Windows on the World was a fine-dining restaurant unlike any other — and sadly, there has been nothing like it in New York in 25 years.
Sitting atop the World Trade Center’s North Tower in Lower Manhattan, it had sweeping views of New York City and welcomed Financial District workers, tourists and visitors from across the world eager to experience the Big Apple from one of its most impressive viewing spots.
For 25 years, the restaurant occupied 50,000 square feet, spanning the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower – sometimes referred to as Tower 1 – becoming a destination synonymous with the World Trade Center and all that the city has to offer.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Windows on the World was silenced forever when terrorists hijacked commercial jets full of passengers and crashed them into the World Trade Center. The North Tower was hit first that grim, sunny morning; 73 Windows on the World workers died not long after hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 struck between the 90th and 100th floors. The building would collapse roughly 102 minutes after being struck.
The restaurant was gone, but the employees who perished that day remain a lasting chapter in the heartbreaking story of Sept. 11, 2001, that New Yorkers of a certain age will never forget, and New Yorkers of a younger age should always be taught.
To New Yorkers across the city and to those who moved away, the restaurant workers are remembered not only as victims, but as colleagues, friends and family whose lives mattered beyond the walls of where they worked.
Windows on the World waiter watched tragedy in horror
Fekkak Mamdouh, a former Windows on the World waiter and union leader, lost many friends and coworkers on 9/11. He worked at the restaurant from 1996 until its final day.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Mamdouh learned that the world had changed. Many of the people he had known for years had gone to work that morning for the breakfast shift — the restaurant was hosting an early event — and would never come home.
“I worked the dinner, so I left around 12:30, 1 a.m., so we closed. I left, went home and went to sleep. And at 8:45 a.m. the phone rings, my sister was looking at the TV, CNN” he explained. “She saw that a plane hit the building.”
At first, Mamdouh thought it was an accident involving a small plane, and the building would require just a few months of reconstruction work.
Fekkak Mamdouh was a waiter at Windows on the World. He was not working on 9/11 and later helped many of his displaced colleagues find jobs in a struggling economy after the terror attacks.Family photo
But when the second plane hit, he knew for sure something was wrong. He became worried about the people inside, including his colleagues, and how they would get out of the building.
“I thought it was going to be easy. Because, in the training, we learned if something happened like this, don’t try to take the elevator. Go upstairs, to the roof, and the helicopters will come and take you,” Mamdouh said.
In the moments after the plane’s impact to the collapse, Mamdouh, watching on TV, did not see helicopters arrive near the roofs. The NYPD Aviation Unit approached, at one point, to attempt a rooftop rescue — but the heavy smoke and flames made such a rescue attempt impossible.
“There was nothing. There was no helicopter. There was nobody to rescue our people up there. They were just left to get burned. They were just left to jump from the 106th floor,” Mamdouh sadly rehashed. “It was a sad day.”
‘Everybody who was inside was gone’
The next day and those that followed, Mamdouh and other Windows survivors searched hospitals and morgues for their missing colleagues, much as families and friends across New York searched desperately for their loved ones who never came home.
“Nobody made it,” he said. “Everybody who was inside was gone.”
Of the 73 Windows employees who were killed, many of them were immigrants, including some who were undocumented, Mamdouh explained.
As a union leader and someone who always fought for what was right, he began working with other unions and started the Immigrant Work Assistance Alliance to help surviving employees find new jobs as the restaurant industry struggled after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“They have no money. And some of them, if not most of them, are undocumented,” he said, adding that family members of undocumented workers who were killed in the attacks could not ask for government assistance out of fear of deportation.
Windows of the World workers who were displaced did not have savings or even “that much money” to begin with due to low-paying jobs, Mamdouh explained. But thankfully, at a time when New Yorkers pulled together to help one another, many restaurants stepped in to hire former Windows workers.
What started as an emergency response became the Restaurant Opportunities Center and helped build a national movement of restaurant workers fighting for dignity, fair wages and a voice on the job — work that Mamdouh and his colleagues, including attorney and organizer Saru Jayaraman, continue today through One Fair Wage, a national organization of 300,000 restaurant and service workers fighting to end all subminimum wages across the country.
“From the ashes of 9/11, we have this great organization that fights for everyone,” Mamdouh said. “If not for 9/11, the organization would never be known.”
Remembering Windows on the World
Windows on the World is gone, but, as demonstrated in many ways, such as through organizations like One Fair Wage that help hospitality and service workers, it has not been forgotten. Like so much of what was lost on 9/11, the restaurant remains a part of the city’s memory.
The view from Windows on the World in 1982.Photo by Mario Belluomo
Today, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site helps preserve its history through a collection of artifacts that tell stories about the iconic venue and the people who worked there.
“The museum has collected a wide variety of objects from Windows on the World. This includes everything from branded souvenirs — like paperweights and ball caps bearing the Windows logo — to the vibrant, Milton Glaser-designed dishware and menus that were used by its countless patrons,” a museum spokesperson told amNewYork.
Some of the most poignant objects are the personal belongings connected to employees who reported to work at the restaurant the morning of Sept. 11 and did not return home.
Among them are a handkerchief belonging to Enrique Gomez, who worked alongside his brother, Jose, in the kitchen; a New York Restaurant School medal awarded to cook Jerome O. Nedd upon his graduation in 1999; a wine bar set presented to Banquet Services Manager Jupiter Yambem after a conference at the restaurant in 2000; and a spare chef’s coat worn by Antonio Melendez, who worked early morning shifts so he could return home to relieve his wife and care for their four children.
A drink menu from a bar inside Windows on the World.Courtesy GBOE Facebook page
But oral histories, too, passed on from generation to generation, will help ensure 9/11, including Windows’ legacy, is not forgotten.
Queens City Council Member Joann Ariola, who is on both the City Council’s committees for Public Safety and Consumer and Worker Protection, said she frequented Windows on the World often, adding that she loved its “elegance” and the “incredible experience” it gave to its diners.
“A large part of that experience was thanks to the amazing staff employed there,” she shared with amNewYork. “On Sept. 11, 2001, 73 staff members were taken from us, but their stories will always be a part of the history of New York City, and their names will never be forgotten. We will always honor their memory, not just on the anniversary of Sept. 11th, but every day.”
A pin from the World Trade Center’s observation deck in the Twin Towers.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon
Some might say remembering Windows on the World is about remembering the people who gave the restaurant life. For so many New Yorkers and visitors, it was more than a destination in the city; it was a place for setting some of life’s happiest moments, from weddings and engagement parties to proms and even first dates.
Those memories are especially meaningful as 25 years have passed since the terror attacks. New Yorkers shared happy moments at Windows on the World with am NewYork and discussed what the restaurant meant to them, recalling the warmth of its staff, the elegance of the restaurant and the excitement of dining above the city skyline.
Mark Coluccio was there for a friend’s bar mitzvah in 1989.
“For a few hours that day, my middle school friends and I thought we were at the top of the world,” he said. “I honestly don’t remember if I enjoyed the food that was served because I was so much in awe of the place and the experience.”
Erik Barton’s SUNY Maritime Ring Dance was held at Windows in May 2001. Several of the students in his classes enlisted in the War on Terror, the U.S. led military, intelligence and law enforcement campaign launched after the September 11 attacks aimed at dismantling terrorist organizations.
“The food was good and the view was amazing,” he shared.
Mario Belluomo brought his wife to Windows for her birthday in 1982, later held his son’s communion party and hosted relatives there.
“When relatives came from Italy they would look up at the buildings in awe,” he said. “They were shocked when we surprised them and had their farewell dinner in the restaurant. When 9/11 happened they called us from Italy and cried. They were so thankful for their experience, nothing like it in the world.”
One New Yorker, named Filippa, was at Windows the Friday before 9/11 celebrating her best friend’s engagement. She also remembers taking her young son up to the observation deck one summer.
“I remember having the best burger I ever had, and they gave me the cutest little ketchup jar. One of my favorite memories is taking my son to the observation deck in June one year prior, he was 4 and a half. My cousins were here from Sicily for their honeymoon and that was a huge highlight of their trip, seeing the spectacular views at night from the observation deck. Memories that will stay with me forever.”
Remembering Windows on the World workers lost on 9/11
Below is a partial list of names of the Windows on the World workers who were killed on September 11, 2oo1:
Stephen George Adams
Sophia B. Addo
Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah
Shabbir Ahmed
Antonio Javier Alvarez, grill cook
Telmo E. Alvear, waiter
Manuel O. Asitimbay, cook
Samuel “Sandy” Ayala, banquet steward
Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista, cook
Veronique Nicole Bowers
Jonathan Eric Briley, audiovisual technician
Jesus Neptali Cabezas, cook
Gregorio Manuel Chavez, employee
Luis Alfonso Chimbo, receiving attendant
Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury, waiter
Jeffrey Alan Coale, assistant wine master
Jaime Concepcion, receiving clerk
Annette Andrea “Priya” Dataram, accountant
Jose Nicolas De Pena
Nancy Diaz, kitchen assistant
Luke A. Dudek, food and beverage controller
Jackie Sayegh Duggan, banquet and party planner, catering sales manager
Doris Suk-Yuen Eng, club manager
Sadie Itaume Ette, accountant
Henry Fernandez, pastry maker
Virgin Lucille “Lucy” Francis, housekeeping staff
Enrique Antonio Gomez, kitchen worker
Jose Bienvenido Gomez, kitchen worker
Wilder Alfredo Gomez, waiter and bartender
Norberto Hernandez, pastry sous chef
Enemencio Dario Hidalgo Cedeno, banquet cook
Clara Victorine Hinds, seamstress
Heather Malia Ho, executive pastry chef
John Holland, chef
Muhammadou Jawara
Francois Jean-Pierre
Eliezer Jimenez, Jr., chef’s assistant
Howard Lee Kane, comptroller
Evgueni Kniazev
Abdoulaye Kone
Victor Kwarkye
Jeffrey G. La Touche, banquet captain
Alan Charles LaFrance, freelance audio video technician
Yang Der “Robert” Lee, delivery clerk
Orasi Liangthanasarn
Jan Maciejewski, waiter
Jay Robert Magazine, catering sales manager
Charles J. Mauro, director of purchasing
Manuel Emilio Mejia, kitchen worker
Antonio Melendez
Blanca Robertina Morocho Morocho, salad preparer
Leonel Geronimo Morocho Morocho, sous chef
Carole Mario Munoz
Jerome O. Nedd
Juan Nieves, Jr., salad maker
Jose R. Nunez Castillo, food runner
Christine Anne Olender
Isidro D. Ottenwalder
Jesus Ovalles
Leobardo Lopez Pascual, cook
Manuel D. Patrocino
Victor Huo Paz-Gutierrez, pastry chef
Alejo Perez, kitchen staff
John Foster Puckett, sound engineer
Moises N. Rivas, cafeteria cook
David Bartolo Rodriguez-Vargas, busboy
Gilbert Ruiz
Juan G. Salas
Khamladai Khami Singh, assistant banquet manager
Roshan Ramesh Singh, equipment technician
Abdoul Karim Traore, banquet cook
Jupiter Yambem, banquet manager
Martin Morales Zempoaltecatl, assistant chef