18 JULY 20, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
How the Blackout of 1977
The Blackout of 1977 — which
occurred 40 years ago last
Thursday, July 13 — was a seminal
moment in the city’s history. Some
might say it was the city’s lowest point.
New York City was dealing with
rampant crime; the “Son of Sam”
murders had many New Yorkers
on edge. The city’s government was
cash-strapped and on the brink of
bankruptcy. Chunks of entire neighborhoods,
including Bushwick, had
been deliberately burned to the ground.
Banks red-lined communities such as
Bushwick, and homes were devalued
to the point that many landlords
turned to arson, choosing to cash in
their insurance policies and cash out
of the neighborhood.
The Ridgewood Times ran an
award-winning series, “The Agony
of Bushwick,” which chronicled the
neighborhood’s fiery decline. Urban
decay had gripped the neighborhood
long before the Blackout of 1977, but the
event itself added to the devastation.
Residents looted storefronts on Broadway
and Myrtle Avenue, and in some
cases burned them for good measure.
As if that wasn’t enough carnage
to befall a neighborhood, along came
the “All-Hands Fire” that occurred a
week later on July 18, 1977, which cast
a national spotlight on the plight in
Bushwick. The All-Hands Fire that
started in a former knitting mill at
Knickerbocker Avenue and Bleecker
Street, and wound up consuming three
whole blocks of the neighborhood.
Within 5 hours, 23 buildings were
destroyed.
Bushwick was burning, and the people
of New York City had finally had
enough. The New York Daily News ran
a special series of its own documented
the devastation in Bushwick and other
similarly blighted neighborhoods.
Then-Congressman Ed Koch, who
was running for mayor then, resolved
to help Bushwick rebuild. After being
elected mayor, he would work hard to
keep his promise to the community.
John Dereszewski was the district
manager of Brooklyn Community
Board 4 at the time of the Blackout
of 1977 and the All-Hands Fire. He
recently shared his memories of the
event and its impact on Bushwick, and
we’d like to share them with you now.
We thank him, and we also extend our
gratitude to Bushwick Daily — which
first ran his story on its website, www.
bushwickdaily.com — for sharing it
with us.
* * *
The evening of July 13 was, as many
of the previous evenings had been,
absolutely sweltering. The oppressive
heat fully matched the frustrations
and despair that affl icted all too many
poor New Yorkers. Thus, when the
blackout hit at around 9 p.m., everything
came to a boil as all too many
people gave into their worst instincts
and—rather foolishly—burned and
looted the businesses that, oft en under
diffi cult circumstances, had supported
their community over the previous
years.
Even the neighborhood’s remaining
movie house—the Loews Gates—would
Residents assess the scene following looting and fi res in Bushwick during the Blackout of 1977
Burned out buildings in Bushwick
