Yes. Of course.
Yes. I lived just outside NYC (on Long Island) throughout the 80s and went to the observation deck several times, and I used to see the towers every morning as I drove to work.
Never been to NYC. I’ve known what they were for over 30 years.
Tallest buildings in the world for a while.
King Kong climbed them in the first remake.
I’m kinda out of other references. But that was enough to catch my attention as a child.
Of course I had heard of them before 9/11. I was in school when they were completed. It was a big story when they were opened for business. There was also an infamous bombing in them in 1993. In addition to the King Kong remake, they were featured in a Simpsons episode. As appleciders mentioned, they were the most dominant feature of New York’s skyline for decades. They replaced the Empire State Building as the icon of New York City. I cannot conceive of any American over the age of 10 in 2001 who did not know what the Twin Towers were.
Apparently, yes.
How old are you, if I may ask?
Oh, sorry. I didn’t see this until I posted.
From what I remember reading, that recognition factor is exactly why they were repeatedly targeted by al-Qaeda. While they may have lacked the aesthetic appeal or history of some of the other landmarks you name, I do think that they were seen, both within and outside of the U.S., as symbols of NYC (and, by extension, of America, by those outside of the U.S.).
I’ll help the OP out. I did not know what they were. On 9/11 my dad woke me up to tell me a plane crashed in to the World Trade Center and I said “where is that?” and went back to sleep.
I’m a 32yo female from Ohio. Sorry about that.
Had never visited them but knew about them. I had visited Empire State as a child a couple of times but never WTC, but definitely knew about them. I knew about the first terrorist attack and I remember doing a mural of the NYC skyline in second grade and of course they were a huge part of that.
oops
Actually, that does fit the OP’s theory in post #20. You hadn’t been born yet when they were built. You were only 14 or so when the first attack happened in '93.
I knew and the first an only time I’ve been to Manhattan was long before they were there, so I missed 'em.
FWIW, I am also 32. I turned 15 in 1993 and I was definitely aware of the attack. I think I was probably somewhat more engaged with the world around me than many of my peers, but not to a really unusual extent. Even teenagers notice terrorist attacks.
Thank you.
Now I’ll really get some flack - I’m 30. I was 12 when they were bombed in '93, and remember hearing about that, but didn’t start following the news in earnest for another year or so. I was 20 when they fell.
FWIW, I never saw this King Kong remake in which he climbs the WTC. And I would have known in 2001 exactly what the Petronas Towers were, because I remember the excitement and interest when they were completed a few years earlier - just the kind of consciousness-making press that made people aware of the WTC when it was completed.
Canadian here. Of course I knew about the WTC. It was an iconic landmark.
Yes I knew what the WTC was before the first attack.
I certainly knew of the WTC, however, until the news coverage in the days (or weeks) after the attacks I had no idea that there were more then just the two towers. Of course, the rest of the complex wasn’t really all that newsworthy as far as I know.
I still don’t really know what they were, aside from big skyscrapers where a lot of people worked (which is what I knew then). I don’t know what kinds of businesses were inside, or what they actually did there, or what made it important before the tragedy.
I heard of them, but never knew what they actually did. I assumed they were just office buildings, and 9/11 didn’t educate me otherwise.
I knew exactly what they were. I’m 43 now, I’ve lived in California all my life, and my only visit to New York was a 3 hour layover at JFK en route from Frankfurt to San Francisco.