When I was a child in the late 60's and '70's, my parents installed an AC unit in our living room window. If a night was too hot, we slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the living room.
Even in the '90's, when I was pregnant with my first child, we lived in a sweltering attic apartment and had only a window AC unit in one room.
IMHO, air conditioning is overused today. And, anyway, the sound of fans can be very relaxing.
My first place didn’t have A/C and the first summer there, it hit 117. The little fan didn’t do a thing. I resorted to sitting in front of the opened refrigerator with nothing on but a wet towel. I wasn’t one to complain (grew up without A/C so didn’t know any better) so it was into the fall when my grandfather found out and he immediately put in a small window unit for me when he didn’t have A/C in their house. Miss you, gramps.