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The Restaurant That Died on 9/11
Windows on the World was a paragon of New York splendor. And then it was gone.
“I don’t mean to break in on the fun, but this is a serious news story,” Howard Stern said on the radio. “A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.” Glenn Vogt, Windows on the World’s general manager, was listening as he drove down the West Side Highway. He couldn’t believe it.
Unaware of the gravity of the situation, he parked near the World Trade Center and walked toward the North Tower lobby, glass crunching under his feet. He thought, It’s going to be months before we can clean up this mess. He, like most people, assumed a small plane had hit the building.
Firefighters were standing around, seemingly awaiting orders. Vogt was under an overhang when a body fell onto it. Vogt went numb. He was overwhelmed by sensory overload. There was so much noise, so much happening, that there seemed to be a quiet descending on him. A firefighter said, “You have to get away from the building.” He did.
Greg Hein, the director of catering for Windows on the World, had stayed up late the night before drinking one dollar Michelob Lights at a local bar watching the New York Giants play the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football, so he slept in. He took the 7:43 train from Massapequa, Long…
