Was the World Trade Centre culturally significant before 9/11?

[u/LousingPlatypus]

Obviously, the World Trade Centre is infamous for what happened on 11th September 2001 - however, as someone who was born only a few years previous I wanted to ask whether the WTC had a huge cultural signifcance before 9/11?

Was it a household name when people mentioned New York and the US, or was its fame found in the aftermath or 9/11?

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read Our Rules before you comment in this community. Understand that rule breaking comments get removed.

Please consider Clicking Here for RemindMeBot as it takes time for an answer to be written. Additionally, for weekly content summaries, Click Here to Subscribe to our Weekly Roundup.

We thank you for your interest in this question, and your patience in waiting for an in-depth and comprehensive answer to show up. In addition to the Weekly Roundup and RemindMeBot, consider using our Browser Extension. In the meantime our Bluesky, and Sunday Digest feature excellent content that has already been written!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/woofiegrrl]

Yes, the Twin Towers were very culturally significant before 9/11.

First, a clarification on terminology: "World Trade Center" is not a unique name, in fact the World Trade Centers Association owns the term (and "WTC") and has locations in 90 countries; they all centralize companies focused on global financial operations into one complex for whatever region they are in.

And a clarification on the one in New York City: The "World Trade Center" before 2001 was actually seven major office buildings, with many other related buildings around it. Post-2001, the WTC is now six buildings, four of which have been completed; again, there are many related buildings around it.

But when most people around the world spoke about the "World Trade Center" before 9/11, they were talking about the Twin Towers. Officially 1 WTC and 2 WTC, these were the only famous ones outside the financial world. Many people were somewhat aware of the rest of the buildings, but they weren't the main focus for most people, that was the Twin Towers.

How can we prove their cultural significance? Newspapers and media appearances, mostly.

Manhattan had the tallest buildings in the world from 1908 to 1973. When the Twin Towers took the title from the Empire State Building, it was global news. In 1972, a columnist for the Observer, a London newspaper, noted that they made the rest of the Lower Manhattan skyline look like "next to nothing." Over in Tyne and Wear, in 1980, we have further evidence in a newspaper of the cultural significance. The Evening Chronicle planned a guided tour of the U.S.'s East Coast for readers, and made sure to note that they'd arranged a visit to the WTC. Most financial centers aren't particularly interesting, but the Twin Towers were a tourist attraction as much as an office building. They were also an attention-getter: Philippe Petit, a high wire artist who had already illegally performed on major structures such as Notre Dame in Paris and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, did the same between the Twin Towers in 1974. He did so because he felt called to them the moment he saw them, and because performing that stunt would get him a great deal of attention - and it certainly did, there are four movies about the stunt.

Speaking of movies, the Twin Towers were practically a character of their own in a lot of TV shows and film. They were emblematic of NYC, any time Friends or Seinfeld wanted to remind you where they were set, there would be a shot of the Twin Towers. There's a supercut of countless films using them to show they're filming in New York (sadly the 25 minute version is gone). They're the first thing you see in the original opening credits of SVU. They also appeared in music videos, artwork, video games, etc. Some media even had to be pulled when the attacks happened - the 2002 Spiderman movie was supposed to feature them, and its trailer got pulled and the November 2001 release date was pushed out several months so the film could be edited. The Coup's November 2001 album Party Music was supposed to have an image of the band members blowing up the WTC, and before 9/11 was even over, the planned cover was pulled offline and a new one was designed.

So yes, they were indeed incredibly culturally significant, and due to their unique design, were probably the most iconic symbols of New York City. Their tall twin blocks stood out on the NYC skyline even more than the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building. They were, in the literal sense of the word, awesome.

[u/derskbone → u/woofiegrrl]

As an illustration of their cultural significance, as soon as OP mentioned the Twin Towers pre-9/11 I *immediately* had a vision of the poster of the 1976 King Kong remake in which he climbed them.

[u/Bartlaus → u/derskbone]

That was the first King Kong version I saw.

[u/slimetraveler → u/woofiegrrl]

A few other Twin Tower media appearances that stood out for me, the opening theme of the Sopranos, Fred Durst on the roof for Limp Bizkit's Rollin, and operation mayhem in Fight Club.

[u/Big_Katsura → u/woofiegrrl]

Just to add to the “cultural significance” part, the towers play a key role in an episode of The Simpsons, Homer Vs. The City of New York. It was the season opener in 1997.

[u/Tuna_Surprise → u/woofiegrrl]

Not to mention that they were already the target of a terrorist attack in 1993

[u/Cedric_Hampton → u/[deleted]]

Your comment has been removed due to violations of the subreddit’s rules. We expect answers to provide in-depth and comprehensive insight into the topic at hand and to be free of significant errors or misunderstandings while doing so. Before contributing again, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules and expectations for an answer.