Twenty-five years removed from the most infamous terrorist attacks in U.S. history, the legacy of 9/11 continues to reverberate from coast to coast and around the globe.
Over 2,800 miles from New York City’s Ground Zero, Long Beach, like countless other American cities and communities impacted by that tragic day, annually pays tribute to the 2,977 lives lost in the attacks.
But on a daily basis, one enduring local reminder of 9/11 is the Unity Monument, located near the apex of Signal Hill at 2271 Temple Ave. Patrick Vogel, the creator of the monument, recalls watching the attacks unfold live on television in the early morning on the West Coast and thinking, “this could have happened anywhere.”
Wanting to commemorate the tragedy, Vogel mocked up a design for a potential sculpture and spent a few months pitching the idea to the Long Beach City Council. After being approached by then-Signal Hill Mayor Michael Noll and canvassing a handful of other nearby locations, the monument found a permanent home adjacent to Hilltop Park.
“The way we positioned it, you can see it from the ocean, but it’s also facing east as a respectful gesture to the city of New York,” Vogel said.
To create his tribute, Vogel welded five dissimilar metals with one another, intended to signify the various races, ethnicities and religious backgrounds of the victims. The monument is topped by a subtle, five-sided tribute to the Pentagon, which was directly hit by American Airlines Flight 77.
On the first anniversary of 9/11, the Unity Monument was unveiled to the public.
“It’s this humanist-looking figure from a distance – it could be a mother, it could be a son, it could be almost anybody that was lost in the tragedy,” he said.
In the ensuing years, Vogel recalls three separate occasions where people who lost loved ones on 9/11 approached him with thanks and gratitude while he cleaned the monument. Vogel, whose work also adorns local locations like the Long Beach Exchange and Rotary Centennial Park, lauds the “connective tissue” that the monument signifies, which he says unifies those with direct and indirect ties to the attacks.
“This is the most significant thing that I’ve ever made, just because in the context of what happened, and nobody will ever get over anything like this … When you drive by, it gives you pause, and you think about all the families that are incomplete right now and will always be incomplete,” Vogel said.
The City of Signal Hill will host a public ceremony this Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. with guest speakers, a photo display and light refreshments at the Unity Monument. Vogel plans to bring his original mockup of the monument to Friday’s ceremony. For more information, call Signal Hill Parks, Recreation & Library Services at 562-989-7330.
Long Beach World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb
On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) perished while responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. This Saturday, Philip Hanlen, a 20-year veteran of the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD), hopes to pay tribute with an event at a location that bears extra importance.
The first-ever Long Beach World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb invites firefighters, first responders, military, veterans and community members alike to simulate the 110 stories FDNY personnel climbed on that day.
“We take it as a serious responsibility to carry on the legacy and tell the story and make sure people never forget,” said Hanlen, co-organizer of the event.
Presented by the Long Beach Firefighter Association and International Association of Firefighters Local 372, this inaugural event honors the sacrifice and bravery of the FDNY firefighters. Though Hanlen says 9/11 was a catalyst for him becoming a firefighter, he said the growing gap between that date and the present increases its importance for newer members taking up the mantle.
“We have a young generation of firefighters, some of which, many of which now have no living memory of 9/11 or weren’t even born and that’s just been something that’s shocking to realize we’re in that day and age,” Hanlen said.
At the stair climb, attendees will have the chance to walk in the shoes of fallen heroes and carry the name of a specific 9/11 victim with them. Though the climb itself is a solemn reminder of who was lost, the event is also intended to be a joyful expression of unity, something Hanlen likened to throwing both a funeral and a celebration of life.
“Telling the story of 9/11 is not only the tragedy, the people that we lost, it’s the heroism of the first responders,” he said. “But then it’s the aftermath where we came together as a nation like never before in so many ways.”
Check-in at the Long Beach World Trade Center (1 World Trade Center) begins at 7:30 a.m. The event will start with a memorial ceremony at 8 a.m., keynote speaker and victim recognition at 8:20 a.m. and a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., to recognize when the North Tower was struck by American Airlines Flight 11.
The climb will begin at 9 a.m., with up to 500 participants doing five climbs of 22 stories to the top of the Long Beach World Trade Center, and each time taking the elevator back down. Then at noon, the memorial reception will begin, featuring vendors, food from Habit Burger & Grill, a beer garden, CPR training and much more for attendees.
Registration is $50 for climbers, who will receive a commemorative event shirt and a memorial name badge tag of a fallen hero for their climb, while opening ceremony and reception registration is $25. All proceeds f will benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the FDNY Fire Family Transport Foundation.
To learn more about the Long Beach World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, visit longbeachstairclimb.com.
