‘We survived this together’

Twelve years ago today, my friend, Marjo Zarandin Reyes, who lives in Los Angeles, CA, woke me up with a phone call at around 9 am.  She asked me if I was ok. I told her I was perfectly fine until she woke me up. She then told me to turn the TV on. I did, and within minutes, I asked her if I could get off the phone so I could call my sister, Camille, who was living in Boston.

As I was speaking to my sister, the second tower (of the World Trade Center) was hit. We were on the phone watching the horror of both towers falling. I stepped out to my balcony and looked south. My neighbor was already out on hers. We both looked at each other. I live way uptown, but within minutes, we both could smell burning rubber.

We both went to the nearest ATM to get some cash. There already was a long line, and we both noticed that some businesses were beginning to close. On the line, it was quiet, very atypical New York. There was an unspoken rule – get only the cash you need, leave some for everyone else to partake in.

What next

The grocery store was packed but not chaotic. I got the provisions I needed and walked home to stay glued to the TV. I was trying to call my parents who were both living in other countries. I could not get through to them, but I was able to get through to my relatives in Seattle, WA. They told me that my parents were trying to reach me, but maybe because of the volume of calls to and from NY, they could not get through. So we decided that my relatives in Seattle would be the “messengers” for as long as my parents and I could not reach each other.

My boss, Anita Lo, was able to reach me a few hours later by phone. The first thing I asked was “Is the restaurant open?” She laughed so hard and said, “no, just hang on for more news and stay safe.”

My neighbor and I decided to have dinner together at my apartment while we watched the news. Perhaps we both needed some company to digest what was happening downtown.

Reality

The next day, Anita asked our staff to come to the restaurant, if we could. We decided to cook the food we had in the restaurant’s walk-ins (refrigerators) for the neighbors since we were uncertain when the restaurant would re-open for customers.

It was so chaotic below 14^th Street – emergency vehicles only.  I made my way downtown on the subway and emerged at Union Square, again because subway service was being terminated at 14^th Street. I took the short walk to the Village and could not ignore the many people who were handing out flyers of missing persons. How could I say no to those who were handing them out? I was sobbing as I walked. By the time I reached the restaurant, I must have had more than 30 flyers.

We cooked a dinner of thanksgiving and prayer – hoping that no one else would be lost that night. We were finding out that many of our restaurant colleagues from Windows On The World were lost that morning. By the end of that meal, other chefs had already mobilized to gather provisions from restaurants that did not sustain damage so that they could feed first responders out of Bouley Restaurant’s kitchens.

Coming together

It would turn out that because of the significant damage around Bouley, they would be closed for a few months and it then became a round-the-clock feeding station for the brave but weary NYFD and NYPD heroes. The south end of the West Side Highway became a gathering spot to cheer on the brave firefighters, police, and medical professionals. The tough city was gathering together to support those who had lost the most.

Memorials were starting to pop up the closer you got downtown.  No one dared tear down the missing persons posters that went up seemingly everywhere in the city. There were candlelight vigils all over the City.

We went back to work the Monday after the attack, still in shock about what had happened less than a week before. The smell of melted metal and powdered concrete was still in the air, even uptown. There was more news of loss and damages, but we also started hearing about the heroism of so many first responders. What was the City’s darkest days were also its brightest. There was an unspoken “we survived this together” attitude amidst the defiant New York attitude.  It would be like that for a long time. Actually, it still is like that today.

I usually would glance at the Twin Towers on my walk from the subway to work everyday. I could not bear to do that for many weeks after 9/11. It is still too surreal. – Rappler.com

Karla Mendoza is the executive chef of Pizzeria Mozza in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. She was a chef in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks.