The World Trade Center – The Lonely One and Only

When Tower One and Tower Two stood in the same location for nearly thirty years the immensity of them was palpable, in height and breadth. In 2001 several months before 911 my sister-in-law and I were riding in a moving van on a June night on the highway on the New Jersey shoreline of the Hudson River when lower Manhattan came into view. She exclaimed, “My God, look at those two buildings. What are they for?” I told her they were the World Trade Center Towers. She couldn’t take her eyes off of them until they were no longer in view. I too took a long look at them wondering when I would see them again.

That was the last time I saw them standing, all lit up and asserting their presence over the nighttime New York skyline.

On the morning of September 11th my brother, knowing I didn’t watch TV, called me and said, “I think you better come over here and see this.”

Comments | 2

  • Stood in same spot...

    Also in June of 2001 I stood in this same spot and snapped my last photo of the Twin Towers which were standing where you see this lonely, understated namesame.

    The day back then was misty and overcast but those two towers loomed large even through nature’s monochrome grayscale.

  • They really were a pair of

    They really were a pair of striking additions to the skyline. I enjoy glimpses of them in older movies, especially when they aren’t really the focus of the scene but just laying back there, doing what skyscrapers do, providing some wonder and amazement. And, for the movies, some character.

    Don’t really care for the replacement building. Looks like Dubai to me.

    My favorite buildings in NY, though, are the older skyscrapers, with art deco and carved details, such as the Empire State and Chrylser buildings. I also like(d) the rows of small storefronts all over town, run by all sorts of people from all sorts of places.

Leave a Reply