Trying to escape the summer heat, New Yorkers sleep on a fire escape during a sweltering night in New York City, 1948. In 1948, before air conditioning was common, New York City’s summer heat often became unbearable. On the hottest nights, tenement residents dragged mattresses, pillows, and blankets onto fire escapes, where even a slight breeze offered relief from the sweltering apartments inside. A famous photograph taken on August 30, 1948, on East 11th Street shows women and children sleeping side by side beneath the open sky, turning fire escapes into makeshift bedrooms. The image captures both the harsh realities of postwar city life and the ingenuity of New Yorkers finding ways to cope with extreme heat.