When the Twin Towers fell, everyone called the site of the attack "Ground Zero". I realized recently that this phase has disappeared from usage, probably about the time that the Freedom tower was built.
I moved to California about a year before 9/11, and was lucky not to lose anyone I knew in the attack. I grew up in Connecticut and the Twin Towers were always about an hour away. You never prioritize what is nearby, and by early 2001, I had walked through the underground WTC shops, but had never been to the top.
2001 was also the year that N and I were dating pretty seriously, and on March she flew out to meet my folks. She had never been to NYC, so I planned an introductory tour, including all the tourist traps. I usually brought newbies to the Empire State Building, but since *I* had never gone, we instead went to the World Trade Center Observation Deck. This of course was our one and only time.
(I can't find the one picture we took at the top, I may add it here at some time in the future.)
We spent the next few months in California, busy with work, and planning our wedding. On 9/11 my mother called from Connecticut at 6 in the morning. She was watching the attack live, and suddenly most of the TV stations blacked out (the WTC used to broadcast from antennas at the roof). She found comparable Connecticut stations, and we watched together, shocked, as the towers fell.
This is how most of us saw it that day. Watching that video brings me right back.
As big of a deal it was in California, the effect in NYC was enormous.
N and I returned to the East coast in December, as a married couple, and took a series of trips into Manhattan. Giant flags and memorials were everywhere.
The city was clumsily trying to readjust to the new reality. We finally took that trip the the Empire State Building, to see this sign:
It is 2017, and my family has now moved to Manhattan. This is our first September 11th here, so I went down to the World Trade Center and took some pictures to compare it to Ground Zero.
While viewing the footprint of the old towers, I found myself thinking about all the underground stores I had wandered decades earlier, including a small cake shop. Then, I realized I was actually looking at that shop itself:
At the current site, only one object from the old remains:
I moved to California about a year before 9/11, and was lucky not to lose anyone I knew in the attack. I grew up in Connecticut and the Twin Towers were always about an hour away. You never prioritize what is nearby, and by early 2001, I had walked through the underground WTC shops, but had never been to the top.
2001 was also the year that N and I were dating pretty seriously, and on March she flew out to meet my folks. She had never been to NYC, so I planned an introductory tour, including all the tourist traps. I usually brought newbies to the Empire State Building, but since *I* had never gone, we instead went to the World Trade Center Observation Deck. This of course was our one and only time.
(I can't find the one picture we took at the top, I may add it here at some time in the future.)
We spent the next few months in California, busy with work, and planning our wedding. On 9/11 my mother called from Connecticut at 6 in the morning. She was watching the attack live, and suddenly most of the TV stations blacked out (the WTC used to broadcast from antennas at the roof). She found comparable Connecticut stations, and we watched together, shocked, as the towers fell.
This is how most of us saw it that day. Watching that video brings me right back.
As big of a deal it was in California, the effect in NYC was enormous.
N and I returned to the East coast in December, as a married couple, and took a series of trips into Manhattan. Giant flags and memorials were everywhere.
I was a bit shocked to already see peddlers aggressively selling tribute books and attack related trinkets. It felt too soon. We met with a friend who lived in NYC, who initially also was offended but eventually had grown to like the peddlers, it indicated a return to normalcy. She also described the dust, smog and vile smell that had permeated the city until recently.
As bad as midtown was, the south was a mess. Southern Manhattan was basically shut down. Subways were severed, roads were barricaded, buildings were locked up, dusty and vacant:
Buildings surrounding Ground Zero had their faces ripped to shreds:
That week the City erected a platform at St. Paul's Chapel at the edge of Ground Zero. I took a series of photos and glued together this panorama:
Here is a closeup:
It is 2017, and my family has now moved to Manhattan. This is our first September 11th here, so I went down to the World Trade Center and took some pictures to compare it to Ground Zero.
Until retirement, my father worked as a manager in the NYC construction scene. In the 80s, he actually was assigned World Trade Center Building 7 (which seems now to be the focus point of some odd conspiracy theories). It must have been very odd for him to watch a building he helped create collapse in front of his eyes.
Here is the new Freedom Tower and the newly rebuilt WTC Building 7:
While viewing the footprint of the old towers, I found myself thinking about all the underground stores I had wandered decades earlier, including a small cake shop. Then, I realized I was actually looking at that shop itself:
It is 16 years later, and construction still continues at parts of the site.
No comments:
Post a Comment