With temperatures hitting record highs, many New Yorkers crank up their air conditioners in the quest to stay cool, testing the ability of the city's electrical infrastructure to deliver much-needed power. As the unfortunate residents of Queens learned recently, things don't always go as planned.
New Yorkers have been troubled by blackouts since commercial electricity was first introduced in the 1880s. During the late 19th century, New York City experienced an electric power blackout almost every year after its still imperfect lighting system first went down in June 1881.
Perhaps the worst blackout in city history occurred on July 13 and 14, 1977, when more than 3,000 people were arrested for looting and arson during the city-wide outage. Interestingly enough, investigators found fewer incidences of rioting on the Lower East Side than in other low-income neighborhoods. Some residents turned the '77 blackout into an impromptu festival, blasting rock music from portable radios and sharing food and drink with neighbors. Assistant Director of the Association of Community Organizations, Jesus Laviera, traversed the neighborhood arranging bonfires.
Researchers with the Ford Foundation later argued that the Lower East Side was spared the civil disorder that befell other neighborhoods because of its long-standing tradition of grassroots community organizing. Just after the lights went out at 8:34 p.m. on July 13th, Artie Santiago, a Democratic district leader and director of a local anti-poverty organization, took to the streets to "talk quickly and quietly with the young people" in hopes of stemming theft and violence.
How did tenement dwellers preserve food, especially during New York's sweltering summers?
This artifact (left) gives us some clues. It's an early 20th century icebox that we found on the 5th floor of 97 Orchard Street. Made of oak and lined with metal, the icebox features a single compartment where food would have been stored. Ice would have been put into another compartment at the top of the box. A hose ran from this compartment, releasing water from the melting ice in to a tray or pan on the floor.
Not every tenement dweller owned an icebox, however; nor were iceboxes necessarily that effective. According to the Tenement Encyclopedia: "Tenements had no reliable food storage facilities. The electric refrigerator was common in middle-class households in the 1930s, but not in working class tenements." Though the icebox may have been one solution, families would also send children "to purchase food as many as three times a day."
E-Newsletter
Site Map
Contact Us
Aunt Sadie's Beach in a Can
