Word: blackout
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...said of the violence: "You can't justify it." So far, there were no signs of a white backlash, even though many broadcast and newspaper accounts of the power failure emphasized the disorders. Sample headline from the Los Angeles Times: CITY'S PRIDE IN ITSELF GOES DIM IN THE BLACKOUT. Newspapers abroad also focused on the looting. A headline from Tokyo's Mainichi Shimbun: PANIC GRIPS NEW YORK; from West Germany's Bild Zeitung: NEW YORK'S BLOODIEST NIGHT; from London's Daily Express: THE NAKED CITY...
...electronically. Many spent the night partying at the round tables in the dining room that was made famous by Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker. At the New York Hilton, switchboard operators phoned each room to tell guests that two can dles were in every bureau?fixtures since the 1965 blackout. The hotel offered free coffee and food through the night to hundreds of people who milled through the lobby; employees clambered up the stairs each hour with food for the guests on the upper floors. "Alors, c 'est extraordinaire!" exclaimed a Swiss tourist, Irene Baillod, after trudging down from...
...groped in the dark. Anyone living on the upper floors was without water because pumps had stopped and rooftop tanks were quickly emptied. Some people preferred to bed down in the lobbies or walk the streets. Others sat in their cars, listening to the news?any news about the blackout...
...cost to New York is more difficult to reckon. There was no official estimate of the loss, but some city officials thought the total?including damage to buildings and theft of their contents?might be a staggering $1 billion or more. Because of the blackout, the city lost $4 million in tax revenue and had to pay $5 million in overtime to policemen and firemen. Estimates of business losses?beyond the looting?included up to $15 million in lost brokerage commissions for Wall Street and $20 million for retail stores...
What had changed since that placid blackout night of 1965? Doubtless the heat and humidity made some difference; in 1965 the power failed on a pleasantly cool evening in November. But much more had changed in a dozen years. Respect for law and authority has declined; thieves often go unpunished; crime and violence stalk the slums. So, of course, does poverty. Unemployment among young ghetto blacks is as high as 40%, v. more than...