Editorial and Memorial

For 6 summers in the early 1970's, I emerged every morning from the World Trade Center subway stop to begin my workday in downtown Manhattan...I spent many lunch hours in the open courtyard admiring those unbelievably tall buildings with their elegant cathedral-like gothic-styled arches of glass and steel on the ground floor...such a stark contrast to the sleek straight lines of modern glass windows soaring loftily skyward for a quarter mile. I felt a special kinship with those two lofty towers, since I am 6'8" tall, and have become quite accustomed to the curious gawking reactions of people around me, no matter where in the world I've been.

I'll never forget when I first flew into New York City on a very cloudy day, coming back from London, when all that could be seen of Manhattan were the top 10-15 floors of the two towers, like two building blocks sitting on a puff of cotton!

One of the most profoundly incredible memories I have of New York and the World Trade Center was after a very special January birthday dinner at the Cellar In The Sky, the exclusive private restaurant that was located in the wine cellar of the Windows On The World Restaurant, on the 107th floor.  Being a somewhat cloudy night, I was overwhelmed when I looked out the windows and realized that I was looking DOWN upon the clouds...like being in a plane, and was FLABBERGASTED after arriving on the ground floor several hours later to realize it had SNOWED nearly six inches while we were having dinner, but had no way of knowing it since we had been above the clouds in the restaurant!

Having been Assistant Maitre D' at The Rainbow Room in New York for a while, I lost three of my fellow restaurant workers and friends that fateful morning, apparently vaporized in the ensuing explosion and fires caused by the impact of the plane.  Their bodies were apparently never found. Working early that day at Windows On The World, they were hosting regular breakfast patrons and the Waters Financial Technology Congress. Of those present in the restaurant at the time that American Airlines Flight 11 impacted the North Tower, all eventually perished as a result of the attack. This included 73 restaurant staff, 16 Waters employees, and 71 conference guests.

I first learned of the horror that was developing when a friend called me in Orlando from his window office at 30 West Broadway, located due North of Tower 1, and adjacent to Tower 7, and he said frantically that he had just seen an airplane crash into the World Trade Center, and that there was a terrible fire, and that, unbelievably, he could see people jumping out of the top floor windows!  Imagining the terror those people must have felt, when they had to make the awful decision to either be burned alive or to jump and freefall 1/4 mile to the street below is just too dreadful!

Of course, like most Americans, I immediately turned on the television and witnessed from my safe ringside seat the unfolding of the most horrific day in modern American history. It was simply beyond shocking, it was surreal, and even more incomprehensible when two of the world's most magnificent and seemingly indestructible buildings later crumbled to the ground in clouds of dust.  It seemed inconceivable that such a thing could possibly occur.

Since that day, I permanently pulled down my website and posted this memorial photo which remains today.  

Two other significant historic memorial multimedia links are located here:

“One Tuesday” http://911digitalarchive.org/diganimbackup/onetue~1.swf

“Can't Cry Enough” http://911digitalarchive.org/diganimbackup/tribute.swf

Peace, and Farewell.  We will never forget you!

RICK LAVELLE