How about some happy memories of the Twin Towers?

I recently dug out old pictures from my trip to NYC back in 1998, and scanned a few from my visit to the WTC. It seems appropriate, as it has been 20 years since we suffered this great loss.

They were taken with a cheap point-and-shoot, so the quality is definitely lacking. I had a digital camera during the trip, but have no idea where the files are now.

From the Staten Island ferry ride.


Down by the plaza. I bet many visitors took the same angle.


On the observation deck with my buddy since junior high. I'm on the right.


These two young ladies were sticking gummie bears on each other's faces, having a grand old time. I couldn't resist stealing a shot.


I remember wandering over to the less picturesque area of the deck with all the exposed steel girders, and spotting a signature on one of them. I was too far away to make out the name, so I did not take a picture. I did noticed some kind of sealant was applied to preserve it from washing away. I figured it might have been the name of the designer or some other VIP signed during a dedication ceremony.

I never mentioned it to anyone, nor did I investigate it further. It would be some ten years later when I saw a picture of the girder in a 2008 documentary about Philippe Petit call Man on Wire. He secretly strung a steel wire across the two towers and walked across it. The signature was not of Petit, it was of George Willig. He climbed the tower two years after Petit

It's funny how a trivial little mystery get solved without you trying.

The visit to WTC was a small part of my trip, and it didn't seem all that special at the time. Now, twenty years hence, it became the part that stood out most. I will never be able to visit that spot again, but I will always remember it.

Please share your own special moments.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rawny,

already a 4-page thread on this subject.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/1530029484

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
already a 4-page thread on this subject.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/1530029484

That thread is about memories from 9/11. This thread is about happier memories from the pre-9/11 WTC.

Nice pictures, wish I'd carried a camera when we went to WTC, sat on the top floor at Windows of the World having drinks, hell of a view.

We lived in New Jersey, not far from Manhattan, when construction was being completed and when they were finished in 1973. I was eleven, and the world's tallest buildings were a subject of conversation. You know how kids are about the "tallest" or "biggest" and things like that. We lived there for another year or two after they were finished, so I saw them many times on the NYC skyline. There were distinctive and very prominent as part of lower Manhattan.

I returned to NY a number of times after we left New Jersey, and they remained a notable feature as you approached Manhattan. The last time I would have seen them would have been in 1986 on the last trip I took into NYC. I haven't been back to Manhattan since, so I haven't seen it in person with the towers absent.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Nice pictures, wish I'd carried a camera when we went to WTC, sat on the top floor at Windows of the World having drinks, hell of a view.

Windows ON The World

Heather Ho was the pastry chef there and had gotten there at 8:30 am on 9/11/01, the first and only one in there that morning...

Early 1990s I worked for DEC (digital equipment corp). The Educational Services division had an office in a building across the street from the World Trade Center. My home was in Florida, but I had a tiny bachelor apartment in New Jersey for when I was working in the New York area.

Nice weather, I would use the ferry to commute from the NJ side of the Hudson River. The ferry docked at the World Trade Center, it was a nice stroll through the WTC grounds, and across the street to my office building.

Foul weather, I would use the train, via a tunnel under the Hudson, to the terminal in the World Trade center building. An underground pedestrian passageway took me directly from the WTC to an elevator in my office building, so no exposure to weather at all on the NYC side of the trip.

I really liked the nice weather days. Lunch time, there were many vendors out there with their carts, so you could grab some "street food" and find someplace to sit outside at the WTC and enjoy the people-watching. It was fun to watch the chess and backgammon hustlers.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
already a 4-page thread on this subject.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/1530029484

That thread is about memories from 9/11. This thread is about happier memories from the pre-9/11 WTC.

Thanks, that was my intention exactly.

I saw a documentary on the tower's construction ... to celebrate a milestone moment, the builder / architect threw a party for construction guys on an upper floor. It was themed, with Mexican food and music. During post-meal dancing, with a whole lot of guys stomping their feet in unison, the building took on an alarming wobble.

One architect said to the other, "OMG, what are we going to do?" The other replied, "We don't play that song again".

I lost the damned pictures, buuuut...

Way back in 1998, the guy I flew for bought a light twin aircraft that was up in Lawrence, MA...a very-well equipped Grumman GA-7 Cougar. We blasted up to the northeast via Southwest Airlines and then drove to Lawrence...scenic drive. It took a couple of days to complete the final inspection and test things out, and we eventually got to the point we were ready to fly home to Houston, TX...2-day flight with a layover in Martinsburg, VA, where Grumman last built their GA aircraft.

We got everything buttoned up, loaded the bags, filled the tanks, and said our last good-byes to the mechanic who had been helping us. As we were walking out, he asked,
"What route you taking back?"
We replied, "Right over New York City."
He just laughed and said, "ATC will NEVER let you through that airspace...too much traffic."
We said, "Wanna bet?"
He says, "Yeah...case of beer you'll get routed around the city."
To which we replied, "You got it."

We climbed aboard, started the motors, performed all the pre-flight checklists, took the runway, and blasted off on our adventure to the south at a whopping 160 knots TAS (179 MPH). We traversed through Boston's airspace and were eventually handed off to New York Center...we were cruising at 12,000 MSL by this time.

We checked in with Center and told them of our intentions...we were on a VFR flight plan, which can be less restrictive than if you're on an IFR flight plan, and offers some latitude to deviate from your current flight path. We told the first controller we wanted routing over New York City. He just gave us a vector toward that direction and we continued buzzing along. We droned on and were handed off from controller to controller, each not doing anything to alter our course toward the city.

As we neared the outskirts of New York, we checked in with our next controller and he asked our intentions...
"We'd like vectors over the World Trade Center and then over Lady Liberty, then we'll proceed southwest on [whatever] airway."

After a pause for a few seconds...
"Hooooooo. Uhhhhhh...I'm not gonna be able...hold on a minute. After about 20 seconds, the controller keyed the mic and said, "OK...flying heading xxx for the Towers, then maintain VFR to the statue, advise further intentions once past the statue."

We high-fived each other, gave a rebel yell, and continued on our vectors over the towers. What I got a picture of, was right over BOTH towers, smack-dab right in the middle of them. I snapped 4 or 5 pics that were AWESOME! We headed to the Statue afterward, saw her in all her glory, and then headed toward Martinsburg for the overnight.

What an AWESOME day!!

I can't BELIEVE I misplaced those damned pictures! Oh...and never got the case of beer, either.

What a GREAT memory that is......

My wife had never been to New York so I took her to visit my grandparents on Long Island in July 2000. We then took a train to the city to spend a couple of days and I took her to the twin towers. I remember while we were on the top, her saying how scary it would be if something happened to the building and she wanted to get down. Little did we know what would happen one year later. I am glad I got to take her there.





Me at the top (I had hair back then!)

I was probably around 10 or 11 years old (late 1970s) when my Dad took the family down to NYC to see the Twin Towers.

We walked around the observation deck at the top of the tower. The view was magnificent. You don't really get the sense of how high you are until you see little airplanes flying below you.

I recall my ears popping on the elevator ride back down.

Late 90’s, had a customer in financial district had to visit for support issues from time to time. Stayed at the Marriott World Trade Center. Really liked that hotel. Service was excellent. A quick walk thru WTC brought me out to a square and a walk across it to customer site. During the day, lots of vendors in the square with hot dogs, pastries, and such. Come out of bank late afternoon, the few restaurants were closed or closing. Walking back through WTC, there were various shops where could pick up sandwich and drink, or even hot food, and a favorite cheesecake place to grab dessert. Then off to hotel room and turn on tv and eat dinner. Hotel was really nice and a great location. I usually flew into Newark and took bus directly to WTC. Last visit was mid 2000, before I took early retirement package end of Nov 2000.

Excellent thread. Thank you.

My Wife and I had dinner at Wild Blue for our first anniversary in December of 2000. Less than a year later the towers were gone.

My future wife and I had dinner at Windows on the World in 1983.

Our senior class trip ('82) was to NYC and DC. I vividly remember being up in one of the towers (quite a view). We also climbed the Statue of Liberty into the crown (the torch was closed at that point).

My father was an Iron worker. The pictures you have seen of the men up on the steel, walking on 12” wide beams fifty or a hundred stories up - this is what he did.
We lived in New Jersey. I used to refer to it as “suburban New York” because so many in area commuted to the city for work. Dad worked all over northern New Jersey and metropolitan New York.
Dad was part of the crew that raised those two steel structures.
One of his jobs was as a “connector”. The connector worked at the top. As beams (horizontal pieces) went in they had columns (verticals) that made the structure taller. The connector climbed the columns to connect the next beam. Dad would be on one column, another man on another column nearby. The crane operator on the ground would raise the next beam and set in place between the columns. The connectors did the assembly. You already know those tall buildings move when the wind blows. The steel framework moves as well, probably more. They didn’t climb with ladders. They climbed the columns, hung on and connected. No, they did not climb the columns from the ground up. Lifts/elevators were installed as soon as they could be installed. But once up to temporary flooring, the new columns and beams required climbing.
When he was working there I never heard about it. Years later, as an aside, he had a few stories about when he was there.

A man I was always proud of.

As the Towers rose high enough I was able to watch construction while eating breakfast in the kitchen of my home In Brooklyn.

I was 9-10 years old at the time. The cranes on top of the towers were amazing to me.

I also got to see the King Kong model, used during the filming of the remake, as it lay between the North and South Tower. That was pretty cool as they let me and my friends get up close to Kong. I believe that was around 1976 and I would have been 17 years old.

I spent 3 weeks in one of the Towers training as a stockbroker for Dean Witter. Something like 1996 or 1997. It was hard to concentrate on the lecturer with the view (I had a seat all the way back in the last row right next to the window.)

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