August 6, 1988: A riot erupts in Tompkins Square Park, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, when police attempt to enforce a newly passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists are caught up in the overnight police action (August 6 into 7).
It is caught on video, one of the earliest examples of police brutality recorded for posterity. And it failed: It got rid of the homeless people, but the drug dealers came right back. It is one of the reasons that Mayor Ed Koch failed to win a 4th term as Mayor the next year: Liberals were angry because he overreacted by sending in the police sweep, and conservatives were angry because it failed.
Named for Daniel Tompkins, an early Governor of New York who was Vice President under James Monroe (1817-25), the park had been an oasis in the poor but proud Lower East Side. My mother and her parents had lived just off the park, on 9th Street off Avenue B, from 1948 to 1955.
By the 1970s, though, the area had descended into drugs, homelessness and chaos. TV police dramas like Cagney & Lacey in the '80s and NYPD Blue in the '90s depicted "Alphabet City" (named for Avenues A, B, C & D) pretty much got it right. It would be years before the locals trusted the cops again.
Things did get better. In the '90s, improved policing, the busting of drug dealers, a booming economy, and community activism combined to clean the place up, and it became an oasis again. Today, Tompkins Square is once again what it was when my mother lived there, what it always should have been: A safe place for adults to walk and children to play. And not just for Yuppies, as was feared at the time of the riot: There has been gentrification, but it's still mainly a neighborhood where the poor can live.
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August 6, 1988 was a Saturday. This was also the night that Yo! MTV Raps premiered on MTV. MTV took its own sweet time in broadcasting black music, and then hip-hop. And, eventually, stopped broadcasting music altogether.
These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Shields blew a lead in relief of Tommy John, but ended up as the winning pitcher when Jack Clark hit a home run. Don Slaught also homered for the Yankees. Dave Winfield went 0-for-3 with a walk. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-1 with 2 walks, 3 stolen bases, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Dwight Gooden started for the Mets, but left after 6 innings, trailing 3-1. But Pirates reliever Jim Gott -- whose surname means "God" -- melted down in the bottom of the 8th, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-3 deficit by allowing a double, 3 walks and 3 balks. It ruined a good start by Doug Drabek, and made Bob McClure the winning pitcher. For the Pirates, Barry Bonds went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray goes 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Cal Ripken goes 0-for-4 with a walk. Robin Yount goes 0-for-4. Paul Molitor goes 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. George Brett went 2-for-5 with a solo home run.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4. Two days later, the lights would come on a Wrigley for the 1st time.
* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 5-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tim Belcher outpitched Nolan Ryan.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum.
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