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Photos from the NYC blackout of 1977

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  • A line forms for gasoline at a Gulf station at 73rd Street and the FDR Drive in Manhattan on July 14, 1977. The station got its power back after a citywide blackout the night before.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Stan Wolfson
  • The city made water available in some streets because power to pump it to apartments wasn't available in some areas on July 14, 1977.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Stan Wolfson
  • The toll booths at the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City are closed to all traffic on July 13, 1977, after a power outage plunged the city into darkness.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Dan Neville
  • Stranded passengers wait in the KLM building at Kennedy Airport on July 13, 1977, as a citywide blackout grounded aircraft.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Alan Raia
  • Officers in the 108th Precinct at 50th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City use the headlights of their cars and cruisers to light the area around the station house on July 13, 1977, during a blackout in New York City.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Dan Neville
  • Flashlights get a workout directing traffic at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street near the Empire State Building as people improvised to keep the city running during a blackout on July 13, 1977.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Gerald S. Williams
  • A young man sleeps in a waiting area at LaGuardia Airport on July 13, 1977 during a blackout across New York City. The only working lights were on emergency power.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Paul J. Bereswill
  • A food truck serves stranded passengers and employees on July 13, 1977, outside the TWA Terminal at Kennedy Airport. A citywide blackout turned out all but emergency lights at the airport.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Alan Raia
  • The power failure across New York City on July 13, 1977, also blacked out lights and services in the TWA Terminal at Kennedy Airport, grounding aircraft and stranding travelers.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Alan Raia
  • Customers and a waitress at the Bellerose Diner rely on a candle after the power went out at 9:29 p.m. on July 13, 1977, the result of a chain reaction from a lightning strike at a power station on the Hudson River in Westchester County.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Jim Peppler
  • Stranded passengers get off a train that arrived around midnight at the Jamaica Long Island Rail Road Station. It was about three hours after a lightning strike plunged the five boroughs into darkness on July 13, 1977.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / John Cornell
  • Stranded commuters line up for phones after finally getting off stalled trains at the Jamaica Station in Queens around midnight on July 13, 1977, about three hours after a lightning strike caused a chain reaction that blacked out power to New York City.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / John Cornell
  • Teenagers sitting on a curb in Jamaica, Queens, on July 13, 1977, after a citywide power failure shut off air conditioning and lights.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / John Cornell
  • Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan is usually full of office workers on a warm day in summer, but not on July 14, 1977, the day after a citywide blackout closed many businesses and forced many commuters to stay home.
    Photo Credit: Newsday
  • Transit worker Ray Mills checks out a Long Island Rail Road train at the Jamaica Station in Queens to see if anyone is left aboard on July 13, 1977, after a citywide blackout that took the electrified train out of service.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / John Cornell
  • Customers and staff of the Bellerose Diner gather around a kerosene lamp and candles after the power went out across New York City on July 13, 1977.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Jim Peppler
  • Dorothy Albert stands on the balcony of her Bayside apartment, probably the coolest part of the place on July 14, 1977, the day after a lightning bolt brought darkness to New York City. In addition to no electricity for air conditioning, Albert had no water.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Barry Wong
  • Sunbathers wait out the heat and dark of Manhattan apartments on July 14, 1977, in Central Park. The city was coping with a blackout that began July 13. Temperatures at the time were in the mid-80s.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Stan Wolfson
  • Sunbathers wait out the heat and dark of Manhattan apartments on July 14, 1977, in Carl Schurz Park at East 89th Street and the FDR Drive. The city was coping with a blackout that began July 13. Temperatures at the time were in the mid-80s.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Stan Wolfson
  • The Long Island Expressway shows no signs of the usual 5 p.m. rush hour traffic on July 14, 1977, the day after a power failure turned off the lights and services across New York City. Many commuters stayed home.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / David L. Pokress
  • Richard DeCastro gets help from his son Russell, 7, in setting up a portable generator on July 14, 1977, just in case he needs power for his house in Whitestone, Queens, for a second night of the blackout.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / George Argeroplos
  • LaGuardia Airport was shut down to travelers on July 13, 1977, during the blackout across New York City.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Paul J. Bereswill
  • A man calls home after getting off a Long Island Rail Road train that was caught outside a station when its power failed in a blackout that started on July 13, 1977.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / John Cornell
  • The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel -- known in 2016 as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel -- approach from the Manhattan side is void of traffic on July 14, 1977, a day after lightning strike turned off the power in New York City.
    Photo Credit: Newsday / Walter del Toro

On the night of July 13, 1977, a lightning strike took out a power station, which set off a chain reaction leading to a blackout in New York City.

By the time the sun came up the next morning, New York began to take stock — 3,400 arrests, 1,000 fires and hundreds of stores looted in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Check out photos below of the night the city went dark.

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