BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE GROUND
ZERO VIEWING PLATFORMS: A PHOTO COLLAGE
by Patrick Patterson, New York Correspondent.
[February 6, 2002]
[HollywoodInvestigator.com] New York has long been a mecca of
historical sites and fabulous wonders -- no more so than after 9/11, when
hometown lookiloos and curious visitors jammed in and around Ground Zero
for a peek at History.
To make their rubber-necking a more pleasant,
family-friendly affair -- and to keep the jostling jovial throngs from
hindering work crews -- the City of New York erected a viewing platform
at Ground Zero.
The Hollywood Investigator sent one of its many
Big Apple correspondents to the South Street Seaport ticket booth -- where
eager sightseers obtain their free tickets
to the viewing platform -- so that we could take our hugely vast family
of investigative minds on a virtual tour -- behind the scenes at Ground
Zero! |
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Whew, that's a long line! But happily, we do the waiting for you! Luckily, our reporter remembered
to bring plenty of sandwiches.
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Said our reporter: "I sensed
a city unifying in the face of adversity.
The crisp wintry air was
tingly with anticipation as we neared the ticket booth.
It's January -- yet it feels
like Christmas.
Reminds me of the line for
Space Mountain at Disney World!" |
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Finally!
The ticket booth!
(Hey, was this thing designed
by the guy who did Starbucks?) |
Forgot what the Twin Towers
looked like? No matter! Tables behind the scenes at Ground
Zero abound with tastefully-framed photos. Here's a young man
selling artsy black and white photos. Cash only!
Don't like black and white? Frames too pricey for your purse? No matter! There's a sales
table for every aesthetic taste and budget. Here are some colorized
photos wrapped in cheap cellophane.
But, if you already have
enough 9/11, Twin Towers, Rudy, Bush, and giant Miracle Cross photos to
open your own museum, we also have some lovely wall calendars.
(Hey, what's that in the
upper right hand corner...?)
It's a prayer station!
You've heard of Little Italy
and Chinatown?
This is New York's gaslight
district.
Just off Wall Street, the
area is famous for its money lenders, orphanages, and poor houses.
[The Hollywood Investigator
has since identified them as Mission
NYC Ministries.] |
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No American tragedy is complete
without a Wall Of Remembrance, and Ground Zero is no different.
As this second line inches
toward the viewing platform, sight-seers find plenty of graffiti space
to share their prayers, poems, flowers, ribbons, candles, crosses, flags,
t-shirts, teddy bears, and finger-paintings.
Many folks posed before the
wall for keepsake family photos. But to show them in the act, we'd
have to show you their faces. And being a family paper, the Hollywood
Investigator has refrained from publicizing the photo hounds faces -- thus
exercising this paper's usual good taste!
Here's the ramp to the viewing
platform overlooking Ground Zero.
Our reporter reports: "One
feels the excitement as one nears the top. This must be what the
first man to climb Everest must have felt!"
What a majestic sight! One pities those unable to visit the Big Apple to enjoy this experience
firsthand -- or through the Investigator!
But wait, there's more! Just around the corner -- behind the scenes at Ground Zero -- we
find this additional bonus! A statute on the back of a pickup truck. It's -- no, not the famed and controversial Firemen's
Statue -- it's a
statue of Depression Era construction workers.
Our reporter reports: "These
metallic men were so lifelike! Especially the one on the far left. He actually appears to be moving!"
He IS moving!
That's no statue.
That's Italian sculptor Sergio
Furnari, perched and sitting pretty -- behind the scenes at Ground
Zero! |
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Well,
it's been a long day
and we're tired. But it's a good kind of tired. The kind of
tired that follows a full and fulfilling family day.
We laughed a little. We cried a little. We enjoyed that vicarious thrill that comes from
being a part of History -- without actually having suffered for it.
Now our reporter goes home
... by foot and behind the scenes at Ground Zero!
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