Coastal renters turn to fans and portable units as heat lingers past dark

Along the Santa Monica coast, residents who once relied on ocean breezes are now buying portable air conditioners. Lori Woods, 65, lives seven blocks from the beach in a second-floor apartment with large, west-facing French doors. The unit has no built-in cooling. She has run a portable air conditioner around the clock to avoid feeling dizzy and nauseated. Woods has dysautonomia, a condition that makes her overheat easily.

This summer brought a series of heat waves to Southern California that offered little relief to areas near the water. Temperatures sometimes exceeded 100 degrees. The heat continued after sunset, keeping overnight lows warmer than residents are accustomed to. Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Oxnard office, said overnight lows remained higher than usual, adding to the discomfort.

Data from the National Weather Service shows record-breaking temperatures were recorded at Los Angeles International Airport in 2026. The average monthly temperature in August was 82.5 degrees. In October, the average was 89 degrees. Tarik Benmarhnia, an environmental epidemiologist at UC San Diego, said the heat this year was intense and lasted a long time. He said the heat events occurred in rapid succession.

Valerie Kong, 41, lives in a studio in the Palms neighborhood. She bought a portable air conditioner for $600 after trying other methods, including blackout curtains. She returned a swamp cooler because it made the apartment too humid. In August, she fell asleep in her parked car with the air conditioning running before tennis practice. Kong said she realized then that she could not ignore the heat.

Pam McFarlane, 78, rents a second-floor apartment near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. She placed box fans around her bed. When her head felt hot, she went to a movie at the Laemmle or drove to Marina del Rey with the car air conditioning on. McFarlane has not bought a portable unit because of the space it would take. She is considering a window unit for next year but is unsure if her landlord will approve it.

Justin Berg, 32, an energy policy analyst, rents an apartment in Santa Monica that lacks air conditioning. He worried about hot floors for his cat, Boba. He wrapped frozen water bottles in towels and placed them on the floor. Alice Woelfle, 43, a journalist in Mar Vista, put ice cubes in her dog Olive's water bowl.

Los Angeles County passed an ordinance in 2025 that requires landlords in unincorporated areas to keep rental units at 82 degrees or below. Enforcement starts in January 2027. A similar proposal introduced in the Los Angeles City Council in September 2025 has not become law. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said the proposal is waiting on reports from the city's housing department and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Benmarhnia said air conditioning is part of the solution but not the only one. He said some Canadian cities are experimenting with subsidies to help residents cover cooling costs. A 2021 investigation found that extreme heat caused 3,900 deaths in California between 2010 and 2019.