A Day in the Life- part 4

[beaky]

We call it quits an hour early, and after my R Train ride, I decide to go topside to show you some pictures of the WTC as I make my way back down to catch the PATH. Here's the new (temporary) PATH station awning, and that new building is Seven World Trade Center, almost completely rebuilt. Many tourists still come to look and take pictures of the Pit... I've seen a few smiling for photos there, and it makes me angry. Would you smile at Gettysburg, or Auschwitz? I know, it's silly... after all,look at the cities in other parts of the world that were devastated by war and terror- people there aren't quite so grim. But we Americans are new at this sort of thing, and are a little sensitive about it, I guess. And sure, many people are trained from birth to grin like idiots whenever a camera is pointed at them...


Just below street level; the Pit can be viewed from either side of this level. When this station first re-opened, I felt like I was walking through a (bad) dream: everything is laid out precisely as it was (in terms of the route from street to PATH platforms; all the shops, etc. are gone), but it's all different. All new. Still gives me the willies, a little. I can't tell you how happy I am to this day that 9/10/01 was the last day I came through here on my way to a site near Wall Street- just happened to be scheduled for a later call at Madison Square Garden on the 11th, and missed the whole thing, even the traffic jams. Whew. Well, enough bad memories: home awaits.


In transit, just west of the Journal Square, Jersey City station... then a look back at the Newark skyline as I walk home down Mulberry Street from Penn Station .


Just a coupla blocks from the old homestead; time for a quick detour to Criado for a six-pack (aye, the pump's been primed!).


Home sweet home. We occupy the entire top floor of this 100-yr-old former jewelry factory, barely 2 miles from KEWR. Right now it's about 1/2 residential/artisan and 1/2 commercial in terms of occupants... we're the only residential group with an entire floor.



NEXT: Home Again, Jiggety-Jig!

[Jared]

So how many people live on that floor of the building with you? And what's the square footage? Looks really large! :-)

[beaky]

Nine other people (three of them part-time; they have a house down by the shore). About 15,000 sq. ft., laid out like the letter "E". I don't have any pics of the south side; it'd show that better. It's big, but it's crammed with a lot of junk, and getting worse all the time... When I first moved in, it was me and only two others; we moved from a smaller loft down the street. That was pretty crazy, just the three of us rattling around in there... but at that time, there was even more junk, leftover from a defunct sweatshop. The place was a mess, too, and had no kitchen installed.