September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Ground Zero One Hour After Twin Towers Collapse Rare Footage

Exclusive September 11, 2001 911 Footage "A Farewell Walk To Ground Zero" by a NYC Downtown Native Hours After Their Collapse

My September 11 2001

Although I don't know anybody killed in the attacks on The World Trade Center, the buildings and people lost represent my childhood memories and symbols of home. At first I thought I would read this over my footage, but quickly realized the footage spoke for itself.

I was seven years old in 1972 when both towers of the World Trade Center were completed. The street I grew up on in Greenwich Village had a direct view of the towers. I remember them sprouting out of nowhere and suddenly dominating the southern skyline. During the weekends I would escape to the empty caverns of downtown on my bicycle. Much like the woods for suburban kids, lower Manhattan was my playground. Quiet, empty, vacant of cars and people. The second I'd leave my apartment the Trade Center was my visible destination like climbing to the top of a mountain. This was before people would even consider living near Wall Street or Tribecca.

When I saw the buildings burning from my roof in the East Village it was only natural that I'd jump on my bike with a friend to go take a look.

Downtown was being cordoned off, but I knew how to slip threw. Unbelievably I felt safe being in the wreckage and fire being with the New York Firemen. However, seeing the mighty fire engines smashed to rubble, it was obvious this wasn't the usual apartment building fire I've experienced first hand.

New York City police and fire fighters who have seen it all, were stunned, in disbelief and talking war. Growing up I feared the Twin Towers blazing, falling over and crushing my bedroom. But after seeing the movie "Towering Inferno," I always thought that movie, inspired by the World Trade Centers, was the worst disaster that could ever happen and therefore the World Trade Center was safe. After all these buildings swayed three feet to absorb vibrations and wind, and after the 1993 bombing I was convinced nothing would bring them down.

Here I was in my childhood playground; now suddenly empty again, much like taking a long walk during a winter blizzard. Walking through the ruins I thought, this must be what it's like for people in the war torn cities like Beirut and Sarajevo, that were once so beautiful before their senseless wars reduced them to rubble. Realizing this was my hometown and not TV, I felt like I was saying goodbye to a loved one on its deathbed.

I'll never forget exploring the World Trade Center Plaza before its doors opened for business. I rode up to the corner of Tower Two just to touch it and saw a rope that hung from the top of the building. I shook it back and forth hoping to see it move on top but the rope disappeared into the sky. Being a city kid I took big buildings for granted but was amazed they could make a rope that long! I figured they must have made it special to measure how tall the building was, not knowing it was used for the window cleaners.

During the blackout of 1977 I'll never forget how several floors of one Tower still had its lights on. I was told those floors were the CIA offices. I thought it was pretty cool that they had their own power. But they probably weren't too happy since they just lost their cover.

I remember the thrill of my family's first dinner at Windows Of The World, the hot new restaurant on top of Tower One. No wonder New Yorkers have a been-there-done-that attitude. We had express elevators that took us to dinner on the 107th floor; a stunning feat, which after time became so ordinary as the restaurant became a tourist trap, repellent to native New Yorkers.

Living in a relatively anonymous city like New York one can drown out the screams of ambulances. But this time we knew where they where coming and going to. Even weeks after September 11th, hearing the blare of sirens made me worry another tragic event was occurring.

Growing up in New York we didn't have natural disasters. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes. Those just weren't happening in New York City. We had avoidable things like crime, roaches, potholes, crack-heads, and every now and then a blackout. But, here are my downtown streets empty on a Tuesday business day, looking like a volcano of concrete, metal and paper had just erupted, with the sun obscured in a murky haze of smoke and dust that once was the World Trade Center. I never thought I'd live to see something this war-like happen to New York. I always knew New York was a nuclear target. But if the bomb hit it would take all of us. The thought of being out of town when it hit and the guilt of living while others died always seemed to be the most troubling scenario.

I suppose I said goodbye in twenty-first century style -- camcorder in hand taking a walk to capture a day many will remember what they where doing and where they were.

Garvey Rich

Видео September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Ground Zero One Hour After Twin Towers Collapse Rare Footage канала Garvey Rich