Coming out of the subway at the entrance near 1 Pace Plaza, you can see about the top third of the twin towers of the WTC. However, from seeing them everyday, their size was not nearly as impressive as it had been when I first started coming down to Pace's Manhattan campus on a regular basis. However, I do recall on many an occasion seeing them as a comfortable landmark, as I walked around downtown during lunch breaks and shopping expeditions.
I arrived in my office on the 16th floor of 41 Park Row at about 8:15. This building, the site of many Pace administrative offices is about 4 blocks from the WTC complex. I had a Biology 101 laboratory that met in the main building (1 Pace Plaza) at 9:05. I pushed some paper around my desk, and ran an up-to-date class roster off my computer. After finishing my coffee, I left the office at about 8:45, taking the elevator down to the street. As I left the building and walked across Pace Plaza, I noticed that the groups of students that congregated in the area waiting for classes to start were all looking up into the air toward the WTC. I remember thinking to myself, with some amusement: "Don't these people know that New Yorkers NEVER stare up at buildings." Following their lead I looked up as well, and saw black sooty smoke rising from near the top of the North Tower. I thought it was a fire, but since I had recently read an article (maybe 3-4 months ago) about the fire fighting systems in the WTC, I don't recall feeling much concern at this point.
As I looked up I overhead a student on a cell phone saying: "It flew right into it". I walked over to ask him what had happened, noticing for the first time the hole in the side of the building. He told me that an airplane had just flown into the building. I asked him what kind of plane, and he said that it was a jet "at least the size of a 737". I now thought that we had all witnessed a tragic air accident. Even before I had arrived at the Plaza, sirens were going as police and fire trucks raced up Park Row. The response time was probably longer than this, but it seemed that it had only taken seconds before the first police cars went by.
Not thinking anything more was going on, I headed into the building and up to the third floor for my class. I got into the laboratory at about 8:55 or so, and dropped off some stuff in my departmental office next to the lab. A few students had begun to straggle in so I split my time between the lab and the prep area to listen to the radio that had been tuned to the news station 1010WINS. A little after nine (turns out it was 9:08) I heard some commotion in the hallway outside the lab and went out to see what had happened. A student said that the south tower "just exploded". I looked up and there was now another smear of black sooty smoke coming from that tower, somewhat lower than where the fire was on the north tower. I should note that from this window, you can't see the north tower, only the south tower is visible above the buildings (150 Nassau Street, I think).
At this time the group of us watching assumed that debris from the first airplane must have caused some damage to the south tower, leading to the explosion. However, a student down the hall, who must have had a radio, said that another plane had hit. I went back into the prep area and heard the announcer on the radio, stating with a great deal of concern and excitement that indeed a plane had hit the south tower. I went into the class to let the students know that we were clearly experiencing some type of attack, and were not simply witnesses to a serious accident.
Overall the students seemed calm, so I began to talk about the subject matter for the first class (microscopes and how to use them). We did talk briefly as to who may had organized the attack, with many of us assuming it was Bin Laden. While I was talking to the class, one of the faculty came in to ask if I had heard anything about classes being canceled. I said that I hadn't but called up to the Dean's office to inquire. The receptionist said that she had not heard anything. I went back into my class and told them we may be breaking up early. We continued to discuss Biology, as well as geopolitics, until there was another commotion in the hallway. I went out again just in time to see the top of the south tower lean over slightly to the east, and then collapse downward fading into a rising cloud of smoke and dust. I recall saying "Oh my God!" to no one in particular, and also thinking that I just saw a thousand people die (this was probably a low estimate). While this was a horrible experience, it didn't really hit me for several days, as I will explain a little later.
After a slight delay, a huge wave (I estimated it at the time to be 6 stories high; I later determined it was at least 16 stories high) of dust and debris came rolling from between the buildings on Beekman Street across from the Downtown Hospital parking lot. The wave poured over our building, creating a white-out. As I looked out the window it began to "snow" a fine powdery ash. I went back into the class and told the students that, needless to say, we were not going to be doing any more Biology today. Every one was very calm. The phones in the offices still worked at this point so students began to take turns using faculty phones to call friends and family to say they were OK. Most of the students managed to get through to someone, although a few remained quite worried. I called my parents leaving a message for them to inform all they could that I was OK. A smell of smoke and fire began to be noticeable in the building, so the Chemistry Chair called the facilities staff to have the ventilation shut off. This was done and the air didn't get any worse.
At some time after the collapse some of the Pace security staff came by to tell us that we should go down to the east side of the building and into the gym. We waited around a bit to ensure that everyone in and around the labs was aware of what was going on. We also began to discuss when and how we were going to leave. We (a group of Biology and Chemistry faculty/students) decided we would leave the building and walk north to upper Manhattan. While we were discussing this we heard another roar. Based upon what we had experienced just a half-hour before, we knew that this was the north tower coming down. Again, I went to the window and saw the wave of dust and debris wash over the building. Obviously, our plans for leaving were delayed.
After about 30 minutes of "ash snow" we determined it was time to go. Three of us decided to leave, while the others decided to stay for a little while longer to let more ash settle. We scoured the Anatomy lab for some particle masks which we thought we might need to protect ourselves from the dust. Between the three of us we only found two. We left the building from a door near the loading dock on the far eastern end of the building and headed north on Gold Street. There was a large exodus of people heading north and we joined the throng. We passed police headquarters and picked up some drinks that were being handed out at a CVS pharmacy.
I am not sure what road we took at this point, but I think we took a slight left onto St James Place and then up to Canal; I know we did end up turning west on Canal and headed to Broadway. We took a right and started walking up Broadway, along with a stream of people. No one was panicking; just a determined and friendly mob moving north. All along our journey we noticed interesting Manhattan sights. One of our group was a long-time New Yorker and had tid-bits of information about each neighborhood: SoHo, NoHo, Union Square, Flatiron. I had never seen the Flatiron Building; in spite of the circumstances, and the smoke rising over lower Manhattan as I looked down Fifth Avenue, it was an interesting sight - a very nice looking building.
We continued north to Times Square and watched with the others who were watching the TV screen and "news ticker". It seemed that most were watching in stunned silence (as were we). Since this is New York, we did see a confrontation between a jerk who didn't want to obey the "walk" light, a cabbie, and a Times Square Business District security guard who was trying to direct traffic. The jerk tried to appeal to the crowd that his position in the argument was valid. No one seemed to care. A few blocks further north I asked a policeman if Grand Central had any trains heading north. He said that no underground trains were running, but that the elevated lines in Queens were running, as was the Long Island Railroad.
We continued our march north until we reached Columbus Circle and 59th Street. One member of our group lived on "the Island", so decided that he would head east and then take the 59th Street (Queensboro) bridge and catch a train. The two of us who remained continued up Broadway to the Upper West Side. Since we were beginning to get tired, we began to think about public transportation or a cab. We had not really seen any buses and had noticed that all the subway stations we passed were closed. We had noticed a fair number of cabs, but they all were filled. However somewhere in the "90's" (I think) we managed to hail a cab. I tried the rear door; it was locked - a bad sign. He lowered his front passenger window and asked where we were going. We said "uptown" - I wanted to go up to one of the northern bridges to the Bronx, and my colleague lived in "Hudson Heights" near the George Washington Bridge. The cabbie said "no"; he would only go downtown. I pointed out to him that "there was no downtown", but he didn't care. He drove off while we pondered the procedure to reporting him to the taxi and limousine commission (it is illegal in NYC for a yellow cab to turn down "street hails"). A little further along we had a similar experience with another cab. This guy was a little nicer in that he told us he "thought" trains were running out of 125th Street.
We decided to continue north to 125th and try to catch a bus. We had begun to notice buses going by, but they were all packed. We made it up to 125th and turned east toward Amsterdam Avenue. Shortly after we arrived a new bus arrived (this was near the beginning of the M100 route). We boarded the bus after realizing that it was only going to go as far as 168th Street. However I had seen on the kiosk that at 168th I could catch a Bx7 that would take me to Riverdale. At 168th we stopped behind another bus. I quickly got off thinking that it was the Bx7. It was. Just to be sure I asked the driver if he went to Riverdale (those who know me will know that I don't trust buses!). He said that no, he was stopping at 220th, and I would have to walk over the Broadway Bridge into Marble Hill and get another bus - all the bridges were closed.
The bus started off and quickly got stuck in a traffic jam. After about three blocks I began to get annoyed and got off. I continued walking north past the GWB and into Inwood. I stopped and got a drink at a pizza place. I eventually reached the Broadway Bridge, making better time than the cars that had come in from 10th Avenue. I walked over the bridge and into the Bronx. I really felt I was coming home. I headed up to 230th street and turned west. As I neared the intersection with Riverdale Avenue, I was asked by a woman in a car what the traffic was like up ahead. I asked her where she was going and she said "Washington Heights". I told her she was better off parking her car and walking to the subway station (the 1-9 was running south at this point). She thanked me for the information and I continued on. I finally got home at 5:30, six and a half hours after I left 1 Pace Plaza.
Generally I am doing fine. In some respects my walking tour of Manhattan was kind of fun. I saw parts of the city that I may never see again. However, parts of my experience have not been fun as the reality has sunk in. I mentioned before that I didn't really "feel" the experience of the towers falling. Unfortunately, as I read the stories of the missing and realize that people's husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers were in the building I saw fall, I find waves of sadness coming over me. While I cried quite a bit on Wednesday, feelings of despair come over me unexpectedly - quite often when I read another story. I have been told by friends to stop reading the paper.
Today (9/20) I went back to my office in NYC (I had been going to work in Pleasantville).
The hole in the sky is still there; I don't know when it will be filled......
Additions:
1) Cathy asked me yesterday if I was scared at all during the events. I honestly do not remember feeling afraid at all. In spite of the unusual nature of what was happening (it is not usual to see buildings fall, and to have one's own building cloaked in an ash cloud), I never felt in any danger. This may have been a stress response on my part, since I do recall thinking that I should not be at the window as the ash cloud arrived - I went into the inner labs as we were covered.
2) I went down to the WTC today 9/24 (or at least as far as they let you go) after having my lunch at the Seaport. I had to tell a group of tourists how to get to the WTC (I guess I look "native"). I considered saying "it isn't there anymore", but instead was nice and showed them where to go. After all, I really couldn't be too mean to them since I was going there as well. The destruction seems MUCH greater from street level than from those aerial shots they show on TV..... not a pretty sight. There were rather large crowds walking slowly down the street..... everyone was quite quiet and respectful. A few objected to the police admonitions to keep moving along (this is New York, after all), but overall an orderly (albeit crowded) scene.
3) I went for lunch at the Seaport again today (9/27). The whole "no cars" thing down here is getting to be a bit weird. Also the loss of 100,000 lunch-time revelers (the estimate of the number of people in and around the WTC who are now working elsewhere) gives the area a strange feel. This area, that used to be so bustling, now has the air of a formerly decayed downtown of a small city that was "revitalized" with cash. Lots of lovely restored buildings, but no people. Tourists: listen up! no crowds..... cheap restaurants.... visit NYC!
4) Closer to Pace today (9/27/01), I walked along the street behind the NYU Downtown Hospital. There is a wall with lots of "missing persons" posters. Next to that a large crowd was gathered around the loading dock. Workers on the dock were distributing teddy bears and other stuffed animals to local residents. The contrast between the sadness of the posters with the generosity of strangers, exemplified by the teddy bear shipment, created another one of those strange emotional waves I've been getting.
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