Brookfield Place

And then I was looking after an apartment on West Broadway on the other side.

So both of us start running towards, it was, it was a horrible day, as you know, and I mean, a lot of history there, but I used to coach, um, a running club called Urban Athletics that were actually in the World Financial Center.

And most of the people, the clients actually were in those towers.

So that evening, we all gathered in Central Park because miraculously, not one single one was actually in the office at 8.46 that morning.

I talked to one man who was waiting to get on a phone to talk to his wife and see how she was.

And he was in the World Financial Center about 8 o'clock in the morning across from the Twin Towers.

It was,

I don't know, between 8 and 8.30. And the building shook.

that a commercial jet flew into the World Trade Center.

And it wasn't until we were outside, and even that sequence of event is pretty fortunate because we exited from the second floor to the overpass to the World Financial Center, instead of going to the lobby where unfortunately many people perished in the lobby because of the jet fuel that exploded in the lobby.

even that it's all those micro decisions that are kind of this guided path to to change and when we got outside and we're looking back staring up at the building not seeing the holes that were north to north to south north to south on that one because we were looking from the side so we're just seeing a floor burning we think what could be up there that's burning and it's not until we hear the rumble of the second plane comes around that one goes south to north turns around and goes right into the second tower.

And so the PTSD, which we all shared the PTSD, but all in different ways, that moment was probably one of the most traumatic moments of it is because the awareness, when you live a life that really doesn't, isn't exposed to the evil, frankly, there's obviously inconveniences, there's different characters in your movie and all that, but really an exposure to true evil intention is not in a daily

Next, I want to take you down to Lower Manhattan because I think a lot of visitors spend so much time around Rockefeller Center and Times Square that they forget how much there is to explore farther downtown.

One place I recommend checking out is Brookfield Place, also where I used to work, which is a beautiful shopping and dining complex right near the World Trade Center.

Brookfield Place has hosted some really lovely holiday decorations and seasonal light installations in previous years, and because it's indoors, it's also a great place to escape the cold.

I would check the current year's holiday event schedule before visiting specifically for a particular installation because the displays and programming can change.

But even if you're just visiting to walk around, it's a beautiful space with restaurants, shops, and views of the Hudson River.

And there was no way, you know, you were starting in New York City as a journalist.

And so I ended up pivoting and made a transition to World Financial Center.

And I worked for a financial services company.

I used that technology acumen that I had at the time.

So what I would have done is I would have walked right under the World Trade Center.

I would have gone through that shopping mall to the other side to the World Financial Center where the Wall Street Journal was located.

And at the time, the Wall Street Journal was a consulting client of mine.

They had a network, a very successful network.

And, uh,

Plenty used to work out of, uh, Brookfield Place, uh, down in Lower Manhattan, and, um, that was where one of the first Amazon Go stores was.

And so, I went to pick her up after work one day, and, uh, we were walking around, I was, uh, on the phone, in air quotes, and, uh...

She was like, hey, I got to go get something from that store.