Air conditioner running 'round the clock these days... reminds me of NYC Blackout '77

July 1977, I remember well coming home to my fathers Fort Lee, New Jersey apartment, that sits across from Manhattan at about 145th street. The skyline always lit up the apartment that had floor to ceiling sliding glass door and windows facing the river between the city and Jersey. This night we came home from dinner and it was dark, it was scary, it was intense.

from Dangerous Minds

NYC BLACKOUT ‘77: FROM THE STREETS TO THE TOWERS


At 9:30 PM EST exactly 33 years ago [Tuesday], New York City’s five boroughs suffered a massive power outage that changed plenty about the United States and the Western World. It took a little more than 24 hours for the ’77 blackout to end, but not before 1,616 stores were damaged in looting and rioting, 1,037 fires were responded to, and 3,776 people were arrested. The event and its effects are still under study at places like George Mason University in Virginia.

Here are Grandmaster Caz, Disco Wiz, KRS One, Annie Sprinkle and others reminiscing from the street perspective…



…and below, leave it to the BBC to credit post-welfare-state neo-liberalism for saving the Big Apple so that Moby could have an apartment there:

New York - Nightmare In The City that Never Sleeps Pt.1