. To cool them for his cat, Boba, he would wrap frozen water bottles in a towel and place them on the floor.

Alice Woelfle, 43, a journalist in Mar Vista, said she put ice cubes in her dog Olive's water bowl. Woods, who was raised in the Bay Area and moved to Southern California in the 1980s, said she couldn’t remember heat waves ever lasting as long or being as intense. “All through the ’90s, I lived off of Ocean Park Boulevard and 23rd and never had an air conditioner,” Woods said. “I never even thought of it.”