Re: Fly the American Flag, on Sept 11th:

[toggleswitch]

A pic I took years ago.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

Back in 1977, I had a friend who lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. HE used to say, "If God gave the world an enema, he'd insert the hose at Jersey City." Awful, ugly place.

Anyway, one time I went up for a several-day stay with him (I lived in Annapolis, Maryland at the time), and he took me in with him to his office on day ... in the World Trade Center. He worked for a shipping company. I don't remember exactly what he did but he talked a lot about "bills of lading" whatever they are.

His office was on the 77th floor of Tower 1. I'll never forget the elevator -- it took off with such a whoosh that my innards all went down into my toes! And you could just FEEL how fast it was zipping upwards. At lunch, he took me to the observation deck at the top. OH MY GOD, I still get vertigo thinking about the incredible view from up there. It truly was amazing.

One evening he took me to Greenwich Village and we went to a couple of bars, one of which was called JULIUS, the oldest gar bay in the village. We had dinner there -- humongous hamburgers that cost a humongous four bucks!

Went to another bar on Christopher Street that used to be the home of some famous old artist I think it was. Or maybe one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence? Some old fart. Can't remember now who it was. Some chunks of memory from back then have dimmed from the passage of time, helped along but a lot of substance abuse back in the day.

Of course we saw the Stonewall Inn, which was closed at the time.

I got a big laugh at the fact that there is a "Gay Street" in Greenwich Village, but my friend informed me it was named for a famous Civil War abolitionist.

And on that note, I have many Gays in my family -- on my father's side, there is a branch of the family tree whose surname is Gay. There are Gays all OVER Virginia and North and South Carolina!

Well. What a mental labyrinth this turned into! Guess I had a flashback watching that vaguely propagandic "Trip back to the 1960s......."

oooEEEooooo, Good Vibrations..............

 

[sikiguya]

What it looks like today

A picture from St Paul's, the church right next to the WTC site.

 

[sikiguya]

Rebuilding

A picture of the rebuilding on the site of the WTC.

I have about 50+ photos when we toured the area in May of this year. It was heartbreaking, especially inside St Pauls.