By Kerry MacIntosh
 New Yorkers eat dinner by candlelight in an automat in Manhattan during an electricity blackout on November 9, 1965. (Photo: AP Wide World)) |
Unlike the blackouts of 1977 and 2003, the crisis in 1965 did not occur on a hot and steamy summer night. It happened on November 9 during a crisp autumn evening with clear skies and a remarkable full moon. At 5:27 p.m., the lights of New York City suddenly went dark. Calm, not panic, overtook the city.
"The 1965 blackout is sort of remembered fondly. It was a shared experience," says Kenneth T. Jackson, president of the New York Historical Society. Newspapers from the day show images of students doing their homework by candlelight, strangers holding hands to help guide each other through the dark streets, people waiting patiently inside Grand Central Station, and some even dining in fine restaurants basking in the yellow glow of candlelight. There are stories of people trapped in the elevator of the Empire State Building, not panicking, but joking and singing. Crime was low and citizens worked alongside police and firefighters through the 12 hours of darkness.
"In the city where people live and work, they are largely strangers when the lights are on. In the darkness they emerged...warmer," wrote Loudon Wainwright in Life magazine about the 1965 Blackout.
1977: A Night of Terror
Shortly after 9 p.m. in the sweltering heat of July 13, the lights around New York City began to flicker off and on. Many shrugged off the incident as a passing "brownout." But at 9:34 p.m., total darkness—and chaos—overtook over the city.
The word heard on the street was "Christmastime." This meant it was time for looting. Throughout the night, thousands of shops were broken into and robbed of their merchandise and money. Sometimes after taking what they wanted, looters would set stores on fire. Jails were swamped, courts were unable to cope, and storeowners were left to deal with their losses.
Effects of the rioting went far beyond the stores and criminal system. A 70-year-old woman who lived above a burned-out store lost her home. "I wish I had died, " she told a reporter at the time "I have no place to go."
Hundreds of injured people—many hurt by breaking into buildings and in street fighting—flooded the hospitals for treatment.
In the end, the many New Yorkers who coped with the blackout in positive ways were overshadowed by the riots, looting, and destruction. "Christmastime is over," said a young boy the following day. So was the Blackout of 1977.
2003: "A Very Quiet City"
More than 1 million more people live in New York City today than in 1977. So, how did this growing number of New Yorkers respond to its most recent blackout? When asked about the state of the city on that evening, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg replied, "A very quiet city."
When the power went out August 14, the sun was not due to set for another four hours. So New York entered the beginning of its third major blackout in daylight. Those who could walk home did so, crowding cars off the streets and bridges. Commuters unable to get home slept in train stations or camped outside on steps and sidewalks, using backpacks as pillows.
New York's tourists experienced a unique vacation.
"It's not the holiday we planned, but we've been very impressed by the plans that were put in place," said Shelley Jackson, who was visiting from England. Tourists who could not stay in their hotel rooms slept on the street in makeshift cots.
Although hot and weary, the thousands of people trapped in subways, elevators, and buildings waited patiently for rescue teams to arrive. Shopkeepers were impressed by the response of the New York Police Department. Imani Kuumba, a Harlem shopkeeper who experienced the blackout of 1977, said, "They showed up so fast, it's like they knew beforehand it was going to happen."
And New Yorkers had fun. Since many would have the following day off from work, people danced in the streets to music played on battery-operated radios. Neighbors chatted on stoops and children observed the night sky. In an echo of the 1965 blackout, diners could be seen in restaurants eating by candlelight.
