ENDURING MEMORY
A look at how people are remembering 9/11 locally and at the National Memorial
After the World Trade Center Towers fell, pieces of the broken building were stored in an 80,000-square-foot hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The collection includes things like steel beams and crushed police cars.
The steel has been cut into more than 2,000 pieces and distributed to nonprofit groups, governments and museums. Today, fewer than 30 pieces of debris remain in the hangar.
Sept. 11 shook the world. Memorials have been established in all 50 states and at least eight countries.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum canceled its activities last year but will lead the nation and world in marking two decades since the attack.
Its program will start at 8:30 a.m., with the first moment of silence observed at 8:46 a.m. The ceremony on site will be exclusively for 9/11 family members.
At sundown, the annual Tribute in Light will once again illuminate the sky in commemoration of the anniversary of the attacks.
The installation has become one of the signature elements of the annual commemorations at the former World Trade Center site, visible for a radius of up to 60 miles and extending four miles into the sky.
The Tribute in Light project consists of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center created two vertical columns of light. The tribute began in 2001.
In California
Check first before planning to visit a site due to possible COVID-19 restrictions. Most memorials include WTC steel. Here are a select few in California:
Reflect 9/11 Memorial, Rosemead
Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden, Beverly Hills
Semper Memento, Heisler Park, Laguna Beach
Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center in Los Angeles has part of a tower on display in memory of firefighters lost.
September 11 Memorial Plaza California Exposition in Sacramento includes an I Beam extracted from Ground Zero. It is open to the public during all Cal Expo events, including the California State Fair and on 9/11.
Hermosa Beach 9/11 Memorial
Manhattan Beach 9/11 Memorial
Recovering Equilibrium, at Los Angeles International Airport's Theme Building. The four hijacked planes were originally bound for California. One for San Francisco, three to Los Angeles.
Hayward 9/11 Memorial
Huntington Beach 9/11 Memorial at City Hall
Sherman Oak 9/11 Memorial
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library will have an observance with 23 tons of World Trade Center wreckage. Registration is encouraged.
The Ronald Reagan Library and Museum will have a ceremony and gallery dedicated to 9/11.
Observe Moments of Silence
Observe a moment of silence on September 11 at any or all of the following times marking key moments on 9/11. Every year, the moments below are observed as part of the official 9/11 anniversary commemoration ceremony held at the World Trade Center for victims' families.
8:46 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93 through 99 of the North Tower.
9:03 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 77 through 85 of the South Tower.
9:37 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, near Washington, D.C.
9:59 a.m.: The South Tower collapsed.
10:03 a.m.: After learning of the other attacks, passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 launched a counterattack on hijackers aboard their plane to try to seize control of the aircraft. In response, the hijackers crashed the plane into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
10:28 a.m.: The North Tower collapsed, leaving the 16-acre World Trade Center site in ruins and collateral damage affecting all adjacent properties and streets. The rescue effort commenced immediately.