i got to work on 57th and 11th and saw i already had a message. My partner at the time had left a message saying a plane hit the world trade center. i envisioned a prop plane or something little, called him back and he said another one just hit. I thought holy shit we're under attack.
Tried to look online but couldn't get thru to any news sites, no tv in the office, we went to the roof and took turns looking downtown at the towers thru binoculars and saw a big hole in the side of the tower with flames coming out. We gathered round a radio just in time to hear them screaming "the tower is coming down." we were in shock. No one know whether to stay put or head home. I headed home.
Home was downtown manhattan, lower east side. I tried a bus - they didn't charge, made it to 2nd ave and wanted to switch to the 2nd ave bus. there was a car parked at the bus stop at an angle and we were convinced it was going to blow up. A bus came, I got on it. Went by the hospitals on 2nd ave, all gurneys and doctors lined up outside - no patients though - they were just standing, waiting. Lines of people already offering to give blood. Bus didn't move much so in the 20's, near the police academy - jumped out - i believe the mayor was there - it was totally crazy with cops.
Had no choice but to walk the 20+ blocks home - 2nd ave at that point was pedestrian only - everyone heading uptown toward me. People telling me i was going the wrong way, but home was that way. People coming toward me were in shock, many covered in ash. white ghosts. by the churches folks were handing out cups of water. I still hadn't seen any images of the towers.
finally got home - a couple people who had gotten stranded in the city were already there - we watched the news and saw the videos of the towers fall over and over. went to my roof and watched the smoke - i live maybe a mile away. it stunk. the wind had pushed most of the smoke toward brooklyn that day so it wasn't until the next day or so that the smoke hit us - my apartment stunk for a month or more. The air was hard to breathe for a week or so. there were flyers all over my neighborhood for ages with "missing" people.
every morning the ritual was go to the roof with the morning coffee and look at where the towers used to be. Mostly you just saw plumes of smoke, but we knew there was nothing behind the smoke.
my neighborhood was considered a "frozen zone" - needed ID to go down my own street.
there's so much more in the weeks after - makeshift memorials in union square, visiting the site and seeing all downtown still covered in this grey ash, the flyers... so many flyers on every possible surface, lampost, windows... so sad. we knew they weren't missing... but...
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