September 11, 2001 WTC photos - the view from Union St

[BLeafe]

From the September 11, 2001 listing on my site, this is the writeup for the first picture:


From my apartment, Hackensack, NJ 2001

I'm not always awake before 9am and I am NEVER out that early, but I had to bring my car in to the dealer for servicing before 9am on that Tuesday morning.

I got there at around 8:40am, spent about 15 minutes at the service desk and went into the waiting room to wait for their car service to take me home.

The others in the waiting room were gathered around the TV, where I could see a tower of the World Trade Center burning.

'What happened?'

'A plane hit the World Trade Center!'

At that moment, a replay came on and I saw a plane tear into a tower.........except it wasn't a replay! It was the second plane hitting Tower 2 live on TV!

OMIGOD!

I called a friend and woke him. 'Turn on your TV!' I then demanded a driver to get me home fast and got one. On the way home, we both cursed the only name we could think of in that situation - Osama Bin Laden.

I got home at about 9:25am and could see the WTC from my living room window, about 10-12 miles away. I immediately started shooting stills and video.

From my perspective, Tower 1 has always blocked Tower 2 from sight. In this photo, both towers are still standing and burning.

By the way, that terrorist balloon shown that you never heard about was an advertising balloon for Sifford Pontiac in Bogota, NJ. Apparently, they were called by the authorities and told to take it down pronto.



So the first picture has both towers standing, the second was taken right after Tower 2 fell and the third was taken after Tower 1 fell.

I had problems scanning these, especially the second one, whose colors came out so weird that I made it a B&W.


And I am usually awake before 9am these days as I slowly wean myself from rock'n'roll hours. I should get down to "normal" hours by the time I'm 140.


CLICKit!

[Editor]

September 11, 2001

The following is a list of Hackensack residents killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Our thoughts and prayers are with their families.

Denise Crant, 46, Hackensack, N.J.
Shashi Kiran Lakshmikantha Kadaba, 25, Hackensack, N.J.

Srinivasa Shreyas Ranganath, 26, Hackensack, N.J.
Anil Shivhari Umarkar, 34, Hackensack, N.J.
Courtney Wainsworth Walcott

[johnny g]

I watched a bunch of the shows this weekend like I do every year. Back then I was working in Garfield, and we saw the smoke from the towers...but one interesting thing I never forgot was seeing two F-16's (I think) flying almost side by side headed south. But in some of the docs I saw this weekend, there wasn't any fighters in the metro area 
I know I didn't image it...I heard (quite loudly) and saw them by chance cause I was standing outside the building. I can't remember exactly when or what time it was but they flew by so fast we nearly missed them

[Homer Jones]

You are 100% correct because I heard them flying over Hackensack. If I remember correctly, it was late morning.

[BLeafe]

The WTC Tribute in Light was on last night, the moon was nearby, and - of all things - a plane appeared to intersect with the lights. A couple of stars are visible, a small plane in the lower right is curling into (or out of) Teterboro, and the lights at the old bank at 210 Main are still blazing away every night with nary a soul in sight.

There was definitely a lot of fighter plane activity in the area on 9/11 and lots of information about that can be found online.


CLICKit!

[johnny g]

Just curious, what car dealership were you at that day?

[BLeafe]

The first car dealership that's just east of Teterboro Airport on Rt 46. At the time, it was called Teterboro Chrysler Plymouth Jeep. I was supposed to get the car back the next day, but it took a couple of days longer because everything came to a standstill after the attacks.

Now I'M curious............what insight is there to be gained by knowing what dealership I was at?

[Editor]

Is this a clue?

The final Plymouth, a Neon, was assembled on June 28, 2001, with a total of 38,657 built for the model year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_(automobile)

[johnny g]

No insight to be gained, just curious cause I'm a car guy from Hackensack who worked at Guy Ross Chevrolet and Feldner Cadillac in my younger years. In a thread many years ago I had mentioned that, and the amount of dealerships we had in town, and surrounding areas.
My brother bought his first 1974 Duster at Teterboro 

[BLeafe]

Is this a clue?

The final Plymouth, a Neon, was assembled on June 28, 2001, with a total of 38,657 built for the model year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_(automobile)

Huh?

[BLeafe]

My brother bought his first 1974 Duster at Teterboro

I once bought a duster in Rutherford..............still wear it when I'm feeling western. 

[johnny g]

DJ's Western Corral, still in business....how I have no idea 

[BLeafe]

DJ's! Good one! But I got the impression from this article from about a year-and-a-half ago that they might not still be around:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/small-business/cowboy-store-riding-offinto-the-sunset-1.1273806?page=all

[johnny g]

Hmmm interesting, I was on Park Ave on Labor Day but didn't take notice of the store....have to check on that, i'll be in Rutherford on friday

[johnny g]

Well, DJ's has a sign that reads "Bulding for sale by owner" in the window but the store is still open for business. I guess when he gets a buyer it's closed for good, but if anyone needs western wear he's still there