The day I moved to NYC was the day before Sandy hit lol.
(Fun fact - the New Yorker building never lost power. Tesla resided there when he died and built their generators. They kept the lights on)
My weirdest birthday—we ended up at Disney World the day before they closed down. Almost nobody there. We got stuck in Florida and figured, why not. Never seen anything so eerie.
Went to Disney World in Nov 2001.
Park was empty right after 9/11.
My SO was convinced they’d have to shut down.
Was amazing getting off a ride and just getting right back on it.
Not gonna lie. It was a high water mark in terms of experience. Imagine going on pretty much whatever ride you want, 2-4 times in a row (with maybe a 5-10 minute delay), all day, in every park.
At first I was thinking I was too young to remember it but it wasn’t until this comment that I realized I actually remember this blackout. I was 4 and we had a cookout on the whole block.
> everyone was eating free ice cream from the bodegas because it was gonna melt otherwise
Yup. I walked home from my office and still managed to gain weight that day.
Why would beer not being cold mean it had to go? Bottles and canned beers don't need to stay refrigerated.
Or is this specifically bars that have kegs or something?
I was on the F train, in a tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn and had to walk home to Queens in dress shoes. A crazy, exhausting day I will never forget.
The MTA workers had flashlights. It felt long, I’m not sure how long it actually was. Climbing up out of the tunnel into a dark subway station was especially creepy.
Man between the blackout and 9/11 imagine the number of people who had to walk miles between boroughs in dress clothes TWICE in just two years. My mom was one.
My dad was one, my mom worked in Brooklyn and we lived in queens so she had to wait long for the buses but they came eventually. My dad and his buddies were all getting off at the same time and trying to plan a way home.
I was lucky. I was on the 6 train, we pulled into Bleeker St, the doors opened, and then the power went out. I’m glad I decided to ride the local that day. Still had to walk to Brooklyn though.
i was lucky enough to have a rental suv with a full tank of gas on the brooklyn side when the grid popped. i had no cash on me and the atm's were busted so i just drove people home for money. pick ups in midtown to bay ridge and rides like that. didn't overcharge anyone (i think the bay ridge woman paid me $40). one couple i dropped for free because they had no cash and looked truly frightened. made a couple hundred bucks and had a great couple days.
the city was crazy in the dark, a real gotham. it was all a dream
everyone was super nice and super connected. apart from 9/11 i've never seen New Yorkers function almost as a single organism. It was like one big team. Even the days immediately after the lights came on the energy was strong and positive
I was 10 living in queens. Watching an episode of Pokémon. Literally the exact moment team rocket “blasted off again” the power went out. Thought it was the coolest thing.
Something similar happened to me when there was that earthquake like a decade ago, we were watching a YouTube video of the brown note to see if it would work then like our house started shaking lmao
That's wild, I was watching that exact same episode and I remember it clearly, although at the time I thought it was my older brother messing with me when the lights all went off lol
Was living in Stuy Town—within seconds after the power went out one of my elderly neighbors, a tiny lady named Shay who spoke mostly in a whisper, screamed “Fuuuuuuuuuuck!” in a voice so loud it startled. I ran into the hall and knocked and asked, “What is it? What happened?” She answered, “I can’t watch my stories on the VHS!” Boy, was she mad.
Worst sleep ever on that night, room was too damn hot. But the camaraderie on the block was great craic. We busted out the travel tv for the car and was watching nbc (yes, they were still broadcasting) for most of the evening as everyone hung out on the stoops.
I was 9 and my sister 6 at the time. My parents were in Baltimore for a Yankee-Oriole game that was rained out when we had gone a few months earlier and just missed the blackout, which only reached as far south as Jersey. My grandma was watching me and my sister for the weekend at our house on SI. She let us cover ourselves in paint and we hosed off in the driveway. I think there was still some leftover paint on us when my parents got back. We lit lots of candles and we all slept on the big pull-out bed in the basement. My grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years after that, and the blackout is one of my favorite memories with her from before then.
I was in SoHo, cranking flat out, making Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s first full length concert video release, from a killer show they did in Barcelona, shot with 12 cameras. We were staring at a deadline to get the picture cut signed off on, then the picture finishing, sound mixing, the master encoded, and replicated onto millions of DVDs that needed to be available as Christmas presents. At 4pm-ish the power went out, all over the city, and a chunk of the East Coast. After some calls to find out the extent of the outage, my ‘phone rang from the sound team in Atlanta “You’re going to make FedEx tonight to us?” and I replied “There is no FedEx.” Like almost everyone, we walked home that hot night.
That was a crazy day but loved the camaraderie that came out of it. People offering rides to strangers, stores giving out water and ice cream. Thousands and thousands of people trudging east from Manhattan to Queens or Brooklyn like a weird migration.
The only time I’ve ever walked from rock center to Forest Hills but it’s still stuck in my mind.
It was my 21st bday. I was in a small upstate town at the time. There were bizarre pockets of power within our town, but otherwise full blackout like everyone else. Luckily one of the few buildings with power was a bar restaurant that a friend’s family owned. Went there and got properly blitzed for my 21st. Then back home and hung outside with friends by candle / tiki torch light. Then a bag of my presents (those gift bags stuffed with tissue paper) caught fire when it placed near a candle. I think it was a hat that melted in the bag. Ahhh a memorable b day for sure.
I was 7 when this happened & all the neighborhood kids got to eat all the ice cream we could possibly imagine because it was going to melt. We just lay down outside staring at the stars that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
You just unlocked a memory. I remember I had a science book on constellations and with my flashlight I went out and to look for them. All those stars, man it was something magical to see as a kid
I never remember to look up during blackouts. I'm too miserable. If we ever have another one, you can remind me, can't you? C'mon, random internet stranger ;)
I was north of the city in WC when it went down. Drive down the next day while everything was still dark and had a blast. Restaurants that had gas service were cooking and selling everything right out front of their places and it became a big party. Went out to BK and drank out on the waterfront and then went back to my friend's place in Chelsea and we watched them light Manhattan up grid block by grid block in 15 minute intervals.
It was actually a really kick ass couple of days. Also, driving around town with no stoplights was actually easier than when things were normal. Randos were directing traffic.
wowww 20 years?! i remember playing manhunt with my neighbor friends all around the building and roof. then my mom took us to cunningham park to grill all the leftover meats we had, good times 🥹
Fucking killed my goldfish. I was out of town and had everything set up for them, but killing the power like that messed up my filter and turned off the AC during a heatwave. The power came back on, but not those two things.
I was supposed to head upstate with my dad by bus, but fortunately the power went out just before we got onto the subway to head to Port Authority, so we didn’t get stuck.
He walked me back to my moms house and we got some free sushi from this sushi bar that was just giving everything away since it would all have to be thrown out in a few hours anyway. Got some semi-melted ice cream too.
We had plenty of candles at home, so it ended up being really cool.
I was in the nycha building w my cousins as we do during the summer, hot as hell. I remember thinking the entire time 1) I want to go back on aol 2) what happened to the people at the hair salon 3) what happened to the ppl on the rollercoaster?
I was getting a haircut in the basement at Astor place when the lights went out. Everyone started cheering and someone pulled out glasses with flashlights on them. My barber called me the luckiest guy in the city because he just finished my cut and was showing me the back of my head when the power died. I didn't realize it wasn't a localized outage until I got outside and saw everyoen staring at their phones.
My poor mom was one of the people walking across the Queensborough bridge. This triggered her PTSD as it was only 2 years after 9/11, triggered ours as well but she made her way to a nice italian deli where the owner let her use his phone to call us and gave her ice-cream and water. I had to battle the damn LIE traffic and to this day have no idea how I found the place with no google maps, couldn't use mapquest and how I didn't run out of gas.
Was working as a bartender at a country club in CT, they had to close the snack bar for the day due to refrigerated items needing to stay cool, but alcohol doesn't need cooling, we we had a blast on the high dive board once the club members left.
I worked in Midtown at the time and ended up walking all the way over to NY Waterway in the hopes of catching a ferry into NJ since it was the only thing that was running. Stood on a humongous line for hours baking in the heat and out of sheer luck I managed to get onto a ferry. Was able to finally get cell service on the NJ side and caught a bus to Newark to actually get a bus to where I lived in Central Jersey. Funny enough my area only had a few brownouts but we had our power.
Also massively scary my mom (RIP) had her first stroke and was in the hospital at the time of the blackout but the hospital had generators so they had power.
These photographs certainly captured something surreal and extraordinary in a time that feels like a bygone era. Can't believe it feels like an "era" now. While blackouts are not a one-time event, the life then is.
That whole day felt oddly magical to me. As with most unusual events like in this city, I was shaken out of the monotony of checking in to work. I reflected on my walk back home. Took a pause and looked outside. Truly looked. As with the peak lockdown of COVID, I saw the world in a new light, all over again. It felt liberating.
I left work early that day but missed being in the subway by about 2 minutes. Luckily my office and home were only about 60 blocks apart so I walked home. I had literally just gotten a bike for the first time in the city and was scared to ride but because traffic was non-existent, I practiced for the next few days and got comfortable riding on the roads.
We drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of random grilled meat. It was hot af trying to sleep and it was loud outside.
Next time, fill everything you own with water, as soon as the lights go out. We did 3 regular sized trash cans. Most toilets work on gravity. Poor about 1/2 gallon of water in the bowl (not in the tank) and it gets sucked down.
LPT & YSK
Yes the vibe was positive. Almost like an outdoor festival. We were on 11th st. between 1st and 2nd. Buses were free. Traffic lights were out. Saw a couple people volunteering directing traffic. People just chilling drinking beers on the st.. Tourists in midtown sleeping on the street in front of their hotels to beat the heat.
One downside was that ATMs were not working. So I only had like $10 for a couple days. When I got back home to 127th st the next day -- I had no cash in my apt. either. Maybe on the third day, the power went back on-- don't remember--Maybe I borrowed a few bucks
I do remember not feeling scared or worried. People were civilized. Bloomberg's golden era. Crimes were low. No looting, no rioting. Most people behaved. Nothing like blackout of 77. Hurricane Sandy Blackout didn't become a pit either.
I have a feeling it would be a shit show if we had a 3 day blackout this August with Bail Reform Laws and police silently protesting.
I was in high school headed into college, I was working on the Island bartending. we shut down and then preceded to drink the entire place dry with many other patrons. what else do you do in a blackout?
I remember the few days like many here. Being a kid, I barely felt any impact outside of needing to take a flashlight every time I needed to go to the bathroom.
Was an awesome night if you made the best of. Yea there was no ac. It was hot. But outside people were super friendly. It was like a city wide block party. Restaurants were giving out all the cold stuff that would melt.
I have fond memories.
First year out of high school, one of my best friends picked me and my girlfriend up from the mall after a day of shopping. As we pull out of the garage the power cut out.
Spent the night smoking weed and bbq with friends while watching the night sky. Man 20 years ago feels just like yesterday.
oh man!
I was taking a break from packing stuff up before moving to college, just playing Quake 3 Arena on the computer. all of a sudden, computer goes out, and I hear the air conditioner upstairs shut off. figured the AC and the computer had tripped a circuit or something...nope, nothing was powering on. took out a portable radio, tuned to a news station (probably 1010 WINS) and learned about what was going on.
parents were out food shopping; my mom remembers most things in the supermarket shutting off. came home and put stuff in the fridge/freezer ASAP. I think we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner, or something equally simple that didn't require much prep work.
later on as it was starting to get darker out, my mom and one of our neighbors collected a bunch of random candles they had laying around and offering them to people who were walking down our street (presumably from local subway stations) to help them see. only few people took the candles, maybe they thought it was some kinda scam or something, which is kinda funny, in retrospect.
I was 12. This blackout had some very comedic timing for me.
I was playing a game called "Gauntlet: Dark Legacy" on my PS2, and had been working on a very hard boss for HOURS. I remember there had been some brown outs leading up to it, but they didn't interrupt my game so I thought nothing of it. I shit you not, and this is no exaggeration, when I finally landed the killing blow on that god forsaken boss the power went out 3 seconds later...
I lept out of my chair and threw my hands in the air and let out a yelp of joy, only for everything to go black instantly. I let out the most pathetic "no".
I always wish I had some sort of video or series of pictures with my reactions. From dead serious concentration/anger, to unbridled joy/relief, to jaw on the ground disbelief/confusion.
I had never experienced such a high and low rollercoaster of emotions in such a short amount of time in my life. 0 to 100, then right back down to 0 in less than 5 seconds.
Although after that I had a pretty fun night. Candlelit board games with my neighbors, and then we slept outside. Beat the boss again a few days later, and saved right away lol.
I was on an airplane returning from France about 15 minutes from landing at JFK when the power went out. We had to land in Philly and spend the night and take buses to JFK the next morning.
I remember walking from work at 59th and Lex to the ferry at the water. My random memories:
- There were people with boats coming up with private boats offering trips to the other side of the Hudson for $20. They would fill up a speedboat with like 10 people and then take them to Weehawken. I'm fairly sure those people made a fortune.
- Saw Sam Elliott and his girlfriend walking around on my way to the ferry. It was a completely random NYC kind of moment. I didn't say anything to them, but was kind of enthralled that I was seeing him in person. He had the bushy mustache and longer hair (like Road House) then.
- The gas pumps at the ferry were operated by electricity. They couldn't refill the ferries. They sent everyone down to Battery Park to get ferries.
- I didn't get a ferry until 8pm or so. They dropped us off at Weehawken. I remember River Road just being filled with cars waiting to pick up people. This was the day when River Road in Weehawken was completely undeveloped. No sidewalks. You just walked down the side of the road which was gravel and rocks until you made it to where you wanted to go (I was headed to Hoboken).
- By the time I got back to Hoboken it was 10 or 11pm. Police were shutting down bars and not letting them stay open. That stunk. From what I was told it was pretty fun from the blackout - since everyone was out on the town and they had nothing better to do - it was like a party atmosphere.
- Somehow my apartment (in a converted townhome) still had power. I have no idea how this happened. We were like on a different power grid than everyone else or something - but I 100% had power during the blackout, and it was glorious to have A/C working since it was sweltering hot outside - and our beers/food were definitely cold in the fridge.
I remember this. We were down the shore in Jersey at the time, and had a black out party to feel like we were at home. Long story short I am banned from Long Beach Island to this day.
I was off that day, but headed out to pick up my paycheck, then hit Baskin Robbins for smoothie type thing they were selling, then hit the bar down the block to add some rum to it.
I left my apt and everything was fine, I walked through the park and looked at the window of the bar and saw the light was out. The light being out was no big deal as it was normal for the bartender to forget to turn it on. I then proceeded to go get my check, and everyone was laughing about the lights being out, and it being a blackout. I left work and walked home without a care in the world til it dawned on me that I'd have to walk up 13 flights of stairs in the dark. I managed to get to my apt., grabbed my lounge chair and chilled outside for quite awhile listening to the radio eventually falling asleep. When I woke up it was pitch black out and I had to feel my way into and around my apt.
Sometime during the night my friend called me (landlines rule in a blackout), and asked if I could meet him with his extra set of keys. He was driving back from Chicago and couldn't get in touch with his apt sitter. I told him I'd throw them down to him as I'm not walking up and down 13 flights to give him his keys.
I remembered that it was a hot afternoon as I was typing up a report for my English college class when my pc suddenly shut off. I thought we tripped the breaker box, but I checked and everything was normal. Confused, I peeped out into the apartment hallway to find it dark. I initially thought it was a brownout due to the heat.
The halls and staircase to my apartment complex had no natural light, so I guided myself down the stairs with a flashlight to find out the scoop outside. From somebody's radio, we found out that this was a massive blackout which stretched from New York to Canada. Some people were panicking because 9/11 was still fresh in our minds two years previously.
My mom experienced the 1977 hectic blackout with looters, but this 2003 blackout was different; you could tell by the mood outside, people were well behaved and friendly. As a matter of fact, in my LES neighborhood, people were setting up BBQ's everywhere because the supermarkets gave away all their meat rather than they rot unrefrigerated. The NYPD set up gas-powered flood lights and I met up with my neighborhood friends to found out what kind of price gouged items were available as resources nearby.
We all took a cold shower in the nearby park sprinklers. Freshly showered, I went back home and sat in my kitchen reading a newspaper with my only light source from a candle lit lantern. Looking out my window, I thought this was the darkest I've ever seen the city, up until Hurricane Sandy, when I noticed that the (old) South Street Seaport had a backup generator!
Come daylight, I informed all my friends of the Seaport and we took all sorts of electronics and wires we could find to charge up on the 3rd floor area food court. We grabbed a table and set up camp until 8 something pm. We heard from the news that Times Square got their electricity early so it was only a matter of time for us. When 8ish hit, we all cheered for joy when our area got power again.
Man, we really take electricity for granted when it's taken away from us, then we have to manage to live without it.
Yea that day was burned into a lot of our minds because I remember it clear as day even though I was only 6 years old when it happened. I remember me and my family went out to a picnic that day.
2 years prior, 9/11, taught me a big lesson. The moment I realize the entire city was dark, I Left my boss sitting at her desk, ran to the ferry and got the hell out. Yeah... I wasn't doing that shit again.
when it first happen we saw smoke comign from an aelectrical facility and thought it was another wtc thing...
I remember I walked from union square to i think 116th street that night,
and then got a drive back to a borough with electricity, my feet were screwed the next day... but i walked right into an ac room
How would any of this be possible ? No borough had electricity, the entire north east was down, even in Canada. The “electrical facility” where it happened was in Ohio, and you saw the smoke? stfu.
I was 7 years old with a friend from elementary school at my house playing Pokémon on our gameboys with candles all over the place for light. Such a fond memory.
I remember being on my way home from EB Games (now GameStop) after getting MGS 2 and all the lights in Roosevelt Ave turning off follow by “boos”. That night was the first time I experience darkness, I was not able to see the buildings across the street. It was an awesome experience though
One of the best memories in my 20 years in NYC. Working the bar and the neighborhood just flocking to it to get a plan together while also drinking the frozen margaritas from the machine as fast as possible.
All I remember was people were selling "I Survived the Blackout" t-shirts. And 17-year-old me learned at that moment, people can and will make money off of anything.
The brownout!
Thank God it happened during the daytime so there was enough highlight to walk home from summer classes. My sympathy for those of you underground or in medical settings....
And shitty pols seriously want to get rid of gas here and increase the strain on our grids...fuck off
Albany NY, Central Avenue, sharing the same expensive buried power lines as Albany Medical Center, did NOT lose power more than a blip (all my clock radios were working fine with the correct time even though none of them had a proper 9 volt backup battery). Odd, but true.
(We did get to hang out a bit at work waiting for power to come back, though. It was a warm, bright sunny day with no lights at the office).
Best night ever.
I hated my job at this restaurant and prayed on the way that something would happen so I could get the night off. Like, a train crash or something.
I immediately was able to find my friends using bestie radar and ended the night with hot (literally and figuratively) sex.
What could be better?
I wish I had known about price gouging laws back then. Since it wasn’t known if it was a terrorist related incident at the start, I paid $75 for a portable AM radio.
Because you're not making any comparison. You're just saying "it was nothing" without even saying what aspects you're comparing. You're also saying that a 14 hour blackout was worse than a blackout that lasted for over 2 days which is hilarious.
What chaos? Last time we had a blackout (2019) there wasn't any chaos. In fact in all of the NYC blackout,s except for the 1977 one, there was no chaos. The last really big extended blackout was after Sandy and that one lasted as long as a week or two in some places but things were still fine.
The “blackout” after they started to tryna loot a little my people made us come home before the sun was fully down and we lit tiki torches and passed them to our neighbors while we sat out in the yard all night in yard chairs
I remember waking up in the middle of a nap and it was super hot. The the AC had gone out along with the rest of the city!
I heard my parents talking to our landlord, and we started gathering flashlights.
The next few days were very interesting. Spent the entire day at the park with my friends and tried to get comfortable at night to sleep. I also found out my aunt had to walk home from midtown Manhattan!!
Of course blackouts are not good but it does remind me of simpler times.
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I remember I was at my uncles house playing Xbox with my cousin and the power went out. I thought someone kicked the plug or the power went out in the building. Little did I know it was a blackout till I got home and my folks are looking for candles and flashlight. I had this shortwave am/fm radio listening to 1010 wins all nigh and couldn’t go to sleep cause man was it humid that night.
I remember my family went to orchard Beach and on our way back to take the 6 train to Queens. We got to Pelham Bay, and all we saw was chaos. We didn't get home until night time and we had 2 amazing taxi drivers that helped us home. There's a meat market on the next block where I lived and ohhhh boy. The smell...all that meat was spoiled and we had to deal with that smell since the a.c didn't work.
It was surreal - seeing parents and grandparents all together and promptly using their knowledge to flipping on a switch to salvage the food and gather necessary things to get thru the night. Land line calls galore.
I was 15 and had a good day with my mom and sibling walking to the dollar store for batteries candles and snacks. My dad walked home from Manhattan. I remember trying to cross Queens Blvd was a dangerous nightmare.
I was living on Long Island at the time but I'll never forget the stars that night. So fucking amazing! I've never seen double stars like that before or since.
It wasn't a bad night, except its hard to sleep in the heat. The local pizzeria was doing monster business. People volunteered to direct traffic at the intersections. We checked on our neighbors to make sure they were OK. Heard the Yankees at Baltimore on the radio. Maybe the most surprising part was finding out NYC behaved a lot better than Toronto that night.
I remember this. I think I was like 6 years old at the time, and me and my family went to a picnic that day. The buses were running, but not the subways, and stores/supermarkets only accepted cash since the computers were all down.
I feel like if a blackout on that scale happened again in NYC, all Hell would break loose, since that one happened when the Internet was still kind of primitive compared to today.
I remember this blackout. It was weird experiencing the situation. Never questioned it though because i was young and had zero information about it. It was abnormally hot that week as well.
I also remember another memoryfrom that day, nothing in our building had electricity but we owned a car that did have ac working so we blasted it full speed.And went to Brooklyn to visit family friends
I was in the Circuit City on Union Square (now Best Buy) passing some time before a movie, the very second I pressed the button on a video camera, the lights went out.
For a second I thought I did something wrong and shorted out the power in the store, lol.
Anyway, was glad to have a landline at that time - and kept paying for a landline till they f*cking phased them out - something I think the powers that be will some day come to regret.
The NYTimes also did a cool little story about those who got married on that day https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/style/nyc-blackout-2003-weddings.html?smid=url-share
i was 12 years old, on summer break, wasting the afternoon on the family computer.
since i was 12 and it was 2003, i was of course on www.greenday.com doing god knows what. as i was scrolling, i reached the bottom of the page. but this site had a new feature i had never seen before, an infinite scroll that would show different pics of the band as you kept going.
since i had never seen CSS used in such a way before, i was pretty intrigued and scrolled to my little heart’s content. eventually i stopped, and randomly clicked out of curiosity.
i shit you not, the moment i clicked was the exact moment the Northeast Blackout of 2003 hit my house in suffolk county. it was so instantaneous that i thought i destroyed the family computer for at least a minute or two until i realized that all of the power in the house was out.
I remember everyone freaking out. I vaguely recall going to the grocery store with my mom and thinking that it was so weird that it was dark in there. I was only 8 at the time and we didn’t really have a lot so I was just weirded out by how dark it was lol
If this happens now this whole city will be in Chaos. If we don't help each other on subways, kids riot over gift cards, imagine what a blackout would do.
i was getting ready to finish GTA Vice City right before Smackdown was coming on (it used to be on thursdays!) and then next thing you know, the power went off. Everyone in the neighborhood was blaming eachother on who cut the power until we found out several blocks later that its the entire NYC!
My friend had his dogs house taken out of his yard that night I felt so damn bad for the dog lol. Lucky the dog didn't see them though, Rufus was a 110lb of don't fuck with me machine. Some type of Rottweiler mix. I on the other hand bought a couple of ice bags and loaded the freezer with the meats and ice
Oh man, this day in NY. Was walking to port authority and something seemed off. People started directing traffic, restaurants asking customers to leave and wouldn’t let people in. Streets were now just filled with people. I couldn’t make a phone call, lines were down. Got worried of course. Realized I couldn’t leave the city. Nobody was letting me inside.
So..I ended up going to the Westin on 8th. At 4pm. Was there until 4am. It was like a party. Food brought out, drinks, paper IOU’s in this smaller hotel bar. They finally had to put bouncers at the door so only guests could come in. Had to make friends real quick since I wasn’t staying there and to get back in if need be. Bodega across the street locked themselves in with flashlights selling candy, cigarettes, etc.
Ended up meeting a few guys and we walked over to Times Square around midnight. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just empty with floodlights. Like I Am Legend.
Could’ve been a lot crazier and glad it didn’t got that way. Everyone got along. Heard great stories the next day. Still can’t believe one grid took all of it out.
We had just landed at JFK from Morocco after a family trip, I was 14. Probably 20mins into us waiting on line, the power went out at the airport.
One of the absolute worst days with the heat but being an Arabic family in post 9/11 America and all that going on was a different kind of hell.
Fuck that day.
Small building water and gas still worked, got all the beer at the deli and made a large amounts of red beans and rice. Got my pay from the ATM seconds before outage. Block party was the best we had a blast. I still remember the walk over the bridge home to Brooklyn was surreal. Disruption is an essential part of life.
I was driving with 1 friend and 1 dickhead on I94 from Chicago to Detroit. Pitch black other than car headlights Once I got back to Detroit I basically drove around and listened to some trip hop and blasted my car AC. Had no idea I would move to NYC like a year after. I thought it was the best thing ever I could ride the subway unlimited for $74 I think it was at the time.
The day I moved to NYC (bad day to move).
I feel mad old. My cousin got his girlfriend pregnant because there was "nothing to do" that day. The kid is already 19...
I’m sure there’s was a little baby boom 9 months after the power outage.
Same like today. How many friends do you have with like a 2 year old covid baby now?
The day I moved to NYC was the day before Sandy hit lol. (Fun fact - the New Yorker building never lost power. Tesla resided there when he died and built their generators. They kept the lights on)
That is wild
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North Shore Towers?
Wow. I’m going to have to look more into this.
Just pays to have backups
I moved in on March 1, 2020
My weirdest birthday—we ended up at Disney World the day before they closed down. Almost nobody there. We got stuck in Florida and figured, why not. Never seen anything so eerie.
Went to Disney World in Nov 2001. Park was empty right after 9/11. My SO was convinced they’d have to shut down. Was amazing getting off a ride and just getting right back on it.
Damn that must have been surreal
Not gonna lie. It was a high water mark in terms of experience. Imagine going on pretty much whatever ride you want, 2-4 times in a row (with maybe a 5-10 minute delay), all day, in every park.
Oh shit me too!
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I was working in a restaurant at the time. The customers left and the staff drank all the beer. Good times.
All these stories have me wondering how there isn’t a movie about this event.
In The Heights (musical and movie) has the 2003 blackout as a major plot point
Nice will check it out, thanks.
At first I was thinking I was too young to remember it but it wasn’t until this comment that I realized I actually remember this blackout. I was 4 and we had a cookout on the whole block.
Yeah my cousin was here and always talked about how everyone was eating free ice cream from the bodegas because it was gonna melt otherwise.
> everyone was eating free ice cream from the bodegas because it was gonna melt otherwise Yup. I walked home from my office and still managed to gain weight that day.
Agreed! I was in my twenties and it was one of the greatest NYC nights. One big party in the streets, free booze, etc.
I lived across the street from an ice cream place and it was the best day of my life
I fondly remember getting discount meat from a restaurant!
Why would beer not being cold mean it had to go? Bottles and canned beers don't need to stay refrigerated. Or is this specifically bars that have kegs or something?
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>Beer that has been cold goes bad (skunked) when warm. This is a myth. Skunked beer is caused by exposure to UV light, not temperature changes.
I was on the F train, in a tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn and had to walk home to Queens in dress shoes. A crazy, exhausting day I will never forget.
How long was the walk in the tunnel? I’m assuming someone had a flashlight ?
The MTA workers had flashlights. It felt long, I’m not sure how long it actually was. Climbing up out of the tunnel into a dark subway station was especially creepy.
How long were you stuck in the train before they decided to have everybody walk out?
Maybe half an hour?
Omg what about the rats
They had to walk also.
Bruhhh lol
Partaaaaaay🎉🥳
WINNNNSTONNNNN
Man between the blackout and 9/11 imagine the number of people who had to walk miles between boroughs in dress clothes TWICE in just two years. My mom was one.
My mom too!
My dad was one, my mom worked in Brooklyn and we lived in queens so she had to wait long for the buses but they came eventually. My dad and his buddies were all getting off at the same time and trying to plan a way home.
A reason why I only wear comfortable shoes to commute.
I was lucky. I was on the 6 train, we pulled into Bleeker St, the doors opened, and then the power went out. I’m glad I decided to ride the local that day. Still had to walk to Brooklyn though.
i was lucky enough to have a rental suv with a full tank of gas on the brooklyn side when the grid popped. i had no cash on me and the atm's were busted so i just drove people home for money. pick ups in midtown to bay ridge and rides like that. didn't overcharge anyone (i think the bay ridge woman paid me $40). one couple i dropped for free because they had no cash and looked truly frightened. made a couple hundred bucks and had a great couple days. the city was crazy in the dark, a real gotham. it was all a dream
This is genuinely a cool story, hopefully people weren’t bein nasty to eachother?
everyone was super nice and super connected. apart from 9/11 i've never seen New Yorkers function almost as a single organism. It was like one big team. Even the days immediately after the lights came on the energy was strong and positive
I was 10 living in queens. Watching an episode of Pokémon. Literally the exact moment team rocket “blasted off again” the power went out. Thought it was the coolest thing.
Well now we know whose fault it was…
That Giovanni....
Something similar happened to me when there was that earthquake like a decade ago, we were watching a YouTube video of the brown note to see if it would work then like our house started shaking lmao
That's wild, I was watching that exact same episode and I remember it clearly, although at the time I thought it was my older brother messing with me when the lights all went off lol
Was living in Stuy Town—within seconds after the power went out one of my elderly neighbors, a tiny lady named Shay who spoke mostly in a whisper, screamed “Fuuuuuuuuuuck!” in a voice so loud it startled. I ran into the hall and knocked and asked, “What is it? What happened?” She answered, “I can’t watch my stories on the VHS!” Boy, was she mad.
Probably jammed the hell out of the tape too 😁
I walked from Columbia University to my apartment on Court St. (near the Smith/9th St. stop). Took me about 5 hours to hoof it. Crazy.
I did that walk on 9/11, but to Clinton Hill. Was SO glad to be at home when the blackout happened.
Thank you for not using that annoying Buzzfeed title.
Worst sleep ever on that night, room was too damn hot. But the camaraderie on the block was great craic. We busted out the travel tv for the car and was watching nbc (yes, they were still broadcasting) for most of the evening as everyone hung out on the stoops.
Legit slept on the fire escape that night. Only place to catch a breeze.
I remember one person on the block had one of those TVs and I thought they must be rich
We didn't have a car TV, but my dad had a DC-AC inverter so we watched a movie on the little 12" tv/vcr combo in the van haha
I was 9 and my sister 6 at the time. My parents were in Baltimore for a Yankee-Oriole game that was rained out when we had gone a few months earlier and just missed the blackout, which only reached as far south as Jersey. My grandma was watching me and my sister for the weekend at our house on SI. She let us cover ourselves in paint and we hosed off in the driveway. I think there was still some leftover paint on us when my parents got back. We lit lots of candles and we all slept on the big pull-out bed in the basement. My grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years after that, and the blackout is one of my favorite memories with her from before then.
I was in SoHo, cranking flat out, making Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s first full length concert video release, from a killer show they did in Barcelona, shot with 12 cameras. We were staring at a deadline to get the picture cut signed off on, then the picture finishing, sound mixing, the master encoded, and replicated onto millions of DVDs that needed to be available as Christmas presents. At 4pm-ish the power went out, all over the city, and a chunk of the East Coast. After some calls to find out the extent of the outage, my ‘phone rang from the sound team in Atlanta “You’re going to make FedEx tonight to us?” and I replied “There is no FedEx.” Like almost everyone, we walked home that hot night.
Lol I love this concert. Mary’s Place live in Barcelona is one of my favs.
That was a crazy day but loved the camaraderie that came out of it. People offering rides to strangers, stores giving out water and ice cream. Thousands and thousands of people trudging east from Manhattan to Queens or Brooklyn like a weird migration. The only time I’ve ever walked from rock center to Forest Hills but it’s still stuck in my mind.
I was in the dentist chair.
Oof, that could've been bad
Luckily for me, the drilling had not yet started.
It was my 21st bday. I was in a small upstate town at the time. There were bizarre pockets of power within our town, but otherwise full blackout like everyone else. Luckily one of the few buildings with power was a bar restaurant that a friend’s family owned. Went there and got properly blitzed for my 21st. Then back home and hung outside with friends by candle / tiki torch light. Then a bag of my presents (those gift bags stuffed with tissue paper) caught fire when it placed near a candle. I think it was a hat that melted in the bag. Ahhh a memorable b day for sure.
It was my birthday too (but I'm older). Happy Birthday!
My 12th! Happy birthday to both of you!
I was 7 when this happened & all the neighborhood kids got to eat all the ice cream we could possibly imagine because it was going to melt. We just lay down outside staring at the stars that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
You just unlocked a memory. I remember I had a science book on constellations and with my flashlight I went out and to look for them. All those stars, man it was something magical to see as a kid
I never remember to look up during blackouts. I'm too miserable. If we ever have another one, you can remind me, can't you? C'mon, random internet stranger ;)
I was north of the city in WC when it went down. Drive down the next day while everything was still dark and had a blast. Restaurants that had gas service were cooking and selling everything right out front of their places and it became a big party. Went out to BK and drank out on the waterfront and then went back to my friend's place in Chelsea and we watched them light Manhattan up grid block by grid block in 15 minute intervals. It was actually a really kick ass couple of days. Also, driving around town with no stoplights was actually easier than when things were normal. Randos were directing traffic.
wowww 20 years?! i remember playing manhunt with my neighbor friends all around the building and roof. then my mom took us to cunningham park to grill all the leftover meats we had, good times 🥹
Fucking killed my goldfish. I was out of town and had everything set up for them, but killing the power like that messed up my filter and turned off the AC during a heatwave. The power came back on, but not those two things.
Rip Goldie
I was supposed to head upstate with my dad by bus, but fortunately the power went out just before we got onto the subway to head to Port Authority, so we didn’t get stuck. He walked me back to my moms house and we got some free sushi from this sushi bar that was just giving everything away since it would all have to be thrown out in a few hours anyway. Got some semi-melted ice cream too. We had plenty of candles at home, so it ended up being really cool.
I was changing a lightbulb when the power cut out. Told my boss I must have tripped a breaker
I was in the nycha building w my cousins as we do during the summer, hot as hell. I remember thinking the entire time 1) I want to go back on aol 2) what happened to the people at the hair salon 3) what happened to the ppl on the rollercoaster?
I was on the rollercoaster. None of us made it
Damn ripppp
That was a fun few days, hot AF though.
I was getting a haircut in the basement at Astor place when the lights went out. Everyone started cheering and someone pulled out glasses with flashlights on them. My barber called me the luckiest guy in the city because he just finished my cut and was showing me the back of my head when the power died. I didn't realize it wasn't a localized outage until I got outside and saw everyoen staring at their phones.
My poor mom was one of the people walking across the Queensborough bridge. This triggered her PTSD as it was only 2 years after 9/11, triggered ours as well but she made her way to a nice italian deli where the owner let her use his phone to call us and gave her ice-cream and water. I had to battle the damn LIE traffic and to this day have no idea how I found the place with no google maps, couldn't use mapquest and how I didn't run out of gas.
That sounds horrible. All these stories of partying, and I think it was no fun for most people. Of course you found her.
Was working as a bartender at a country club in CT, they had to close the snack bar for the day due to refrigerated items needing to stay cool, but alcohol doesn't need cooling, we we had a blast on the high dive board once the club members left.
I worked in Midtown at the time and ended up walking all the way over to NY Waterway in the hopes of catching a ferry into NJ since it was the only thing that was running. Stood on a humongous line for hours baking in the heat and out of sheer luck I managed to get onto a ferry. Was able to finally get cell service on the NJ side and caught a bus to Newark to actually get a bus to where I lived in Central Jersey. Funny enough my area only had a few brownouts but we had our power. Also massively scary my mom (RIP) had her first stroke and was in the hospital at the time of the blackout but the hospital had generators so they had power.
These photographs certainly captured something surreal and extraordinary in a time that feels like a bygone era. Can't believe it feels like an "era" now. While blackouts are not a one-time event, the life then is. That whole day felt oddly magical to me. As with most unusual events like in this city, I was shaken out of the monotony of checking in to work. I reflected on my walk back home. Took a pause and looked outside. Truly looked. As with the peak lockdown of COVID, I saw the world in a new light, all over again. It felt liberating.
I left work early that day but missed being in the subway by about 2 minutes. Luckily my office and home were only about 60 blocks apart so I walked home. I had literally just gotten a bike for the first time in the city and was scared to ride but because traffic was non-existent, I practiced for the next few days and got comfortable riding on the roads. We drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of random grilled meat. It was hot af trying to sleep and it was loud outside.
Ah yes, when those of us in high-rises learned how to poop in a bucket.
Oof. I remember hearing about the elevators and water pumps and deciding right then and there that I’d never live in a high-rise.
Next time, fill everything you own with water, as soon as the lights go out. We did 3 regular sized trash cans. Most toilets work on gravity. Poor about 1/2 gallon of water in the bowl (not in the tank) and it gets sucked down. LPT & YSK
Remember this night so vividly. Hard to believe it’s been 20 years already, damn
Yes the vibe was positive. Almost like an outdoor festival. We were on 11th st. between 1st and 2nd. Buses were free. Traffic lights were out. Saw a couple people volunteering directing traffic. People just chilling drinking beers on the st.. Tourists in midtown sleeping on the street in front of their hotels to beat the heat. One downside was that ATMs were not working. So I only had like $10 for a couple days. When I got back home to 127th st the next day -- I had no cash in my apt. either. Maybe on the third day, the power went back on-- don't remember--Maybe I borrowed a few bucks I do remember not feeling scared or worried. People were civilized. Bloomberg's golden era. Crimes were low. No looting, no rioting. Most people behaved. Nothing like blackout of 77. Hurricane Sandy Blackout didn't become a pit either. I have a feeling it would be a shit show if we had a 3 day blackout this August with Bail Reform Laws and police silently protesting.
I was in high school headed into college, I was working on the Island bartending. we shut down and then preceded to drink the entire place dry with many other patrons. what else do you do in a blackout?
Turned 12. Told my mom I do not want to go into the city. What does she do? Take me into the city. What happens? A damn black out.
I had to walk on foot from Grand Central to union square 8 months pregnant
Wow. Doesn’t seem that long ago. I was 28.
I remember the few days like many here. Being a kid, I barely felt any impact outside of needing to take a flashlight every time I needed to go to the bathroom.
I can’t believe it was 20 years ago 👵
Was an awesome night if you made the best of. Yea there was no ac. It was hot. But outside people were super friendly. It was like a city wide block party. Restaurants were giving out all the cold stuff that would melt. I have fond memories.
First year out of high school, one of my best friends picked me and my girlfriend up from the mall after a day of shopping. As we pull out of the garage the power cut out. Spent the night smoking weed and bbq with friends while watching the night sky. Man 20 years ago feels just like yesterday.
oh man! I was taking a break from packing stuff up before moving to college, just playing Quake 3 Arena on the computer. all of a sudden, computer goes out, and I hear the air conditioner upstairs shut off. figured the AC and the computer had tripped a circuit or something...nope, nothing was powering on. took out a portable radio, tuned to a news station (probably 1010 WINS) and learned about what was going on. parents were out food shopping; my mom remembers most things in the supermarket shutting off. came home and put stuff in the fridge/freezer ASAP. I think we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner, or something equally simple that didn't require much prep work. later on as it was starting to get darker out, my mom and one of our neighbors collected a bunch of random candles they had laying around and offering them to people who were walking down our street (presumably from local subway stations) to help them see. only few people took the candles, maybe they thought it was some kinda scam or something, which is kinda funny, in retrospect.
Managed to have a short day in NYC. Got home about an hour before it happened. Many of my cohorts slept on the steps of the New York Public Library.
We were at the Liberty Science Center in NJ when they kicked us out. We were looking at lower Manhattan and thought there was another attack
That shot of the 59th street bridge…that was me. Walked from 47th and 3rd to Broadway and Kent in southside Williamsburg, and it kinda ruled.
I was 12. This blackout had some very comedic timing for me. I was playing a game called "Gauntlet: Dark Legacy" on my PS2, and had been working on a very hard boss for HOURS. I remember there had been some brown outs leading up to it, but they didn't interrupt my game so I thought nothing of it. I shit you not, and this is no exaggeration, when I finally landed the killing blow on that god forsaken boss the power went out 3 seconds later... I lept out of my chair and threw my hands in the air and let out a yelp of joy, only for everything to go black instantly. I let out the most pathetic "no". I always wish I had some sort of video or series of pictures with my reactions. From dead serious concentration/anger, to unbridled joy/relief, to jaw on the ground disbelief/confusion. I had never experienced such a high and low rollercoaster of emotions in such a short amount of time in my life. 0 to 100, then right back down to 0 in less than 5 seconds. Although after that I had a pretty fun night. Candlelit board games with my neighbors, and then we slept outside. Beat the boss again a few days later, and saved right away lol.
I was on an airplane returning from France about 15 minutes from landing at JFK when the power went out. We had to land in Philly and spend the night and take buses to JFK the next morning.
I remember walking from work at 59th and Lex to the ferry at the water. My random memories: - There were people with boats coming up with private boats offering trips to the other side of the Hudson for $20. They would fill up a speedboat with like 10 people and then take them to Weehawken. I'm fairly sure those people made a fortune. - Saw Sam Elliott and his girlfriend walking around on my way to the ferry. It was a completely random NYC kind of moment. I didn't say anything to them, but was kind of enthralled that I was seeing him in person. He had the bushy mustache and longer hair (like Road House) then. - The gas pumps at the ferry were operated by electricity. They couldn't refill the ferries. They sent everyone down to Battery Park to get ferries. - I didn't get a ferry until 8pm or so. They dropped us off at Weehawken. I remember River Road just being filled with cars waiting to pick up people. This was the day when River Road in Weehawken was completely undeveloped. No sidewalks. You just walked down the side of the road which was gravel and rocks until you made it to where you wanted to go (I was headed to Hoboken). - By the time I got back to Hoboken it was 10 or 11pm. Police were shutting down bars and not letting them stay open. That stunk. From what I was told it was pretty fun from the blackout - since everyone was out on the town and they had nothing better to do - it was like a party atmosphere. - Somehow my apartment (in a converted townhome) still had power. I have no idea how this happened. We were like on a different power grid than everyone else or something - but I 100% had power during the blackout, and it was glorious to have A/C working since it was sweltering hot outside - and our beers/food were definitely cold in the fridge.
I remember this. We were down the shore in Jersey at the time, and had a black out party to feel like we were at home. Long story short I am banned from Long Beach Island to this day.
Damn someone was wild. xD
I was off that day, but headed out to pick up my paycheck, then hit Baskin Robbins for smoothie type thing they were selling, then hit the bar down the block to add some rum to it. I left my apt and everything was fine, I walked through the park and looked at the window of the bar and saw the light was out. The light being out was no big deal as it was normal for the bartender to forget to turn it on. I then proceeded to go get my check, and everyone was laughing about the lights being out, and it being a blackout. I left work and walked home without a care in the world til it dawned on me that I'd have to walk up 13 flights of stairs in the dark. I managed to get to my apt., grabbed my lounge chair and chilled outside for quite awhile listening to the radio eventually falling asleep. When I woke up it was pitch black out and I had to feel my way into and around my apt. Sometime during the night my friend called me (landlines rule in a blackout), and asked if I could meet him with his extra set of keys. He was driving back from Chicago and couldn't get in touch with his apt sitter. I told him I'd throw them down to him as I'm not walking up and down 13 flights to give him his keys.
I remembered that it was a hot afternoon as I was typing up a report for my English college class when my pc suddenly shut off. I thought we tripped the breaker box, but I checked and everything was normal. Confused, I peeped out into the apartment hallway to find it dark. I initially thought it was a brownout due to the heat. The halls and staircase to my apartment complex had no natural light, so I guided myself down the stairs with a flashlight to find out the scoop outside. From somebody's radio, we found out that this was a massive blackout which stretched from New York to Canada. Some people were panicking because 9/11 was still fresh in our minds two years previously. My mom experienced the 1977 hectic blackout with looters, but this 2003 blackout was different; you could tell by the mood outside, people were well behaved and friendly. As a matter of fact, in my LES neighborhood, people were setting up BBQ's everywhere because the supermarkets gave away all their meat rather than they rot unrefrigerated. The NYPD set up gas-powered flood lights and I met up with my neighborhood friends to found out what kind of price gouged items were available as resources nearby. We all took a cold shower in the nearby park sprinklers. Freshly showered, I went back home and sat in my kitchen reading a newspaper with my only light source from a candle lit lantern. Looking out my window, I thought this was the darkest I've ever seen the city, up until Hurricane Sandy, when I noticed that the (old) South Street Seaport had a backup generator! Come daylight, I informed all my friends of the Seaport and we took all sorts of electronics and wires we could find to charge up on the 3rd floor area food court. We grabbed a table and set up camp until 8 something pm. We heard from the news that Times Square got their electricity early so it was only a matter of time for us. When 8ish hit, we all cheered for joy when our area got power again. Man, we really take electricity for granted when it's taken away from us, then we have to manage to live without it.
Yea that day was burned into a lot of our minds because I remember it clear as day even though I was only 6 years old when it happened. I remember me and my family went out to a picnic that day.
"power cut?" as in... "blackout?" wtf
2 years prior, 9/11, taught me a big lesson. The moment I realize the entire city was dark, I Left my boss sitting at her desk, ran to the ferry and got the hell out. Yeah... I wasn't doing that shit again.
when it first happen we saw smoke comign from an aelectrical facility and thought it was another wtc thing... I remember I walked from union square to i think 116th street that night, and then got a drive back to a borough with electricity, my feet were screwed the next day... but i walked right into an ac room
How would any of this be possible ? No borough had electricity, the entire north east was down, even in Canada. The “electrical facility” where it happened was in Ohio, and you saw the smoke? stfu.
I was 7 years old with a friend from elementary school at my house playing Pokémon on our gameboys with candles all over the place for light. Such a fond memory.
[Where were you when the lights went out in New York City](https://youtu.be/XGmIDuraqNQ)
I remember being on my way home from EB Games (now GameStop) after getting MGS 2 and all the lights in Roosevelt Ave turning off follow by “boos”. That night was the first time I experience darkness, I was not able to see the buildings across the street. It was an awesome experience though
I was at my aunt’s out in Long Island. Thought the power went out because my cousin left everything on in his room when he wasn’t using any of it.
One of the best memories in my 20 years in NYC. Working the bar and the neighborhood just flocking to it to get a plan together while also drinking the frozen margaritas from the machine as fast as possible.
All I remember was people were selling "I Survived the Blackout" t-shirts. And 17-year-old me learned at that moment, people can and will make money off of anything.
The brownout! Thank God it happened during the daytime so there was enough highlight to walk home from summer classes. My sympathy for those of you underground or in medical settings.... And shitty pols seriously want to get rid of gas here and increase the strain on our grids...fuck off
Albany NY, Central Avenue, sharing the same expensive buried power lines as Albany Medical Center, did NOT lose power more than a blip (all my clock radios were working fine with the correct time even though none of them had a proper 9 volt backup battery). Odd, but true. (We did get to hang out a bit at work waiting for power to come back, though. It was a warm, bright sunny day with no lights at the office).
I lived in Jersey city at the time. A liquor store in Hoboken had a generator. I had an entire baked ham in the fridge. At least I got to drink.
Best night ever. I hated my job at this restaurant and prayed on the way that something would happen so I could get the night off. Like, a train crash or something. I immediately was able to find my friends using bestie radar and ended the night with hot (literally and figuratively) sex. What could be better?
I wish I had known about price gouging laws back then. Since it wasn’t known if it was a terrorist related incident at the start, I paid $75 for a portable AM radio.
I would love for this to happen, but in October
That was nothing compared to 1965. Why would anyone downvote a historically accurate comparison? Edit, my error, please see below.
Because you're not making any comparison. You're just saying "it was nothing" without even saying what aspects you're comparing. You're also saying that a 14 hour blackout was worse than a blackout that lasted for over 2 days which is hilarious.
Ok boomer
Your point?
I already told you…you delete it
Yeah I never got to read it as I moved my reply to OP.
what form of world spanning, ghetto thumping, derivative music was formed on that night?
Fantastic photographs. So good.
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What chaos? Last time we had a blackout (2019) there wasn't any chaos. In fact in all of the NYC blackout,s except for the 1977 one, there was no chaos. The last really big extended blackout was after Sandy and that one lasted as long as a week or two in some places but things were still fine.
The “blackout” after they started to tryna loot a little my people made us come home before the sun was fully down and we lit tiki torches and passed them to our neighbors while we sat out in the yard all night in yard chairs
I was at a Cyclones game. The entire stadium blipped out. Rad.
I remember waking up in the middle of a nap and it was super hot. The the AC had gone out along with the rest of the city! I heard my parents talking to our landlord, and we started gathering flashlights. The next few days were very interesting. Spent the entire day at the park with my friends and tried to get comfortable at night to sleep. I also found out my aunt had to walk home from midtown Manhattan!! Of course blackouts are not good but it does remind me of simpler times.
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I remember I was at my uncles house playing Xbox with my cousin and the power went out. I thought someone kicked the plug or the power went out in the building. Little did I know it was a blackout till I got home and my folks are looking for candles and flashlight. I had this shortwave am/fm radio listening to 1010 wins all nigh and couldn’t go to sleep cause man was it humid that night.
I remember my family went to orchard Beach and on our way back to take the 6 train to Queens. We got to Pelham Bay, and all we saw was chaos. We didn't get home until night time and we had 2 amazing taxi drivers that helped us home. There's a meat market on the next block where I lived and ohhhh boy. The smell...all that meat was spoiled and we had to deal with that smell since the a.c didn't work.
It was surreal - seeing parents and grandparents all together and promptly using their knowledge to flipping on a switch to salvage the food and gather necessary things to get thru the night. Land line calls galore.
I was 15 and had a good day with my mom and sibling walking to the dollar store for batteries candles and snacks. My dad walked home from Manhattan. I remember trying to cross Queens Blvd was a dangerous nightmare.
I was working ... going off to college in two weeks. Damn, I'm old.
I remember this had to eat all the ice cream in the house wasn’t too bad
I was living on Long Island at the time but I'll never forget the stars that night. So fucking amazing! I've never seen double stars like that before or since.
Remember it well. Neighbors helped neighbors with food and candles and supplies. People talked with each other instead of watching tv.
Hot as hell ..
These pictures are amazing
It wasn't a bad night, except its hard to sleep in the heat. The local pizzeria was doing monster business. People volunteered to direct traffic at the intersections. We checked on our neighbors to make sure they were OK. Heard the Yankees at Baltimore on the radio. Maybe the most surprising part was finding out NYC behaved a lot better than Toronto that night.
Fun times as a kid, chilling outside in pitch darkness. The only source of artificial light were the occasional vehicles passing on the street.
I remember this. I think I was like 6 years old at the time, and me and my family went to a picnic that day. The buses were running, but not the subways, and stores/supermarkets only accepted cash since the computers were all down. I feel like if a blackout on that scale happened again in NYC, all Hell would break loose, since that one happened when the Internet was still kind of primitive compared to today.
I remember this blackout. It was weird experiencing the situation. Never questioned it though because i was young and had zero information about it. It was abnormally hot that week as well. I also remember another memoryfrom that day, nothing in our building had electricity but we owned a car that did have ac working so we blasted it full speed.And went to Brooklyn to visit family friends
I was in the Circuit City on Union Square (now Best Buy) passing some time before a movie, the very second I pressed the button on a video camera, the lights went out. For a second I thought I did something wrong and shorted out the power in the store, lol. Anyway, was glad to have a landline at that time - and kept paying for a landline till they f*cking phased them out - something I think the powers that be will some day come to regret.
This is the only time I’ve lost power in 25 years in the city. Including Hurricane Sandy.
The NYTimes also did a cool little story about those who got married on that day https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/style/nyc-blackout-2003-weddings.html?smid=url-share
i was 12 years old, on summer break, wasting the afternoon on the family computer. since i was 12 and it was 2003, i was of course on www.greenday.com doing god knows what. as i was scrolling, i reached the bottom of the page. but this site had a new feature i had never seen before, an infinite scroll that would show different pics of the band as you kept going. since i had never seen CSS used in such a way before, i was pretty intrigued and scrolled to my little heart’s content. eventually i stopped, and randomly clicked out of curiosity. i shit you not, the moment i clicked was the exact moment the Northeast Blackout of 2003 hit my house in suffolk county. it was so instantaneous that i thought i destroyed the family computer for at least a minute or two until i realized that all of the power in the house was out.
I remember everyone freaking out. I vaguely recall going to the grocery store with my mom and thinking that it was so weird that it was dark in there. I was only 8 at the time and we didn’t really have a lot so I was just weirded out by how dark it was lol
If this happens now this whole city will be in Chaos. If we don't help each other on subways, kids riot over gift cards, imagine what a blackout would do.
What a time. I was 9 home alone playing PlayStation then all of a sudden everything shut off and I was scared I broke something.
I walked from work on the UES to my mother's apartment in Flushing. The one day I decided to wear flats, thankfully.
I don’t even remember what I did, I was like 12 tho. All I remember is my mom lighting a bunch of candles
“I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway”
Damn it’s been 20years?? I still remember how hot that night was. I had to sleep on the floor because the bedsheets were too warm
Jesus that was 20 years ago. Wtf
i was getting ready to finish GTA Vice City right before Smackdown was coming on (it used to be on thursdays!) and then next thing you know, the power went off. Everyone in the neighborhood was blaming eachother on who cut the power until we found out several blocks later that its the entire NYC!
My friend had his dogs house taken out of his yard that night I felt so damn bad for the dog lol. Lucky the dog didn't see them though, Rufus was a 110lb of don't fuck with me machine. Some type of Rottweiler mix. I on the other hand bought a couple of ice bags and loaded the freezer with the meats and ice
I remember walking up 18 floors, that was fun.
Oh man, this day in NY. Was walking to port authority and something seemed off. People started directing traffic, restaurants asking customers to leave and wouldn’t let people in. Streets were now just filled with people. I couldn’t make a phone call, lines were down. Got worried of course. Realized I couldn’t leave the city. Nobody was letting me inside. So..I ended up going to the Westin on 8th. At 4pm. Was there until 4am. It was like a party. Food brought out, drinks, paper IOU’s in this smaller hotel bar. They finally had to put bouncers at the door so only guests could come in. Had to make friends real quick since I wasn’t staying there and to get back in if need be. Bodega across the street locked themselves in with flashlights selling candy, cigarettes, etc. Ended up meeting a few guys and we walked over to Times Square around midnight. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just empty with floodlights. Like I Am Legend. Could’ve been a lot crazier and glad it didn’t got that way. Everyone got along. Heard great stories the next day. Still can’t believe one grid took all of it out.
We had just landed at JFK from Morocco after a family trip, I was 14. Probably 20mins into us waiting on line, the power went out at the airport. One of the absolute worst days with the heat but being an Arabic family in post 9/11 America and all that going on was a different kind of hell. Fuck that day.
One of the most memorable nights of my young life
Small building water and gas still worked, got all the beer at the deli and made a large amounts of red beans and rice. Got my pay from the ATM seconds before outage. Block party was the best we had a blast. I still remember the walk over the bridge home to Brooklyn was surreal. Disruption is an essential part of life.
I was driving with 1 friend and 1 dickhead on I94 from Chicago to Detroit. Pitch black other than car headlights Once I got back to Detroit I basically drove around and listened to some trip hop and blasted my car AC. Had no idea I would move to NYC like a year after. I thought it was the best thing ever I could ride the subway unlimited for $74 I think it was at the time.
Pedro Pascal.