By JULIETTE EZGILIOGLU

Introduction: 

In 2003, on a hot August summer day, while at work, he and 50 million other people witnessed the rise and fall of the worst blackout in New York City history. When a wireline fell in Ohio and an alarm failed to alert the accident, it would trigger all the power systems to shut down for two days in the North East states. Jilber Ezgilioglu took his skill and trained many employees, and after years of hard work, he had a sizable running business with 100 employees working for him. He was designing and making jewelry pieces worth millions of dollars. The size of his business, Euphoria Jewelry, was a day-to-day hands-on operation as he oversaw every aspect of his company. While at work, Jilber and 50 million other people witnessed the rise and fall of the worst blackout in New York City history. He will speak on what happened to him during the 2003 blackout in this interview. 

Audio:  https://onlinej.ramaporecord.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/JulietteFinalEdit.m4a

Interview with Jilber Ezgilioglu 

Transcript

JNE: Please introduce yourself

JE: Hi my name is Jilber Ezgilioglu, I am 59 years old and I’ve been here since 1979.

JNE: How long did you live in New York?

JE: Over forty years

JNE: Ok…And where were you in New York City in the blackout in 2003 in the summer? 

JE: The most.. most richest, most expensive, most dangerous street in whole New York City and the state 47th St between 5th and 6th. It’s called “Diamond District”. 

JNE: What happened to you and what did you do when you uhhh experienced the black out?

JE: I am a jewelry designer. I have a jewelry manufactory. At the time I had about over 100 people [employed], and the reason I am bringing this out [is] because the size of the operation was important for me to tell you a little bit later how fearful this was for me. Imagine over a hundred people working. There were so many diamonds, jewelry pieces, the gold and everything and we had a vault and the vault its like you can walk in like a bank, and if the electrics were down which means there are no alarms, which means all the bad things can happen was going through my mind. We didn’t know what was this. If this was another attack, was this the end of the world? It felt like that, so I was worrying about how do I  protect that and there was no elevator it was not going to work there was no alarm, there was no emergency lights there was no telephones there was no police there was nothing. You can see the chaos in the streets and I had to go to my family. 

I didn’t know how I was going to go to my house. Was I going to walk all the way to George Washington bridge? It was unrealistic. So I found a way to secure the jewelry. Every second was like an infinity in my mind. After I secure the jewelry I had to go home try to figure out what was going to take place. How was [I] going to protect my kids. So I start walking to 8th avenue which is where Port Authority is. Imagine you’re coming out of a [New York] Giants game but imagine that 1,000 times more but in the streets. But anyway I saw a bus,  finally a few people like me standing in the corner trying to stop this bus. And the bus stopped we got in, the guy said “You know I really can not take you guys wherever you guys are going” and we said it doesn’t make a difference, just drop us after you pass the tunnel. The bus driver said you know what, it’s illegal for me to stop. What illegal? Maybe there is no tomorrow! Anyway so he drove me all the way to East Brunswick or New Brunswick somewhere, that was his first bus stop, and [to] my luck, close to…uh just crossing the tunnel I guess.

JNE: And where did you live at the time? 

JE: I lived in Fort Lee. Anyway later on I found a way to get a taxi. I was in the taxi for hour and a half came back home around eleven, almost twelve. Obviously my wife was worrying, my kids did not know. Obviously, we didn’t want to scare them. And then we found out what happened, how did it happened, it was chaotic. It was… it was a fear after 9/11 it was a scary thing because your mind goes to “this is it”, this is another attack, this is another end of the world scenario. 

JNE: So moving forward today how often do you watch the news now?

JE: [Small chuckle] I watch the news sometimes daily basis, sometimes I try to not to watch the news, sometimes I watch daily [or] weekly. And then sometimes I get so depressed and upset and then I try to stop. I don’t watch for months and then go back to like what’s taking place right now, you see another sad story. So I watch, but listening to news is not a place you want to get your news. So I watch a lot of international news, I do watch a lot of different countries’ radio listen or TV. So I try to get an overall concept around the world. 

JNE: So what would you say your primary like news outlet are that you watch if you can name a few? 

JE: Yeah, will say I do watch BBC I do watch CBS, FOX, MSNBC, I basically watch all of them so I can compare one after the other. And internationally I watch news from Armenian, Italian, Turkish, British, all of these types of newses. 

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Photos: This Was New York City During The Massive 2003 Blackout

This article shows various photos of multiple traffic lights off, nothing but crowded New Yorkers sweating on a hot summer day. Streets are crowded and people are trying to help one another but how many people did this blackout effect. On August 14, 2003  “an overgrown tree branch hit a power line in Cleveland” and as the alarm system failed to alert the incident; it triggered a power outage in the eight northeastern states and Ontario, Canada. About 50 million people were affected by this power outage but back in New York City people were not shy to help one another. Many people helped with traffic, restaurants held barbecues, and helped those stuck in the subway. It had only been two years since 9/11 leaving many people to fear that this was another terrorist attack, and having thousand of folks trying to walk out of the city by foot. 

Look Back: How NYers dealt with the 2003 blackout

This video from Spectrum News NY 1 shows different snapshots of New York in the 2003 blackout, and different places of New York where passengers were left stranded sleeping on the floor for the night.