Brentwood residents contend with the hottest temperatures in the Bay
BRENTWOOD - All around the Bay Area, people are dealing with high temperatures. But in Brentwood, high heat is something many have grown accustomed to.
On Tuesday, one early forecast put the temperature of Brentwood at 108 degrees. When high pressure moves into Brentwood, the people move indoors, and the streets get pretty quiet. But at Sweeney's restaurant, owner Peter Charitou was still working at 1:00 pm to put up his new outdoor lighting.
"Well, yes, I came in early but, you know, you get the wrong screws, the wrong this...you go back and forth to the hardware store. So, now I'm about 2 hours late--in the heat!" he said.
Charitou said it's not that longtime residents don't feel the heat, they just come to accept it. He said it's something new arrivals have to learn to do.
"Two summers here, they'll get used to it," he said. "They'll become natives just like the rest of us."
It's taken Mara Muniz a bit longer than that.
"Getting used to it, yeah...but after 18 years I'm not quite used to the heat yet. It's still warm to me," she said.
Thomas McKenzie moved his family to Brentwood only a year ago and said the heat took him by surprise.
"I didn't think about that prior to getting here. It wasn't on the brochure when I came to move here!" he said, laughing. "But it IS one of the things you've just got to deal with, you know?"
But heat can be a relative thing. Smog shop technician Jose Alvarez said Brentwood's hot weather is nothing compared to what he endured in Texas.
"When it is humid it feels a lot hotter," he said. Alvarez said he likes the way Brentwood's weather makes him feel, "When it gets hot, I get relaxed."
A group of young day campers had a good idea, they spent the day playing in the City Park water play area, running in and out of the dancing jets of water. Eleven-year-old Tri Vu thought it made more sense than staying indoors.
"Because, like, if you're using the air conditioner, it's going to kind of waste some money," he said. "And out here's for free."
But back at Sweeney's restaurant, Charitou said that's a price he's willing to pay.
"The PG&E bill is about 800-900 dollars in July and August," he said. "But it's what we...you know, we have to pay the price one way or another!"
By 4 o' clock it was only about 102 degrees, so the prediction of 108 ended up being overzealous. Still, those who live in Brentwood know it was just the beginning of the hot weather, and they'll be ready for it.
