# Americans: did you know what the World Trade Center was before Sept. 11, 2001? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738 "2011-03-15T02:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/61 "2011-03-15T10:22:12Z")
Sure. If nothing else, there was the great season 9 Simpsons episode “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson.” “Restroom out of order. Please use other tower.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/62 "2011-03-15T11:23:15Z")
Yes. In fact I have some photos I took when the towers were under construction. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/63 "2011-03-15T11:37:28Z")
44, Born and raised in Ohio. Yes, I knew what the WTC was. I also knew what Wall Street was. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/64 "2011-03-15T14:12:22Z")
43, and yes, I knew what they were. I went to the observation deck on an 8th grade class trip. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/65 "2011-03-15T14:50:27Z")
Yes, absolutely, even growing up in Texas. I had [this poster of King Kong](http://movie-poster.ws/movies/wallpaper/scifi/king-kong/1976.jpg) on top of the towers when I was a little kid (which was technically incorrect as to scale, Kong was much larger in the poster than depicted in the movie). I also visited the towers at about 12 or 13 with my dad. I knew some people who didn’t realize that the World Trade Center was more than just the Twin Towers, but pretty much everybody knew “that’s the World Trade Center” if you showed them a photograph of the towers. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/66 "2011-03-15T14:52:41Z")
Oc course I knew what they wereI live in New Jersey and go into NYC all the time. I went in and out on Sunday September 9, 2001 and didn’t take notice of them. Of course, now I take notice of that big empty space where they use to be. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/67 "2011-03-15T14:54:38Z")
I’m 20, which means I was 10 and in school during the attack. I knew exactly what they were, and it seemed like most of my class did too. Never been to New York, at least not outside JFK. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/68 "2011-03-15T14:55:59Z")
Yes, I knew. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/69 "2011-03-15T15:12:29Z")
I’m 31 and I certainly knew what they were. Other New York buildings are more iconic, but surely they were as famous as, say, the Sears Tower in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/70 "2011-03-15T15:16:56Z")
Yes. It would be like not knowing about the CN tower in Canada or the space needle in Seattle or the Sears tower in Chicago or the Transamerica building in San Francisco or dozens of other major landmarks. It’s in EVERY movie shot of New York City. The 1993 bombing of the building was designed to topple one of the WTC towers into the other. yes yes yes yes yes. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/71 "2011-03-15T15:25:44Z")
Yes, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/72 "2011-03-15T15:28:08Z")
I’ve lived in the mid-west all my life – 50 plus years – have never been to NYC, and I knew what the World Trade Center/Twin Towers were. Besides the previously referenced media references (King Kong, The Simpsons), I also remember an aerialist walking a wire between the 2 towers. My memory thought it was one of the Wallendas, but some Google searching reveals the wirewalker to be [Philippe Petit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit) > [@](#): > > On Wednesday, 7 August 1974, shortly after 7:15 a.m., Petit stepped off the South Tower and onto his 3/4" 6×19 IWRC (independent wire rope core[5]) steel cable. He walked the wire for 45 minutes, making eight crossings between the towers, a quarter mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/73 "2011-03-15T15:32:13Z")
BTW, speaking of Philippe Petit, I highly recommend the documentary _Man on Wire_, a recent film about his tightrope walk across the towers. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/74 "2011-03-15T15:36:33Z")
I knew what they were but thinking about how many skyscrapers I know in NY there really are only are a handful. Twin Towers, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center… and maybe the PanAm building which is something else now (MetLife?) I can’t think of many others. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/75 "2011-03-15T15:52:22Z")
I’m from Texas and 46 years old. I’ve know about the World Trade Center for as far back as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/76 "2011-03-15T15:58:18Z")
Not really. I was 21, from the midwest, and I had never been to NYC Metro. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/77 "2011-03-15T16:02:15Z")
Of course I knew what they were! If school hadn’t taught me then I would still known because King Kong climbed them in 1976 with Jessica Lange in his mitts. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/78 "2011-03-15T16:11:35Z")
Nope. Like the OP, I was vaguely aware that, among the many tall buildings in NYC, there were two big square identical ones, but I wouldn’t have been able to put a name to them. I still don’t know what exactly a World Trade Center is/does. We have a small one in downtown Long Beach. 40, California native, never been to NY nor really cared much about it. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/79 "2011-03-15T16:12:03Z")
Of course I knew. That’s the place where Homer Simpson had to go to the bathroom after drinking too much crab juice. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/80 "2011-03-15T16:33:54Z")
Well, they were the tallest buildings in the world for a while there and a pair of them too, just to show that it wasn’t a fluke. They dominate the skyline of New York, two giant middle fingers aimed at … where? New Jersey? The rest of the world? I would have been surprised if someone had never heard of the World Trade Center but I couldn’t tell you much about them, like what they are for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=5)