September 11th, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
I saw Tower 1 disintegrate into thin air.
I was in Brooklyn and everyone at the rooftop collectively and simultaneously screamed and cried. Lower Manhattan was darkened by debris and dust; laid in contrast to the beautiful sunny day.
I was barely waking up, still in bed when my roommate, Bryant, started screaming!
“We’ve been attacked!”
I’m like, “You’re too damn loud!”
“Turn on the news!” — he yelled.
Funny enough, I turned on the TV and it was on the Food Network. But was it playing a movie?
What I saw was the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan was engulfed in black/grey smoke.
I really thought it was a Will Smith movie.
I flipped through the channels, and it was the same image.
The two building were in golfed in flames. (I did not see the two planes hit the building).
WTF was happening!
Bryant was packing his bag and ready to head out.
“I got to help out there!” he uttered.
I got up from bed and followed him to the door.
When he opened the door, I saw people heading up to the roof!
Again, I was still in shock and barely awake.
I put my slippers on and as Bryant bolted downstairs, I headed to the roof.
Came to the edge of the roof, facing Manhattan and saw both towers covered in smoke.
First thing came to my mind, I should get my camera.
By the time I got back up, Tower 2 had collapsed!
Everyone was in disbelief. Someone in the crowd yelled, “What is happening?”
Was this real? As I stood there . . . I tried to compose myself to take a picture; fidgeting back and forth the aperture to get the right exposure . . . (back then, I did not own a digital camera), looking at the skyline of Lower Manhattan, thought to myself, “I could have been there!” I had taken the subway to the WTC all the time. Back then, it was a hub and a meeting place for people. I went shopping at Century 21 Department Store across the street from the WTC.
I remembered the Roy Rogers restaurant in the bottom floor (they had a food court down at basement of the WTC). I would always go there for a cheap burger and fries.
All these memories started flooding through my mind as I watched in horror what was going on just across the river.
It felt like seconds when Tower 1 went down. I saw that with my own eyes.
Again, disbelief, anger, confusion, agony . . . you name it, I felt it.
When it was happening in front of you, it was like time stands still and you hear nothing.
I took some photos, but my emotions just got intense, and I just had to head back to my apartment.
This was crazy to think but I had a photo shoot that day and I called the client to see if we were still on?
“Do you know what’s going on?” — he said sarcastically.
“Are you still coming?” — I responded.
He hung up the phone.
Remember, this was all new to all of us.
The gravity of what just happened, I did not really comprehend or understand.
I did not know any better.
I had never experienced terrorism before.
I had never experienced a calamity this big before.
Makeshift Memorial (Union Square)
I did not know what really was going on.
As I riffled through all the news channels, it was so tragic and really upsetting to see the images LIVE. Even to this day, I get triggered watching a documentary or news feeds about 9/11.
My mind was numb, and I did not want to sit at home and just watch the news.
I heard on TV that there is a mass exodus at the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan and all the trains going to Manhattan had ceased.
I was jittery and wanted to get out.
I tried calling my parents back in LA and no reception.
I walked out in the street to smoke a cigarette and everyone on the street was like zombies.
No one was looking at each other in the eye.
It was eerily quiet. I heard birds chirping.
Some people were huddled up and whispering.
I did not know why.
Then, I heard fire trucks zooming by and police sirens flooding the air.
I looked up and it was a perfect day with blue skies and 75 degrees.
The entire day, I consumed all the news that I could withstand.
The subways were back and running again but stops at the WTC had been shut down.
I went up to Union Square on 14th Street and thought I could walk down to the WTC.
Again, it was eerily quiet. People looked like zombies and there were no cars on the street except fire trucks and police.
I went down to University Place and 14th Street and there you would be able to see what was once stood the Twin Towers.
All you saw was the billowing smoke and the overwhelming smell of kerosene.
I walked as far as I could down to see what we call now Ground Zero, however, the police cordoned off a mile from the wreckage. The smoke and the stench were overwhelming as you got closer. People wore makeshift masks to just walk around outside. I got as far as the New York Presbyterian Hospital. I remember nurses and doctors with gurneys waiting for casualties to arrive . . . none did.
I went back to Union Square and there were a ton of people sitting at the steps and at one point, there was a vigil going on. Still so quiet. I remember a man passing out flyers of his missing wife. But, the most memorable scene of that day was seeing firemen and their trucks covered in ash. It was mind numbing because just a few blocks away, there was Ground Zero.
The gravity of what just happened, I think New Yorkers couldn’t digest and comprehend.
Stunned and shocked was more of an accurate description of that day.
As I headed back home around 8pm, the train was empty.
I think we were not prepared or have the capacity to anticipate something catastrophic disaster like this.
I watched the news all night. Watching all these people pleading on TV if people had seen their loved ones, it was heart wrenching. I do not remember if I slept that night . . . but I knew for that day that my life had completely changed and what I knew before 9/11 was a distant memory.
September 10th at Bryant Park (NYFW)
Footnote: I had a flight out September 13th to visit my family in LA. Flights were grounded and cancelled across the country immediately after the terror attack. I flew to LA on September 16th; one of the first flight out off at JFK. There were 6 passengers on board.