Can't Scare Us

While Douglaston homeowner, Debbie searched for usual T.V. morning news coverage, she found the horrific events of Sept. 11 unfolding before her eyes.

“It was like a science fiction movie,” she said. “The Twin Towers were tumbling down. I was scared.”     

Debbie felt an urgent need, not only to express her outrage, but to restore her former sense of security.  She ran out to her front lawn with an American flag in hand, and attached it to the scarecrow she had jokingly placed there.

The patriot made her symbolic effort to scare away our enemy with the only source of strength she could think of at that frightening moment.

“I believe that everything will soon be all right with the world,” she said proudly.

Laughter Stops 

The Simpsons, the lovable cartoon family of laughable losers, will not be traveling back to New York City through the magic of reruns anytime soon.

In an episode entitled, “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” which originally aired on Sept. 21, 1997, Homer’s friend Barney “borrows” Homer’s car during a drinking binge and unknowingly parks it in New York – directly between the Twin Towers. The Simpsons travel to the Big Apple after Homer receives a summons from the NYPD.

The episode ends with Homer and family speeding away from the City in his car which he badly beat up trying to recover, vowing never to return.

Rosemary Martinez, a Fox representative, said, “The episode will not be retired, but it will not be shown for quite a while. The network does not think it’s appropriate to make any jokes referencing the Twin Towers anytime soon.”

Prophetic?

The release of a heavy metal band’s album two weeks ago became a terribly shocking case of art imitating life.

In an all too eerie coincidence, heavy metal rockers Dream Theater released a three-CD album on Tuesday, Sept. 11 called “Live Scenes From New York.”

The cover artwork features the image of an apple wrapped in barbed wire and topped with a burning skyline including the Twin Towers.

According to the band’s website, “it is of course too unsuitable and painful, given the current circumstances.”

The album has since been pulled from record store shelves and a new cover is in the works.

New York's Omnipresent Towers

They're etched in our memory and will always belong in the visuals of our skyline, but the terrorist attack causing the collapse of the World Trade Center will impact more than the lives of the City residents.

“Skyline of Downtown Manhattan from Staten Island Ferry” -  Photo by Mayor Rudy Giuliani from the NYC website www.ci.nyc.ny.us/hgallery.html

Graphic design in our City will be impacted for a long time to come. The Twin Towers have been omnipotent in TV show intros, commercials, art, website designs and lots more for the past three decades – well maybe not that long on the web.

Rudy's Lens: The photo above used to serve as the home page graphic of the official site of the City of New York. (ci.nyc.ny.us), but now rests in the  photo gallery.

The photographer is none other than the king of New York, Rudy Giuliani.

Blonde Bimbo Invades Towers:  Before the World Trade Center tragedy, the TV show, “Son of the Beach,” produced by radio shock jock Howard Stern, had a bizarre preview for one of their upcoming episodes. 

The show is a parody of  “Bay Watch” and features dumb jocks and is heavy on the cleavage.  In the clip a gorgeous blonde bimbo in a bathing suit appears the size of Godzilla as she walks through New York. Then she tries to squeeze through the Twin Towers, and asks, “Why are these things so close together?”

NY FBI Towers 

NY FBI Website Design

The New York FBI no doubt has their hands tied these days searching for terrorists, but they might want to take the time to change their home page - http://newyork.fbi.gov. The field office for the New York FBI prominently and proudly displays the Twin Towers with fat letters of the FBI marked on the left superimposed with Lady Liberty. At the bottom it states that the site was last updated in January 1998.

The American Eagle Soars In Triumph

When the owners of Gebhardt’s Restaurant in Floral Park bought a one-of-a-kind flag soon after the attack on the World Trade Center – expressing their support for America – they never thought it would become a symbol of victory for the world to see.     

The flag has a panoramic view of a large American bald eagle at the center, spiraling around it are the stars and stripes, and smaller eagles surround the periphery.

Michele Scordo, general manager, who had organized a massive food preparation, donation and delivery for rescue workers at the downtown Manhattan site, was approached by an official of the New York City Police Department.

“He thought the flag was so unique, it should be placed at the site,” said Scordo.  “There was no hesitation on our part when he asked us if we would donate it.”

Ironically, Gebhardt’s flag, standing proudly, has given Queens a legendary connection with the spirit of the World Trade Center.

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Queens NYConfidential is edited by: Michael Schenkler and Tamara Hartman.
Contributors:	Nick Abadjian, Tom Allon, Steve Azzara, David Colby, Ira Cohen, Marcia Moxam Comrie, Barbara Jarvie, Stephen McGuire, Mike Nussbaum, Dee Richard and Richard Schack.