Entrance Through the Gift Shop

When it seemed like we'd all gotten our fill of exploring the plaza, which was curiously full of small trees now, I asked the question to K. and R., "would you mind if we walked over to where I used to work? It's just a couple blocks away."

Of course they had yes. They had already indicated they were open to anything, and this appeared to be the moment I could step forward and play tour guide. I didn't want to overwhelm them with info, especially personal stories, but it so happened that the things I would show them historically had some overlap with personal experience, so I could be both raconteur and curator of the city at the same time.

We headed up towards Broadway. As we traversed the plaza to leave the World Trade Center grounds (which were once an Armenian neighborhood), I pointed out the locations of other buildings,  ones still standing such as the Millennium Hotel, which was right across the street from the South Tower, as well as One Liberty Plaza over on Broadway, which on the day of the attack, was reported to be swaying and about to collapse. It turned out to be be a completely false report. The building was deemed fit for reoccupation within a short time

I also pointed World Trade Center 3, which was still standing after the day of the attack, but was later demolished, as well as World Trade Center 4 and 5, which were also torn down later.

The former building, number 4, had been a low high-rise that was the location of pre-employment screening incident for my first job in the City in 2000, and became the inspiration a long private email chain to some of my friends, which was the forerunning of all my blogging, including this one.

World Trade Center 5 was one of my favorite spots in the five boroughs. It was low rise, basically an adjunct building to indoor mall I mentioned, but it contained the Borders Bookstore with its beautiful multistory glass windows. Riding the escalator up to the second floor one could see out at St. Paul's Church across the street and towards Broadway. It felt like being in a fully immersive architectural museum.

"The thing about New York is that it truly is a museum that way. Anywhere you look you see slices of times, overlapping history of the recent and ancient. It's a pleasing effect. You can't get it in a city where all the buildings are brand new. You need different ages to be present."