Yes, Little Tom was transferred to an Applebee’s restaurant just a block and a half away from the World Trade Center a week before the attacks. So here is my story of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
We were expecting a hectic day since we were having 400 tour guides coming right next door to out sister restaurant Chevy’s that evening at 4pm to try to sell them on bringing tour groups downtown. (Well I think that will be a hard sell now!) I was at the restaurant late that Monday night in preparation for the next day’s event, so I told my kitchen manager I would be in later (at 10am instead of 9am). Strange how little thing can change fate.
I got up early and voted in the primary (sorry Big Tom I’m still a New York Democrat – although I voted for Giuliani in the last election and am very proud of that now). I jumped on the Long Island Railroad at Woodside (the 9:07am) and while on the train everyone’s cell phones were going off and telling them of the first plane into the Southernmost tower. I tried to call the restaurant on my cell to no avail, but I did get thru to my dad’s machine to let him know I was okay. (How come my dad wasn’t sitting around and waiting for my call?) Once I got to Penn Station word was still that it was a small plane, and I thought I would still go down town to make sure everyone was ok. I took the One train down and got as far as one stop north of World Trade Center and could not get further due to a “police investigation.”
I got out of the subway and walked towards the West Side Highway, and as I turned the corner I looked up and saw the two towers burning and with big holes in their sides. It was such a clear, beautiful day that it made the scene very surrealistic. Something out of a disaster movie. It couldn’t be real, but it was!
Now I really had to make it to the Applebee’s to make sure everyone was okay. As I am walking down the West Side Highway, I ran into one of my cooks, Mamadoy (yes, that’s his name) and he told me that Chip (my kitchen manager) had sent everyone home. Well now I want to get to the restaurant to make sure Chip is okay.
I’m crossing the West Side Highway, a block from the restaurant and 2 and a half blocks from Tower # 2, and Tower # 1 comes down. One lady falls to the ground screaming, “My daughter!” while others are just sitting on the stoop and crying.
But me, like an idiot, still wants to get to the restaurant to see if all is well… Everyone is running up the West Side Highway while I am still walking down the West Side Highway towards the Applebee’s and the dust cloud from the World Trade collapse. Finally, someone running by me says “Hey buddy, you’re going the wrong way!”
Oops, a little late – the debris cloud catches up to me, and then I finally decide maybe I shouldn’t try to get to the restaurant. I then start running towards the Hudson River (that’s toward New Jersey for all you Floridians) and when I finally got out of the cloud, I was covered with ash and was happy to have warn my glasses, instead of contacts, for they protected my eyes. We all went as far as the water and then as far North on the West Side Highway. When we all felt that we were at a safe distance, we stopped and looked up at the northern most tower, and we all knew it would come down soon as well.
Talked to a hotel worker from the hotel right in the World Trade, “Well I guess I need to find a new job,” he would say.
Talked to a lady who had to turn away when the people started jumping from Tower 2.
All the cell phones weren’t working and there were long lines on the pay phones (plus I didn’t have any change).
Then the last World Trade Center came down right in front of our eyes, and even though we were far enough away to be safe at this point, people ran further north and the ems workers quickly moved all their emergency vehicles further north.
As I walked further north in search of a working subway (which I would not find). I decided to go to the Applebee’s on 42nd street to see if all was well at the downtown Applebee’s. On my way a few strangers asked what it was like downtown and then I finally realized that I was still covered in white, ashy soot. I finally wiped it off when I got to Applebee’s.
42nd Street Applebee’s was closed and had no info on the downtown store. I tried to call my dad and sister again, but to no avail. I really just wanted to go home....
I walked across 42nd Street to meet my friend Kevin at Tequillaville (he is the manager) to see if he was okay and to drink lots of tequilas, but as I got close to the restaurant, they were closing the area around Grand Central due to the first of many bomb scares. I found out later that they ran into Tequillaville and told them to evacuate, without even letting Kevin turn off the gas.
I walked over the 59th Street bridge, with swarms of others, and finally made it back to Woodside via foot around 3pm. That’s when I finally found out that my kitchen manager, and all my employees were safe. I finally talked to my dad and sister live from my apartment, although my dad did get my initial phone message saying that I was okay.
So that’s the story….
My friend Joe Peligrino has a good friend that was a police officer that is lost (a wife and two kids).
Nick, one of my waiters, has a dad who was an ems worker who is also missing.
The two restaurants are standing, but Chevy’s was taken over by the FBI and Applebee’s is a mess. We do not think they will let us in again for months, and if we can reopen there will be no guests around to serve (they say 8 more buildings will have to be knocked down including the American Express building, right next to the Applebee’s and Chevy’s.)
I’m currently working at the Applebee’s on 42nd Street.
The city is still in shock, but everyone has really come together and it makes me proud to be a New Yorker….
Everyone stay well, and God bless America (and the New York Mets).
Love,
Little Tom
September 23, 2001