Six Year Anniversary Of 2003 Blackout

I had my first day of flight school that afternoon. And I saw the whole thing from the air. I initially thought my first flight was going to be canceled. But surprisingly my instructor and I still went up. The airport tower at Farmingdale had its own generator and continued flight operations. I'll never forget that day.

I worked in DUMBO and lived in eastern Queens at the time. Rather than find a closer friend to crash with, I took the adventurous route and attempted to reach home before dark.

I walked to downtown Bklyn, then east on Atlantic Ave with hundreds of stranded LIRR passengers, many of whom I assume lived farther east than I did. One guy in a warehouse of some kind not too far from Atlantic/Pacific was handing out cups of water to the hordes, but after that the street was mostly deserted other than cars. I only had a dollar on me and when I got really thirsty I used it to buy a Sprite at a bodega in the middle of nowhere that was about to close for the night. I still have the empty bottle.

I finally caught a bus when I made it to Woodhaven, almost 10 miles from where I started. It was packed and buses were not collecting fares, so I squeezed on through the back door. Some guy starts talking to me out of nowhere, asking what I do for a living, telling me his life story, and explaining how he and his friends are going to loot a Toys R Us store for PlayStation games. Good luck with that.

I changed to another bus at Parsons/Archer and was finally on the home stretch. Little traffic, few passengers and no stoplights on Hillside Ave made it a pretty quick, if not eerie trip as daylight was burning away fast.

I made it to my door well after the sun had set and just as seeing more than a few feet in front of you was beginning to get difficult. Mission accomplished.

I remember the city being a little more jittery back then. Jittery in the post-9/11/01 sense, when it seemed like the worst could still happen. Walking up 2nd Ave. in Manhattan was one of the best strolls ever. It seemed like everyone knew each other.

I walked into a convenience store where I wasn't a regular and realized I didn't have the cash on me to pick up AAs for my flashlight. The proprietor was a total stranger and let me have them, with a "I know you're good for it."

That night, I can't believe how hard people partied. It was like a municipal exhale. New Yorkers getting the chance to say "We're no longer bruised or fragile or just recipients of your well wishes. Shut off the power. Think we give a shit? We're NYC!"

I was working in downtown manhattan at the time, and after everyone realized it wasn't terrorism while we were trudging across the manhattan bridge again (the first time being 9/11), spirits really picked up.

I couldn't get cash from the ATM, so I only had 12 bucks. I spent it on beer.

I was actually visiting my mother in Michigan during the blackout. It stopped about 15 miles from her house - if we lived on the other side of town we would have been in it ourselves, only minus the fun NYC camaraderie! Several of my friends here sent me gleeful emails and texts about how awesome it had been and how unlucky I was to miss it. They threw a huge party that lasted until 4am. Hmmm...well it did sound like fun, but I was content to be sitting my mom's air conditioned living room watching it on tv anyway...

I remember that afternoon walking down Lex from Midtown. Nail salons were handing flip-flops to women walking in high heels so they could be a little more comfortable hiking home. I remember some young women worrying that it must have been caused by terrorists with an EMP device. A guy sorta sidled into the conversation to say, "Nah. To black out this much of the country, you'd need an EMP device the size of Long Island" before blending back into the crowd. I have no idea if they guy knew what he was talking about, but I remember how those women calmed down after he said that, reassured that we probably weren't under attack again.

I remember walking through the Village the next day, before the power came on, and seeing Gray's Papaya doing a brisk business--a manual cash register, a propane grill, and a bunch of hot dogs--and local restaurants just giving away their stuff to passersby before it spoiled in their powerless fridges.

And I remember thinking then, as I do now, that I love New York City.

At the office; called an in-law in California to see if it was terrorism or power failure. Cleared my desk and just before leaving, my 7 year-old called from his grandmother's house, begging me to come home because he was afraid we'd have to evacuate. Ran out the place as fast as I could.

Walking to Lexington on the UES, a tired, working-class man sat on brownstone steps, trying fruitlessly to make a cell call. The owner of the brownstone and her two children arrived, nastily telling the man to get off her steps. I still regret not having said anything.

Bus ride got as far as Cooper Union; the bus stopped dead in traffic and the driver radioed his supervisor that he needed to use the bathroom. Last stop. Walked to Fort Greene via the incoming roadbed on the Manhattan Bridge (cars were not allowed to use that road).

Lived through the previous two blackouts; was fearful of going down Myrtle Avenue, but surprisingly, it was bright and safe! (A neighbor said she regretted avoiding Myrtle by walking down Willoughby, which was so dark and deserted.)

I've walked farther than that on less stressful days, but for some reason my legs gave out as I walked up the dark stairs to my son. It was not fatigue.

Lesson learned: always have a landline and a phone that doesn't need electricity, as well as a battery radio in the office. I kept a radio in my bag, too.

Was in court that day for verbally assaulting a police dog. Case was dismissed because of the power. Great day.

Now I'm sad I missed it.

just remember it was hot as hell that day (i think it was worse than today) but sitting out at hudson river park and drinking beer with the rest of the neighborhood well into the night and then getting the next day off, which was really nice. the city felt like a really solid community throughout all of it, which was great to see...and i remember being out walking when the power came back on, and i noticed some lights came on inside apartments and heard the cheers from the sidewalk...just a pretty good experience all things considered.