In my childhood, bungalows were rented for the summer and were a bit of “roughing it” – not exactly luxurious. Run down kitchen with old appliances, 1 bedroom and 1 sofa/bed in the “living room/kitchen” for the whole family to share. I remember cuddling up next to the space heater during cold August nights. A/C was not needed. The idea was to spend lots of time outdoors- the kids had daycamp and could run free on the grounds, enjoying the playground equipment, or hiking in the surrounding woods on the property. The mothers would sit around schmoozing and enjoying the down-time. The fathers, well, Yehudayona summed that up nicely. The only communal part about it would be the shul, daycamp, canteen where they sold us kids icecream and popsicles, and some sort of social hall where there would be entertainment, lectures and shiurim. Oh yes, and the shared laundry facilities with coin-operated machines.
Back when I was little, there weren’t daycamps in the city, and the city was hot and humid with little for a kid to do or go on their own. Since most mothers did not work, or worked in the school system and had vacation in the summers, they were able to get away with their families. We went until us kids got old enough for sleep-away camp. Then we got to enjoy the Catskills while our parents stayed in the city.
I understand that things have changed a bit- people own their summer homes now, they have more amenities and are probably much more comfortable these days and able to handle larger families. I would imagine though that now that in many families both parents work, including summers, that more stay home in the city than they used to and send the little kids to local daycamps.