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The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

rarehistoricalphotos.com

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Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#51

Post by lisbbb »

RajT88 wrote: post #20
jeswin wrote: post #6

The Twin Towers sort of represented the height of American power and prestige, and their fall kicked off the decline. From its peak in the unipolar 90s, a series of expensive misadventures that began after the towers fell diverted critical funds from development (against the backdrop of China's inevitable rise and industrial capacity), into conflict and war far away.

It is - seriously - no wonder they got destroyed. NYC is a symbol, and the towers were a recognizable icon in the skyline. There's a high number of coincidences about the towers getting destroyed. It's no conspiracy, it's because the towers and NYC meant something in the eyes of the world with regards to the USA. Just rattling off a few of the wild ones: The episode of The Lone Gunmen which predicted an attack with a…

I recall reading an article sometime around 1999 that mentioned a ban on holes being drilled between floors in the towers for running network wiring because they were beginning to worry about structural integrity. That article was disappeared after the attacks. I know I read it, but the information totally disappeared.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#52

Post by nroets »

fidotron wrote: post #5

Tangentially: > The vision was meant to use the trade facility and urban renewal as tools to clear and revitalize what had become a “commercial slum”. What this refers to is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Row#New_York_City Basically you cannot have Akihabara or Shenzhen style electronics markets because the sort of people that built the WTC don't like their chaotic appearance.

It's not about looks but efficient use of land: Manhattan was (and still is) the financial capital of the world. It had the most valuable real estate in the world. Radio Row was a poor use of real estate.

Before the Chinese traded electronics in Shenzhen, they traded it in Hong Kong. Yes, as Hong Kong transformed into a financial center, it got rid of the electronics traders.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#53

Post by tempestn »

rkomorn wrote: post #31
UltraSane wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as an American I very much want to live in the reality where Gore won and 9/11 didn't happen.

Are you implying Gore winning would've meant 9/11 wouldn't have happened?

Not the parent, and I'm not saying it definitely wouldn't have happened (I have no idea), but it's at least possible. There was advance intelligence around the event that might have been treated differently by a different administration.

Even if it had happened, the response would also have been different.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#54

Post by tempestn »

teiferer wrote: post #25
grishka wrote: post #22

I'm not an American, I've only ever been to NYC once in 2014, and I was only 8 when 9/11 happened, but somehow, seeing that skyline with those two towers still in it, evokes the feeling of simpler, friendlier times. Even though in the 90s, my own country was going through the troubles of recovering from 70 years of socialism — it was anything but simpler friendlier times.

Yeah, it was a facade. That facade fell in 2001. (I'm not saying this was good. It was a terrible tragedy. The attack itself obviously, and then what followed as well.)

I don't know if I'd call it a façade. More of a lull. I was 20 in 2001, and growing up in the 90s it very much felt like we had entered "post-history". Yes, the world wasn't perfect, there was still conflict and social problems, but they were better than at any time in the past, and clearly getting better (along with technology) all the time.

I was slightly too young to really remember the cold war, and my only hazy related memory is positive: the fall of the Berlin wall. So, major geopolitical conflict was a thing of the past.

Of course in reality, 10-15 years of relative peace (and of course there was still regional conflict) and social stability (though of course there were many unaddressed problems) is just a blip, but especially growing up in that era, it didn't feel that way at the time. I think that might be why so many millennial and Gen-x folks feel particularly disillusioned with the state of the world now.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#55

Post by tempestn »

prmph wrote: post #46

This might be an unpopular opinion, but, apart from that 9/11 was a terrible act, I think the twin towers kind of dominated the NYC skyline in a way that was not good. By themselves they were impressive, but, jutting out of the ground as they did, without peer, made for a jarring skyline. The fact that they did not taper and were twin made it worse. The new tower is much better integrated into NYC skyline aesthetical…

Not sure why you're being down voted for an aesthetic opinion for which you gave a logical explanation. I'm not sure whether I agree or not, but the comment seemed fine to me.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#56

Post by mauvehaus »

The book Men Of Steel is about the company that erected the steel for the towers. It's highly worth reading and it talks at length about some of the challenges in not only the erection of the buildings, but the problems caused by the sheer scale of it.

The four cranes on each tower that you can see in the photos were a scaling up of a proven design and it didn't scale up well. They had tons of problems with them breaking down.

There were also some plans to do automated welding that came to naught. They had to fall back to manual welding after they couldn't get the automated process to work.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#57

Post by bambax »

superfunny wrote: post #33

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, about twenty miles west. From the highest point in our town, you could make out the outline of the WTC, far off in the distance. In 2001, I lived in Chicago, and I took a trip to Italy in September of 2001. I remember flying into Newark airport early that month, and marveling (as I always did) about the New York skyline, including the Empire State Building and the WTC. I retur…

I visited Manhattan in 1990 and took photos on top of the towers, and also from the Staten Island boat shuttle. I thought then and still think now that those towers looked magnificent.

They should have been rebuilt identically.

Re: The World Trade Center under construction through photos, 1966-1979

#58

Post by fidotron »

nroets wrote: post #52
fidotron wrote: post #5

Tangentially: > The vision was meant to use the trade facility and urban renewal as tools to clear and revitalize what had become a “commercial slum”. What this refers to is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Row#New_York_City Basically you cannot have Akihabara or Shenzhen style electronics markets because the sort of people that built the WTC don't like their chaotic appearance.

It's not about looks but efficient use of land: Manhattan was (and still is) the financial capital of the world. It had the most valuable real estate in the world. Radio Row was a poor use of real estate. Before the Chinese traded electronics in Shenzhen, they traded it in Hong Kong. Yes, as Hong Kong transformed into a financial center, it got rid of the electronics traders.

> It had the most valuable real estate in the world. Radio Row was a poor use of real estate.

So why did they force a sale price on the people there?

If as finance people we believe in market forces they should have bought the stores out at market prices.

It's another heads-we-win-tails-you-lose situation.

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