Blackout Riots (1977)
Willie Anderson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesHaving failed to keep out looters, storefront gates on Utica Avenue between Union Street and Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn lie in ruins following the Blackout Riots.
Harmon LeonThe site of the Blackout Riots in Crown Heights, as seen in 2018.
In 1977, during the height of panic over the Son of Sam murders, and with the city near the heights of its 1970s poverty and decay, New York experienced a citywide blackout.
With the city already on its knees, the blackout lit the powder keg and kicked off one of the most intense riots in New York City history. When the lights went out on July 13, there were no good-natured, let’s-help-our-neighbor attitudes to be found. Instead, rampant looting and arson took place.
One of the hardest hit areas was central Brooklyn, where some 75 stores on just one five-block stretch were looted. And two whole blocks of Broadway, roughly where you now see a T-Mobile store, were set on fire.
The problems abated when the lights came back on the following day, but New York City had a long way to go before the poverty and urban decay at the heart of the matter were finally addressed.
After this look at some of the most devastating riots in New York City history, discover the story of the Zoot Suit Riots that devastated Los Angeles in the summer of 1943. Then, experience the stark decay and turmoil of New York City in the 1970s.
