The Meridian Archive
Chronological Spine

The Timeline

Everything the archive covers, 1989–2001. Click a colored bead to trace the force it belongs to.

Feb 26, 1989Bill Cunningham's "On the Street"/"Evening Hours" become weekly New York Times fixtures
Mar 3, 1989De La Soul release 3 Feet High and Rising
Apr 19, 1989Central Park Jogger case
May 12, 1989Last graffiti-covered subway car retired
Jun 12, 1989Corcoran cancels the Mapplethorpe exhibition
Aug 28, 1989Sullivan's "Here Comes the Groom"
Sep 5, 1989Mike and the Mad Dog debut on WFAN
Oct 31, 1989Nuyorican Poets Cafe reopens at 236 East 3rd Street
Nov 1, 1989Second Happy Land closure order
Nov 9, 1989The editorial floor sends for champagne the morning after the Berlin Wall opens
Nov 10, 1989Daily News FREEDOM front page
Nov 21, 1989Lautenberg Amendment grants refugee status
Nov 1989NEA withdraws, then restores, the Witnesses grant
Nov 1989Native Tongues catalog in heavy rotation (De La Soul, Latifah, Jungle Brothers)
Dec 1, 1989Alvin Ailey's death, cause concealed
Dec 7, 1989Sculptor Mark di Suvero, in protest, dons a loaned jacket backwards and is turned from his own award dinner at the Union League Club
Dec 10, 1989Stop the Church protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral
Dec 17, 1989The Simpsons premieres on Fox
Dec 1989ACT UP protest inside St. Patrick's Cathedral
Dec 1989New York magazine's "Bye-Bye Blues" Prozac cover
Dec 1989Koren shows publication bias in cocaine-harm studies
1989Marlon Riggs completes "Tongues Untied"
1989The Mac enters the paste-up pipeline
1989The New York Athletic Club admits its first women members after the Supreme Court declines to relitigate its case
1989Tobi Vail begins Jigsaw zine in Olympia
1989Richard Grant opens the Sound Factory with Junior Vasquez resident
1989New York's Child Support Standards Act sets the statutory support formula
1989900-number voice-mailbox personals adopted by alternative weeklies
1989John Stagliano founds Evil Angel, pioneering gonzo pornography
1989Fukuyama's "The End of History?" in The National Interest
Feb 11, 1990Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson, Tokyo
Feb 16, 1990Keith Haring dies
Feb 16, 1990Entertainment Weekly launches
Feb 1990Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy
Mar 18, 1990OutWeek outs Malcolm Forbes
Mar 20, 1990Madonna's "Vogue" released
Mar 25, 1990Happy Land Social Club fire
Mar 26, 1990Newsweek's Prozac cover, "The Promise of Prozac"
Mar 26, 1990Newsweek puts a giant Prozac capsule on its cover, mainstreaming the antidepressant to a general audience
Mar 1990First Things launches under Richard John Neuhaus
Apr 1, 1990Times' first Garifuna community piece
Apr 8, 1990Ryan White dies
Apr 8, 1990Twin Peaks premieres on ABC
Apr 15, 1990In Living Color premieres on Fox, the first Black-creator sketch show since the 1970s
Apr 15, 1990In Living Color premieres on Fox
May 1990Fama convicted, Mondello acquitted
Jun 20, 1990Mandela arrives in New York; ticker-tape parade
Jul 2, 1990Julio Rivera killed in Jackson Heights
Jul 17, 1990President Bush proclaims the 1990s the Decade of the Brain, redirecting federal psychiatric research toward neuroscience
Jul 17, 1990Proclamation 6158 declares the Decade of the Brain
Jul 26, 1990The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed
Aug 1990Ryan White CARE Act signed
Sep 21, 1990Dinkins crosses Red Apple picket line
Sep 23, 1990Ken Burns's The Civil War draws 39 million to PBS across five nights
Sep 26, 1990Cop Rock premieres on ABC
Oct 5, 1990Cincinnati jury acquits Dennis Barrie and the CAC
Oct 17, 1990Children's Television Act of 1990 becomes law
Nov 6, 1990Sotheby's "Great Massacre" evening sale; a Schnabel goes unsold, nothing by Warhol sells
Nov 10, 1990"Lonely Souls" reveals Laura Palmer's killer
Nov 14, 1990The Church of Realized Fantasies delivery service raided
Nov 29, 1990Anabolic Steroids Control Act signed, adding steroids to Schedule III
Nov 1990Police raid the Pope of Pot marijuana-delivery service
Nov 1990CFDA stages the first Seventh on Sale AIDS benefit
Nov 1990FCC issues first Notice of Apparent Liability against Stern's show, $6,000
Dec 7, 1990Reinaldo Arenas's suicide
Dec 26, 1990Cop Rock is cancelled after eleven episodes
1990Adobe ships Photoshop
1990Steven Bochco's Cop Rock is cancelled after eleven episodes
1990Bratton's Transit Police fare-evasion crackdown
1990NYC kinship foster caseload reaches roughly 17,000 children
1990Original Cubby Hole closes
1990Judith Butler publishes Gender Trouble
19901990–91 recession spares book sales but cuts magazine advertising (Spy loses half its advertisers)
1990GMHC stages the first Latex Ball
1990Paul Beatty wins the first Nuyorican Grand Slam championship
1990Yale University Press publishes Sexual Personae
1990Steele's The Content of Our Character published
Jan 17, 1991CNN broadcasts the Gulf War air campaign live from Baghdad
Jan 1991Jazz at Lincoln Center founded as a funded department
Jan 1991Paris Is Burning wins Sundance Grand Jury Prize
Feb 1991Fentanyl-laced "Tango & Cash" heroin appears in New York
Mar 1991Tribune sells Daily News to Maxwell
Mar 1991Pauline Kael retires from criticism
Mar 1991Paris Is Burning opens theatrically
Mar 1991MCI launches the Friends & Family calling-circle discount
Mar 1991Generation X and American Psycho both publish
Apr 1, 1991The Comedy Channel and Ha! merge into Comedy Central
Apr 1991Miss Saigon opens with the first $100 Broadway ticket
Apr 1991The ThighMaster infomercial with Suzanne Somers debuts
May 25, 1991Billboard adopts SoundScan point-of-sale data
May 1991Kodak DCS 100 released
May 1991Kodak DCS 100, the first commercially available wire-photographer digital camera, ships
May 1991First commercial digital camera reaches the field
Jun 10, 1991Twin Peaks series finale airs; not renewed
Jun 1991Red Ribbon debuts at Tony Awards
Jul 1, 1991Court TV launches, carrying trials live gavel-to-gavel
Jul 1991DC 37 breaks with Dinkins
Jul 1991Bikini Kill relocates to Washington, DC; the DC Riot Grrrl zine begins
Aug 11, 1991Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy premiere as Nicktoons
Aug 20, 1991Girl Night opens the International Pop Underground Convention, Olympia
Aug 23, 1991Web protocols released to the public internet
Aug 1991González convicted on 174 counts
Aug 1991Leibovitz's pregnant Demi Moore cover runs on Vanity Fair
Aug 1991Three days of unrest in Crown Heights after a child's death and a fatal stabbing
Sep 9, 1991Ingrid Sischy's "Good Intentions" challenges Salgado in The New Yorker
Sep 24, 1991Nirvana's Nevermind released
Sep 24, 1991Nevermind released, enters Billboard 200 at #144
Sep 28, 1991Miles Davis dies in Santa Monica, age 65
Sep 1991Haitian interdiction crisis
Oct 11, 1991Anita Hill testifies at the Thomas hearings
Oct 1991Anita Hill hearings
Oct 1991Senate Judiciary Committee hearings put "sexual harassment" into national vocabulary
Oct 1991Faludi's Backlash publishes
Nov 5, 1991Robert Maxwell dies at sea
Nov 7, 1991Magic Johnson discloses HIV status
Nov 21, 1991First anti-gay hate-crime conviction in New York State
Nov 24, 1991Freddie Mercury dies of AIDS
Dec 1991Daily News enters bankruptcy protection
Dec 1991Congress bans unsolicited fax advertising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Dec 1991GM announces 21 plant closures, 74,000 jobs cut
1991New York Magazine sold to K-III Communications
1991Essex Hemphill publishes "Brother to Brother"
1991"Tongues Untied" broadcasts nationally on PBS's P.O.V.
1991Saskia Sassen publishes The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo
1991Mollenkopf and Castells publish Dual City: Restructuring New York
1991Madison Square Garden's $200M renovation adds luxury suites
1991Salomon Brothers caught submitting false Treasury-auction bids; chairman gone by summer's end
1991Safe Streets, Safe City police expansion
1991Residential building workers strike for twelve days
1991Alexander and Ann Shulgin publish PIHKAL
1991Pauline Kael retires from The New Yorker
1991Henrietta Hudson opens
1991Riot Grrrl Manifesto appears in Bikini Kill zine issue two
1991Big Bank Take Little Bank published by Nuyorican Poets Cafe Press
1991Tricycle: The Buddhist Review founded in New York
Jan 11, 1992Nevermind reaches number one on the Billboard 200
Jan 11, 1992Nevermind displaces Michael Jackson's Dangerous at #1
Jan 1992Treatment Action Group founded
Jan 1992Seaman's Furniture files Chapter 11
Jan 1992Rebecca Walker publishes "Becoming the Third Wave" in Ms. Magazine
Jan 1992Spin runs its Nirvana cover story, "Heaven Can't Wait"
Feb 15, 1992Foxwoods casino opens in Connecticut
Mar 3, 1992Village Voice publishes the 1991 Pazz & Jop results; Nevermind sweeps album, single, and video
Mar 29, 1992Bill Clinton says he tried marijuana but “didn’t inhale”
Apr 8, 1992Arthur Ashe discloses HIV status
Apr 16, 1992Rolling Stone's first Nirvana cover (issue 628)
Apr 16, 1992Rolling Stone puts Nirvana on its cover, issue 628
Apr 16, 1992FDA restricts silicone implants to clinical-study enrollees
May 19, 1992Quayle's Commonwealth Club speech attacks Murphy Brown
May 22, 1992Johnny Carson's final Tonight Show; Leno inherits the chair
May 25, 1992Jay Leno takes over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson
May 1992Weiss and DiLorenzo plead guilty
May 1992Detective Michael Dowd arrested, 75th Precinct
Jun 1992Sarajevo's Holiday Inn reopens as the war's press hotel after the siege begins
Jul 1992Mollen Commission established
Jul 1992Mollen Commission established by executive order
Aug 10, 1992Bosnia designated for Temporary Protected Status
Aug 13, 1992ABC producer David Kaplan killed by a sniper in Sarajevo
Sep 5, 1992Batman: The Animated Series premieres
Sep 25, 1992Kricfalusi's contract terminated by Nickelodeon
Sep 1992Pan Am sign replaced by MetLife
Sep 1992Vibe test issue publishes
Sep 1992Stuyvesant moves to Battery Park City
Oct 3, 1992Sinéad O'Connor tears up a photo of the Pope live on SNL
Oct 28, 1992Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act signed into law
Oct 1992AIDS Memorial Quilt laid out on National Mall
Nov 3, 1992Marc Jacobs's grunge collection shown for Perry Ellis
Nov 8, 1992Larry Levan dies
Nov 15, 1992New York Times publishes the fabricated "Lexicon of Grunge"
Nov 17, 1992NBC's Dateline airs a rigged GM pickup crash test
Nov 18, 1992David Geffen comes out publicly
Nov 23, 1992Newsweek runs "Revolution, Girl Style"
Dec 1992Vogue publishes "Grunge & Glory"
Dec 1992Zolpidem is approved as Ambien, marketed as a sleep aid without a benzodiazepine's dependency profile
1992Melvin Dixon dies
1992Marsha P. Johnson dies
1992Richard Avedon becomes The New Yorker's first staff photographer
1992Herb Ritts shoots the Calvin Klein campaign with Kate Moss and Mark Wahlberg
199220% of NYC messenger companies close in two years
1992Tina Brown moves from Vanity Fair to edit The New Yorker
1992Daymond John and three partners found FUBU in Hollis, Queens
1992David Barton Gym opens
1992Lesbian Avengers founded
1992Riot grrrl's DC chapter organizes a press blackout against mainstream outlets
1992The Way Things Ought to Be spends 24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list
1992SUDS rapid HIV test approved for clinical settings
1992Bryant Park reopens after its cruising-geography redesign
199217.5% intelligence personnel cut mandated
Jan 1993News sold to Zuckerman and Drasner
Jan 1993Wired launches
Jan 1993Perry Ellis drops Marc Jacobs after his CFDA award
Feb 10, 1993Chancellor Joseph Fernandez not renewed
Feb 26, 1993World Trade Center bombing
Feb 1993Micky Cesar paroled
Mar 8, 1993Beavis and Butt-Head premieres on MTV
Mar 31, 1993Angie Xtravaganza dies of AIDS-related illness
Mar 1993Post staff revolt: the Hamilton teardrop front page
Apr 20, 1993MTV Unplugged: Spoken Word taped at Sony Music Studios
Apr 21, 1993NCSA Mosaic 1.0 released
Apr 1993Erika Reinstein and May Summer found Riot Grrrl Press in Washington, DC
May 5, 1993Baehr v. Lewin ruling
Jun 6, 1993First Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade
Jun 11, 1993Supreme Court decides Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah
Jun 13, 1993Roiphe's "Date Rape's Other Victim" runs as NYT Magazine cover
Jul 28, 1993MTV Unplugged: Spoken Word airs
Jul 1993Tim Bailey funeral procession blocked
Jul 1993Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday enters the chart at number one
Aug 4, 1993Micky Cesar arrested again on a marijuana charge
Aug 30, 1993Late Show with David Letterman debuts on CBS
Aug 30, 1993Late Show with David Letterman moves to CBS opposite Leno
Sep 13, 1993Late Night with Conan O'Brien premieres
Sep 13, 1993Conan O'Brien's Late Night debuts on NBC
Sep 13, 1993Late Night with Conan O'Brien debuts on NBC
Sep 21, 1993NYPD Blue premieres despite a 57-affiliate boycott
Sep 1993Chris Rock leaves Saturday Night Live for In Living Color weeks before its cancellation
Sep 1993Vibe magazine's first official issue
Oct 1, 1993Polly Klaas abducted in Petaluma, California
Oct 3, 1993Battle of Mogadishu
Oct 6, 1993A Moraine, Ohio fire is blamed on Beavis and Butt-Head
Oct 19, 1993Jackson Heights Historic District designated
Oct 1993Beavis and Butt-Head fire controversy; MTV moves the show to a later hour
Oct 1993WQHT (97.1) completes its full switch to hip-hop as "Hot 97"
Nov 1, 1993FTC 900-Number Rule cost-disclosure requirement takes effect
Nov 9, 1993Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest release albums the same day
Nov 18, 1993Nirvana tapes MTV Unplugged in New York
Nov 22, 1993The Television Food Network goes on the air
Nov 1993Staten Island secession referendum passes
Nov 199342nd Street grindhouses cleared under eminent domain
Dec 1993Philadelphia and Angels in America
1993Vibe launches in partnership with Time Inc.
1993Peter Kramer's Listening to Prozac published
1993Salgado's Workers is published by Aperture
1993Robert Fitch publishes The Assassination of New York
1993Peter Kramer's Listening to Prozac reframes antidepressants as tools for reshaping an already-functioning personality
1993Kate Spade launches with the nylon Sam bag
1993Jessica Rosenblum's Mecca, with Funkmaster Flex, settles into the Tunnel's Sunday slot
1993Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act cuts the meal deduction to 50 percent
1993Sears publishes the last edition of its general Big Book catalog
1993Victoria's Secret launches the Miracle Bra
1993Searching for Bobby Fischer reaches theaters
1993Harris v. Forklift lowers the harassment injury threshold
1993Fitch's The Assassination of New York publishes
Jan 1, 1994Giuliani becomes mayor; Bratton appointed police commissioner
Jan 1994NYNEX converts outdoor payphones to rotary dial to defeat pager tone-dialing
Jan 1994On Leong gambling-empire indictment unsealed
Feb 1994Diet-doctor and bestselling author Stuart Berger dies at forty, of causes an autopsy attributes to cocaine and cardiovascular disease
Mar 19, 1994Snoop Doggy Dogg wears a Tommy Hilfiger rugby shirt on Saturday Night Live
Mar 1994Spy stops publishing
Apr 5, 1994Kurt Cobain dies in Seattle
Apr 6, 1994Presidents' plane shot down over Kigali; the Rwandan genocide begins
Apr 19, 1994Nas releases Illmatic
Apr 21, 1994UN Security Council cuts the Rwanda peacekeeping force to 270
Apr 1994First NYC Starbucks opens
Apr 1994The Rwandan genocide begins; Hotel des Mille Collines shelters refugees, foreign press bases in Nairobi
Apr 1994First Manhattan Starbucks opens on Broadway at 87th
Apr 1994Raymond Márquez arrested on state gambling charges
May 15, 1994Hilsum's Observer dispatch names RTLM's role in the killing
May 20, 1994Smalls opens on West Tenth Street
May 25, 1994Messier's guarantee and hat trick, Game 6 vs. Devils
May 1994The American Psychiatric Association publishes DSM-IV
Jun 2, 1994Rolling Stone's Cobain memorial issue (issue 683)
Jun 12, 1994Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson dies; Chabad messianic split opens
Jun 14, 1994Rangers win the Stanley Cup, ending a 54-year drought
Jun 17, 1994O. J. Simpson Bronco pursuit preempts the NBA Finals
Jun 22, 1994Knicks lose NBA Finals Game 7; Starks 2-for-18
Jun 25, 1994First Dyke March
Jun 26, 1994Stonewall 25: two marches
Jun 30, 1994ILGA votes to expel NAMBLA
Jun 1994Bawer and Sullivan face Kushner and Minkowitz on Charlie Rose
Jul 7, 1994Mollen Commission report released
Jul 7, 1994Mollen Commission report released
Aug 12, 1994Players' strike begins; World Series canceled
Aug 25, 1994My So-Called Life premieres on ABC
Aug 1994AOL passes one million subscribers
Sep 13, 1994The Notorious B.I.G. releases Ready to Die
Sep 13, 1994Violence Against Women Act signed
Sep 18, 1994Franco Moschino dies
Sep 22, 1994Friends premieres on NBC; the Rachel haircut follows within its first season
Sep 26, 1994Clinton health plan's collapse
Sep 28, 199430th Precinct "Dirty Thirty" arrests
Sep 28, 199429 officers arrested in 30th Precinct corruption case
Sep 1994Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation reframes the drug's story from personality enhancement to bare survival
Oct 31, 1994The New Republic runs the Bell Curve excerpt with nineteen rebuttals
Oct 1994First web banner ad sold
Nov 3, 1994NBC's Must-See-TV shows stage "Blackout Thursday"
Nov 11, 1994Pedro Zamora dies
Nov 1994Republicans take Congress; freshman class names Limbaugh an honorary 'Majority Maker'
Dec 1994Anthony Baez dies after chokehold
Dec 1994Emmis Communications buys WRKS (98.7, Kiss FM) from Summit Communications, forming New York's first FM duopoly
1994Matthew Marks opens in Chelsea
1994Charlotte Street sales completed
1994Spy Magazine folds
1994Marlon Riggs dies
1994Cuban balseros exodus
1994Sean Strub launches POZ magazine
1994Pierogi gallery opens, Williamsburg
1994Upper Manhattan empowerment zone designated
1994Gramercy Tavern opens (Meyer and Colicchio)
1994Nobu opens on Hudson Street
1994Pete Hamill publishes his sobriety memoir A Drinking Life
1994Police Strategy No. 5 targets public-space disorder
1994DSM-IV published, carrying the PTSD category forward
1994Iman Cosmetics launches with five ranges and fourteen shades for deeper skin tones
1994Calvin Klein launches CK One, the first widely popular unisex fragrance
1994RuPaul becomes the first face of MAC's Viva Glam campaign
1994DT's Fat Cat renamed Cubbyhole
1994Stern runs for governor of New York on the Libertarian ticket, then withdraws
1994Matthew Marks opens the first Chelsea gallery meant to stay, recruiting Pat Hearn and Paul Morris
1994The Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair debuts at the Gramercy Park Hotel
1994The Knitting Factory relocates to 74 Leonard Street
1994Wendy Williams joins Hot 97's afternoon-drive slot
1994Lollapalooza adds the Rev. Samuel Mudd's Revival Tent spoken-word stage
1994Joker, Joker, Deuce published by Penguin
1994Gramercy Tavern and Nobu both open
1994Community protest forces Phil Bravin onto the Lexington School for the Deaf's board
1994The J Sisters' full-body wax spreads beyond a single New York salon
1994The Renfrew Center opens an outpatient location in New York, giving the city its own eating-disorder treatment option
1994Erwin Glikes leaves the Free Press and dies at 56
Jan 10, 1995Giuliani signs the NYC Smoke-Free Air Act
Jan 11, 1995The WB launches with The Wayans Bros.
Jan 12, 1995Sound Factory closes under lease takeover and fire-department pressure
Jan 12, 1995Sound Factory closes on lease takeover and FDNY pressure
Jan 16, 1995UPN launches with the Star Trek: Voyager pilot
Jan 1995Brooklyn Moon Cafe opens
Feb 1995U.S. Sentencing Commission recommends narrowing the 100-to-1 crack/powder sentencing disparity
Feb 1995Dede Brooks and Christopher Davidge fix the commission scheme in the back seat of a Lexus
Mar 9, 1995A Jenny Jones Show same-sex-crush episode ends in the murder of Scott Amedure
Mar 9, 1995Scott Amedure is killed three days after a Jenny Jones taping
Mar 23, 1995CUNY students fill City Hall Park over cuts
Mar 30, 1995Second Manhattan Starbucks opens at Astor Place, briefly the chain's largest in the city
Mar 1995Eazy-E dies of AIDS
Mar 1995Christie's introduces a non-negotiable sliding seller's-commission scale
Apr 2, 1995Transit Police merged into the NYPD
Apr 14, 1995Sotheby's matches Christie's commission scale
Apr 19, 1995Oklahoma City bombing
May 30, 1995East 13th Street squats evicted by force
May 1995Disney Theatrical signs New Amsterdam Theatre lease
Jun 8, 1995Vyacheslav Ivankov arrested in Brooklyn
Jul 1, 1995New York mandatory-arrest provision takes effect
Jul 10, 1995Hugh Grant on The Tonight Show; Leno takes the ratings lead
Jul 16, 1995New York Newsday shut down
Jul 31, 1995Disney agrees to acquire Capital Cities/ABC
Jul 1995Happy Land civil suit settles
Jul 1995Danni Ashe launches Danni's Hard Drive
Aug 1, 1995Westinghouse agrees to acquire CBS
Aug 3, 1995Suge Knight disses Puff Daddy at the Source Awards
Aug 9, 1995Jerry Garcia dies; Grateful Dead touring ends
Sep 2, 1995Infinity Broadcasting settles all outstanding Stern indecency cases for $1.715 million
Sep 17, 1995The Weekly Standard launches, funded by Rupert Murdoch, edited by William Kristol
Sep 18, 1995Caldor files Chapter 11
Sep 21, 1995Financial Interest and Syndication Rules expire
Sep 30, 1995Fifty NYPD officers raid Limelight; three arrests
Oct 16, 1995Million Man March; Harlem buses leave at 2 AM
Oct 25, 1995City Council passes the adult-use zoning law
Oct 27, 1995Fayva shoe chain closes all 357 stores
Oct 1995Corbis acquires the Bettmann Archive
Nov 19, 1995Toy Story premieres at the El Capitan Theatre
Nov 20, 1995The Princess of Wales tells the BBC's Panorama she hurt her own arms and legs, bringing 'self-harm' into general press usage
Nov 1995CBS management orders 60 Minutes to hold its Jeffrey Wigand tobacco-whistleblower interview
1995Essex Hemphill dies
1995AIDS deaths peak in NYC at 7,046
1995Getty Images is founded and buys Tony Stone Images
1995Calvin Klein's Meisel campaign draws a Justice Department investigation
1995Iomega Zip and Jaz drives ship
1995John Zorn founds Tzadik Records
1995Other Music opens at 15 East Fourth Street, across from Tower
1995Saul Williams begins reading at the Nuyorican
1995Time Out New York launches
1995The East 7th Street "Laundromat" heroin spot at its documented peak
1995West Side Club opens in Chelsea
1995DejaNews launches, the first searchable usenet archive
1995Largest BRAC round: 79 closures and realignments
1995Loury resigns from AEI over The End of Racism
1996
Jan 21, 1996Party of Five wins the Golden Globe for Best Drama
Jan 22, 1996nytimes.com launches on the Web
Jan 1996Ritonavir mortality data presented
Jan 1996The New York Times opens its website
Feb 4, 199660 Minutes airs its full Jeffrey Wigand tobacco interview after killing it
Feb 8, 1996Telecommunications Act of 1996 signed
Feb 13, 1996FDA approves Adderall for ADHD
Feb 1996Infinite Jest published
Mar 17, 1996Andre Melendez killed by Michael Alig and Robert Riggs
Mar 1996Ritonavir, indinavir approved by FDA
Mar 1996Kinko's passes 800 locations nationwide
Apr 26, 1996The Weather Channel debuts its Local on the 8s segment
Apr 1996Visa and MasterCard lift the ban on ATM surcharges; out-of-network fees spread across New York
Apr 1996The estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sells at Sotheby's for about $34.5 million against a $4.6 million estimate
May 199610-10 dial-around long-distance numbers launch nationally
Jun 24, 1996Slate launches under Michael Kinsley
Jul 1996The Spice Girls release Spice, marketed under "Girl Power"
Jul 1996HAART data presented at Vancouver AIDS conference
Jul 1996Vancouver AIDS conference presents the protease cocktail
Aug 22, 1996Federal welfare-reform law signed
Aug 23, 1996Bin Laden's declaration of war published in London
Sep 4, 1996Gwyneth Paltrow wears the red Tom Ford Gucci suit to the VMAs
Sep 13, 1996Tupac Shakur dies of gunshot wounds
Sep 17, 1996Oprah Winfrey launches her televised book club
Sep 21, 1996DOMA signed
Sep 1996Oprah's Book Club launches, moving hundreds of thousands of copies on her word alone
Sep 1996The Goliath Chronicles moves Gargoyles to ABC
Oct 7, 1996Fox News Channel launches, unavailable in New York and Los Angeles at launch
Oct 10, 1996Time Warner completes acquisition of Turner Broadcasting
Oct 12, 1996Mohegan Sun opens near Foxwoods
Oct 17, 1996Bradley's closes on University Place
Oct 26, 1996Yankees win the World Series, starting the dynasty
Nov 5, 1996California’s Proposition 215 legalizes medical marijuana
Nov 5, 1996California Proposition 209 passes with 54.5 percent
Nov 1996Melendez identified by dental records
Nov 1996The FDA approves donepezil
Dec 1, 1996AOL goes flat-rate; the busy-signal rush
Dec 5, 1996Alig and Riggs arrested
Dec 18, 1996Oakland school board passes the Ebonics resolution
1996Condé Nast signs lease for 4 Times Square
1996Sex and the City collected as a book
1996The magazine is essentially clean of paste-up
1996New York's ATM Safety Act mandates cameras, mirrors, and locking vestibules at cash machines
199655 Broad St reopens as the Information Technology Center
1996Flatiron Partners founded
1996Jazz at Lincoln Center becomes a full Lincoln Center constituent
1996Reg E. Gaines nominated for a Tony for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; Jonathan Larson wins for Rent
1996Saul Williams wins the Nuyorican Grand Slam and leads the team to the National Poetry Slam finals in Portland
1996Clonazepam (Klonopin) gains an FDA indication for panic disorder, cementing its reputation as the 'responsible' benzodiazepine
1996Andrew Conru founds Adult FriendFinder
Jan 24, 1997NYC reports a 30% single-year drop in AIDS deaths
Feb 25, 1997FDA declares the Yuzpe regimen safe and effective for emergency contraception
Mar 9, 1997The Notorious B.I.G. shot and killed in Los Angeles
Mar 18, 1997Biggie's funeral at Frank E. Campbell, procession through Brooklyn
Apr 1, 1997Maxim launches in the US
Apr 14, 1997Time's "Yep, I'm Gay" Ellen DeGeneres cover
Apr 21, 1997McNally opens Balthazar in SoHo
Apr 30, 1997Ellen's lead comes out before ~42 million viewers
Apr 1997Chelsea Market opens on Ninth Avenue
Apr 1997Marsalis wins the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Blood on the Fields
Apr 1997Balthazar opens on Spring Street
May 20, 1997Roseanne closes on its lottery-as-fiction twist
May 1997President Clinton denounces "heroin chic" fashion imagery
Jun 28, 1997Tyson disqualified for biting Holyfield's ear
Jun 1997Rent Regulation Reform Act: vacancy deregulation
Jun 1997UPN's Lucie Salhany wears a brooch of WB's mascot staked through the heart
Jun 1997Radiohead releases OK Computer
Jun 1997"Riding Bareback" coins the word in POZ
Jul 12, 1997Oz premieres on HBO
Jul 22, 1997Puff Daddy's No Way Out debuts at number one
Aug 9, 1997Abner Louima assaulted by NYPD officer
Aug 31, 1997Princess Diana dies in a paparazzi-pursued crash in Paris
Oct 1, 1997Michael Alig and Robert Riggs plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter
Oct 1, 1997Alig and Riggs plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter
Nov 13, 1997The Lion King opens
1997AIDS deaths in NYC fall 47% to 2,625
1997Getty acquires the Liaison photojournalism agency
1997Outlook 97 and AOL business email mature
1997Grey Goose launches, opening the super-premium vodka tier
1997MAC launches Lipglass, signaling the shift back to shine
1997Target opens its first New York-area stores
1997Palladium sold to New York University
1997Sean Hannity joins WABC's late-night slot
1997Muscle dysmorphia formally named in Psychosomatics
1997Steven Bratman names 'orthorexia' in Yoga Journal, years before the term reaches clinical literature
1997GMHC opens the Tisch Building and David Geffen Center
1997Sex Panic! founded in New York
Jan 17, 1998Drudge Report publishes the withheld Newsweek story
Jan 1998Internet site breaks spiked Newsweek story
Jan 1998Drudge Report runs the Lewinsky story Newsweek killed
Jan 1998Clinton-Lewinsky story breaks
Feb 11, 1998Peter Gatien acquitted of federal drug-conspiracy charges
Feb 1998The Windsors' possessions sell at Sotheby's; Edward VIII's abdication desk fetches $415,000 against a $20,000–$25,000 estimate
Feb 1998Peter Gatien acquitted of federal narcotics conspiracy charges
May 13, 1998NYC yellow-cab drivers strike
May 14, 1998Seinfeld series finale draws 76 million viewers
May 14, 1998The Seinfeld finale draws seventy-six million viewers
May 28, 1998Phil Hartman's death is written into NewsRadio
May 1998Stephen Glass fabrications exposed
Jun 9, 1998Kosovo designated for Temporary Protected Status
Jun 29, 1998Time asks "Is Feminism Dead?" on a cover featuring Ally McBeal
Jun 1998The Supreme Court decides Bragdon v. Abbott, ruling asymptomatic HIV a disability under the ADA
Jul 4, 1998Unlimited Ride MetroCards introduced
Jul 1998Sharpton found liable in Pagones suit
Aug 1998New Livent management under Michael Ovitz and Roy Furman discovers the accounting irregularities
Sep 1, 1998Preven emergency contraception kit approved
Sep 21, 1998Will & Grace premieres with TV's first gay lead
Sep 21, 1998Will & Grace premieres on NBC
Sep 22, 1998Sports Night premieres on ABC
Sep 23, 1998Long-Term Capital Management bailout
Sep 1998Starr Report released, read online
Sep 1998Google incorporated
Sep 1998Lizzie Grubman's color-coded 10,000-name VIP database in use for an AOL 4.0 launch
Oct 1998Grand Central Terminal restoration completed
Nov 1998Master Settlement Agreement signed
Dec 24, 1998Modafinil is approved as Provigil, a Schedule IV wakefulness drug soon used off-label by writers and finance workers
1998Murders fall to 633, lowest since the 1950s
1998Talley returns to Vogue as editor-at-large
1998Susan Taylor wins the Fisher Award
1998Messenger-service budget line falls, ISDN line rises
1998Yankees win 114 games and sweep the World Series
1998Palladium demolished for an NYU dormitory
1998Wendy Williams is fired from Hot 97
1998The H.R. Giger VIP room opens above the Limelight's main floor
1998The Weather Channel discontinues Local on the 8s
1998Jivamukti moves to 404 Lafayette Street
1998Madonna's Kabbalah Centre affiliation becomes public
1998Prepaid cellular service becomes available, displacing the pager on dealers' belts
1998Sustained zoning enforcement begins after Supreme Court declines review
1998Babeland opens on Rivington Street
1998Hudson River Park master plan adopted
1998Treasure Island Media founded in San Francisco
1998Sennett's The Corrosion of Character publishes
Jan 10, 1999The Sopranos premieres on HBO
Jan 13, 1999Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb indicted on sixteen felony counts each
Feb 4, 1999Amadou Diallo shot and killed by Street Crimes Unit officers
Feb 24, 1999NBC airs the Broaddrick interview after a 35-day hold
Mar 22, 1999David Strickland found dead
Apr 19, 1999Bourdain's "Don't Eat Before Reading This" runs in The New Yorker
Jun 1, 1999Napster launches
Jun 21, 1999First Condé Nast staff move to 4 Times Square
Jul 12, 1999House condemns the Rind study, 355-0
Jul 28, 1999Plan B approved by the FDA
Aug 16, 1999Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premieres on ABC
Aug 27, 1999Kendra's Law signed
Aug 31, 1999Adobe InDesign ships
Sep 8, 1999Sisulu Children's Academy, first NY charter school, opens
Sep 16, 1999Hurricane Floyd hits New York
Sep 22, 1999The West Wing premieres on NBC
Nov 1999Elián González custody case
Dec 1, 1999Spitzer stop-and-frisk report released
Dec 1, 1999State attorney general's stop-and-frisk report
Dec 14, 1999Buffy airs "Hush," mostly without dialogue
Dec 31, 1999Y2K bug fails to strike
Dec 1999NASDAQ MarketSite cylinder illuminated
Dec 1999Josh Harris's month-long livestreamed "Quiet" bunker party
1999Pastis opens on Little West Twelfth Street
1999Pastis opens in the meatpacking district
1999Nikon D1 ships at $4,999
1999Condé Nast moves to 4 Times Square
1999Harris completes Still Passing By
1999Pathmark opens on 125th Street
1999Sertraline becomes the first FDA-approved drug for post-traumatic stress disorder, a decade after the decade's war correspondents came home
1999NY state prison population peaks, roughly five times its 1973 level
1999Gatien pleads guilty to state tax evasion; $1.9 million fine
1999US distribution of the Moleskine notebook begins
1999Pastis opens in the Meatpacking District
Jan 14, 2000Letterman's quintuple bypass; the irony breaks on his return
Jan 2000Ngai's "Stuplimity" in Postmodern Culture
Feb 18, 2000GHB placed on Schedule I under the Hillory J. Farias Act
Feb 25, 2000Diallo officers acquitted
Feb 2000GHB placed on federal Schedule I
Mar 10, 2000NASDAQ peaks at 5,048; the Silicon Alley high
Mar 16, 2000Patrick Dorismond shot by undercover officer
Mar 2000NASDAQ composite peaks, then gives back the boom's gains over the next year
Mar 2000GHB placed on federal Schedule I
Apr 11, 2000Irving v. Lipstadt judgment for the defense
May 3, 2000Cardinal John O'Connor dies
May 24, 2000Sarajevo veteran Kurt Schork killed in an ambush in Sierra Leone
Jun 2000The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act is signed
Jul 1, 2000Vermont civil unions take effect
Jul 10, 2000R142 subway cars enter service
Jul 24, 2000James Wood coins "hysterical realism"
Jul 24, 2000James Wood's 'hysterical realism' essay runs in The New Republic
Jul 2000James Wiest dies of overdose at Twilo
Aug 23, 2000The Survivor: Borneo finale draws an average of 51.7 million viewers
Aug 23, 2000Survivor's Borneo finale draws 51.7 million viewers
Aug 2000Craigslist reaches New York
Aug 2000Clear Channel completes acquisition of AMFM
Aug 2000Guinness names Danni Ashe the most downloaded woman on the internet
Oct 1, 2000E-Sign Act makes electronic signatures binding
Oct 12, 2000USS Cole attacked in Aden harbor
Oct 2000Dede Brooks pleads guilty in the price-fixing case
Oct 2000Radiohead releases Kid A
Nov 2000The over-the-counter diet stimulant phenylpropanolamine (Dexatrim, Acutrim) is withdrawn after being linked to stroke
2000Frank Gehry-designed Condé Nast cafeteria opens
2000Cardinal John O'Connor dies
2000Yankees beat Mets in the first Subway Series since 1956
2000The Kiev closes after 22 years
2000Marijuana-in-public-view becomes NYC’s most common misdemeanor arrest
2000Dot-com party funding dries up; trade-show mixers replace standalone launches
2000Kitchen Confidential is published
2000The Adonis Complex publishes, naming male body obsession for a popular audience
Feb 27, 2001Buffy airs "The Body," using no music
Mar 22, 2001Fresh Kills Landfill closes
Mar 20012001 recession begins
Apr 1, 2001Manhunt.net launches
Apr 11, 2001Kozmo.com shuts down, 1,100 laid off
Apr 2001Buffy the Vampire Slayer moves from the WB to UPN
May 6, 2001Twilo closed on an expired certificate of occupancy — the era's end
May 6, 2001Twilo closes on an expired certificate of occupancy
Jul 7, 2001Lizzie Grubman backs a Mercedes SUV into a crowd at Conscience Point Inn, Southampton
Jul 11, 2001Napster shuts down for good
Jul 2001Federal court orders Napster shut down
Aug 17, 2001The Industry Standard folds
Aug 2001NYC heat wave kills four
Sep 2, 2001Adult Swim launches on Cartoon Network
Sep 3, 2001Pauline Kael dies at 82
Sep 3, 2001Pauline Kael dies
Sep 10, 2001Sean Hannity launches national syndication, the day before the September 11 attacks
Sep 11, 2001St. Vincent's becomes 9/11 trauma center
Sep 11, 2001Father Mychal Judge dies at the World Trade Center
Sep 11, 2001Jay-Z releases The Blueprint
Sep 17, 2001Letterman is first late-night host back on air after September 11
Oct 26, 2001The Producers announces $480 premium seats
Nov 6, 2001Buffy airs its musical episode, "Once More, with Feeling"
Dec 2001A. Alfred Taubman convicted of price-fixing
Dec 2001The Weather Channel revives Local on the 8s
2001Daily messenger run essentially gone at prestige monthlies
2001Noise is 83% of the Quality of Life Hotline's calls
2001Wendy Williams returns to New York radio at WBLS
2001Raymond Márquez retires from the numbers trade