There was a huge blackout in NYC in the summer of 1965, the first big power grid failure in a major city. Urban (and not-so-urban) folklore had it that the birth rate spiked nine months later, etc. etc. It was national news, lots of Carson jokes, comedy skits, other pop culture references. Probably a movie, too, but I'm not sure.
There was another city-wide blackout in 1977. I was there, sitting in a theater, watching the final confrontation between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi in this out-of-left-field movie that people were starting to talk about. I walked uptown about four miles; the east side was like an endless what-was-then-called singles bar. Restaurants were giving away their food, bars were selling drinks. Everyone was outside because automobile headlights provided light. EVERYone was trying to score.
― Vornado, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 12:53 (seventeen years ago) link