Mark Englert was a 30-something business consultant from Connecticut living a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. He had just returned from a jog on that blue-sky morning when the first plane hit. |
He heard the explosion, but he had no idea what it was. He raced to his apartment window and all he could see on the street below were people looking up and pointing. |
One of the towers was on fire, he heard. Something about an airplane. |
Seventeen minutes later, a second plane streaked almost directly overhead and slammed into the other tower. Englert remembers dropping to the floor of his sixth-floor apartment and screaming, “this is crazy, this is just f— crazy!!” |
Moments later he was on the roof looking straight up. “That’s when I could start to see people jump,” he said, “people who were too close to the fire.” |
Mark and I have been friends for decades. The first time I heard his story was a few hours after the attack. I was a young reporter at the Hartford Courant, about 100 miles north. I had spent the day desperately dialing people I knew in Lower Manhattan. Mark was the first person who picked up. |
In the 25 years since, we’ve enjoyed each other’s company dozens of times. Last month, we spent a long weekend hiking and racing 4x4s through the desert near Moab. Over meals and cocktails we discussed all of the normal stuff guys in their late 50s and early 60s talk about — family, friends, when we can possibly retire. |
We did not talk about 9/11. It didn’t even cross my mind to bring it up; it hasn’t for years. Then an editor asked me to write this piece, so I called Mark on Wednesday morning. I expected a short conversation about how life moves on. |
I was so, so wrong. |
A glorious morning turned into a terrifying day |
“God, I haven’t talked about this in such a long time,” he said, and then it all came pouring out. |
It was “just chaos” in his building, people running everywhere, panicking. Everyone was terrified, nobody knew what to do. |
Then he felt an ungodly rumble and the world outside suddenly turned from day to night. “I had my nose pressed to the window, you could not see a thing, it was just pitch black.” |
An elderly woman, a retired cookbook editor, lived with her cat across the hall from him. He ran to her apartment. The television was on — that’s how he learned the first tower had just collapsed. |
He begged her to come with him. They tied wet towels around their faces to try to keep the dust out. He grabbed her cat, she grabbed a bag full of shoes. |
In a desperate race to find breathable air, he tried to hurry her down Rector Place toward the bank of the Hudson River. But she fell behind. He turned to see her standing in the middle of the sidewalk, ash falling all around her like black snow. |
“What are you doing,” he shouted, losing patience. “I’m changing my shoes!” she replied. |
As they neared the Holocaust Memorial in Battery Park, they bumped into a police officer who was staring back toward the towers. “All of a sudden, the look on his face,” Mark said. |
The cop screamed, “RUN!” and Mark glanced back to see the second tower “pancaking to the ground” behind them. |
About 100 yards farther south they rounded a corner to see a huge flotilla of fishing boats, sailboats, ferries. It would become the largest seaborne evacuation in U.S. history, rescuing an estimated 500,000 people from Lower Manhattan — more than the British rescued from the shores of Dunkirk at the start of the Second World War. |
When he got to New Jersey and a working phone he called his mom to let her know he was alive. But as soon as he heard her voice he couldn’t get any words out, couldn’t make a sound. |
Even describing it to me on Wednesday he went silent. |
Trauma that sticks |
It took the better part of a year for the dust to settle, literally, but he eventually moved back to his apartment in Battery Park City. He stayed there for 21 years. He walked past the 9/11 memorial and museum almost every day, although he never went in. |
“I don’t know if I’ll ever go there,” he told me. He also has avoided books and documentaries about the attack. Even hearing it mentioned on the news — which has happened a lot in recent days — puts him on edge. |
“When people ask about it, I’m just like, ‘yeah, I lived near there,’” he said, and then trailed off. It’s not that he has moved on, as I had mistakenly assumed; it’s that he can’t forget. |
To this day, the sound of a low-flying jet makes him want to dive to the floor. |
Top stories |
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(Illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times) |
Remembering 9/11 |
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The California condo is dying |
- Condo construction in California has fallen off dramatically since the early 2000s, severely limiting access to the entry-level market for homeownership.
- Now, there’s a growing coalition trying to revive condo construction in California by reforming a decades-old law that housing advocates and developers say has put a stranglehold on condo development.
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California survived record-setting heat without Flex Alerts |
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The California coast braces for another battering |
- California beach communities are expected to see rising sea levels in the coming weeks as El Niño continues to strengthen, with more sand erosion and damage possible, according to new data.
- Another El Niño-influenced phenomenon — a “coastally trapped Kelvin wave” — is moving up the coast of Mexico and will soon hit the U.S. West Coast.
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Commentary and opinion |
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Editor’s pick |
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George Lucas’ quest to find a permanent home for his namesake museum started more than 20 years ago and involved land battles in Chicago and San Francisco before the project landed in L.A.s Exposition Park. |
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More picks |
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Keep up with California |
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Things to do |
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Los Angeles Times reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove snorkels at Terranea Cove Beach in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sept. 2. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) |
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Today’s recipe |
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Chicken wings at a USC tailgate party. (Los Angeles Times) |
Football season has officially started. Kick things off right with these grilled chipotle wings. They can be marinated the night before, so all you have to do on game day is throw them on the grill. |
Question for you |
Have you given up your gas vehicle and joined the growing number of EV drivers in California? Tell us why or why not at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. |
Rigo D. says, “Purchased my first EV without considering the lack of charging infrastructure back in 2012. The car gave me about 200 miles of range, so I had to think about the ability to make most trips early on. After about five or six months, I realized it wasn’t a problem and could make it throughout SoCal without an issue. The car is still on the road today going strong.” |
CJ P. says, “I won’t buy an EV. I’ve been told stories about not enough mileage on a charge and home chargers spiking electric bills. I do have a hybrid though. I have driven one for 14 years. I don’t have to charge it. The gas engine does that for me. I save gas and cut emissions as well.” |
Photo of the day |
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Big waves from Hurricane Marie combined with a 6 foot high tide batter the boardwalk while flooding streets and homes on Tuesdayin Long Beach. (Kelvin Kuo / Los Angeles Times) |
Games |
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Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
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