Growing up around Tampa, as a native in the old days not only did very few residences have A/C, but most businesses did not either. Mainly just banks and supermarkets.
Most people were from up north anyway, and among them there were two interesting extremes.
"The Adaptable" good life lover. They retired or moved to Florida because they wanted the clean air, slower pace, and natural beauty of the sub-tropical resort environment. They let the fresh air in all the time, and only complained slightly when there was a heat wave and they had to use window or ceiling fans around-the-clock. They weren't about to consider air-conditioning though since they had worked all their life for the resort atmosphere to begin with and had strong desires to get what they were paying for.
"The Snowbird" migratory variety. Can not conceive of adapting to the sub-tropical environment very much, so they only spend winters that far south, generally while it is freezing up north. They didn't need A/C either since they weren't going to be there in the summer.
Kids love A/C though. We would plan our bike routes to include stops for rest at the buildings having A/C, where they had lobbies for us to gather with the retired people to cool off before heading back out.
Even as kids we knew Houston was the most air-conditioned city in the world at the time, then when the Astrodome was built it just emphasized so much the excesses that oil money can make possible.
Anyway, after being in Houston now for over a dozen years without A/C, I can't complain since I've adapted OK myself.
For me it's a no-brainer, I simply can't afford waste, especially wasting overpriced energy. Even Houston natives sometimes have an incredulous reaction and think I must be suffering, especially on 100 degreeF days like this. So more to satisfy them than myself, I invented a solar A/C where "the hotter it gets the cooler it gets" would be my trade or service mark. Don't expect to be building a prototype any time soon, with other inventions more pressing, but it's going to be a good one when the situation is right.