Adapting to Ground Zero
Sept. 11 Forever Changed the Neighborhood Around the WTC

Listen to Robert Siegel's report.

 View a gallery of photos of the neighborhood.

Dec. 27, 2001 -- Lower Manhattan has always had a feel: The hustle of Wall Street, the hipness of Greenwich Village, the grittiness of the Lower East Side. But after Sept. 11, that feel is forever tinged with tragedy.

Tourists near Ground Zero. Photo: Julia Redpath, NPR

Yet the tragedy isn't dictating the vibe of the city. Rather, New York is assimilating it into its culture.

For evidence, just walk the streets near Ground Zero, as All Things Considered host Robert Siegel recently did. There, he discovered that a whole industry has grown up around the tragedy -- vendors hawking hats, shirts, pictures and other tchotchkes to passing tourists who are flocking to Ground Zero to get a glimpse of what is, after all, a historic landmark.

Says Peter Sloan, a lawyer who works near the site: "I suppose part of the innovation and creativity of New Yorkers is to develop a business out of everything that happens."

But immersing themselves in commerce isn't the only way New Yorkers are responding. Sloan himself stops and looks at the site nearly every day when he emerges from the Fulton Street subway. Dentist Jeffrey Shapiro, whose office is a few blocks up Broadway, says he knew 30 people who died in the attacks. He has lent office space to fellow dentists who lost theirs.

From her 20th floor office in the Woolworth Building, Michelle Chant both misses the towers and -- though she feels a little guilty about it -- enjoys the river view and the "remarkable sunsets" that their absence allows.

In the spontaneous, unfiltered way teenagers have, Jenny Chen and Sarah Blakely, juniors at Stuyvesant High School express excitement about being near the site. As Siegel notes, "While none of the adults we heard expressed that sentiment -- the excitement of being near it -- the feeling is an element of New York life. Inhabiting the heart of the metropolis -- noisy, fast, dangerous perhaps, but where it's at."