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Windows on the World Owner Seeks Fresh Start
Some Surviving WTC Staff Move to New Times Square Eatery
 Listen to Madeleine Brand's report.
 Review previous NPR coverage of Windows on the World.
May 30, 2002 -- Windows on the World was one of the most popular restaurants in the country. Located atop the World Trade Center, it was a place for big celebrations -- weddings, engagements and graduations. Diners weren't the only ones who thought it was special. So did the people who worked there, including owner David Emil.
Now, Emil is preparing to open a new restaurant, though he says it's not meant to replace Windows, which was the highest grossing restaurant in the country. Noche, a Latin-themed eatery and nightclub, is set to open in New York's Times Square next week.
Seventy-nine Windows on the World workers died on Sept. 11. The rest -- about 350 people -- lost their jobs. Morning Edition has been following the lives of some of the people who worked at Windows. A number of them are now working at Noche. But many former Windows employees are bitter that they weren't hired to work at Emil's new restaurant, NPR's Madeleine Brand reports.
Emil says his managers interviewed former Windows workers first, but hired only the people they thought best qualified for the jobs. Many of the jobs people had at Windows simply don't exist at Noche. There are no banquet waiters, captains or food runners.
Plans for Noche had been in the works before Sept. 11. Executive Chef Michael Lomonaco sees his job now as a kind of tribute to the co-workers who died in the attacks. "In continuing to live the life that we were leading, we honor our friends. We're living life for them," he says.
Previous NPR Coverage
Listen to a Morning Edition report by NPR's Melissa Block on the struggles of surviving employees of Windows on the World. March 4, 2002.
Stories of Love & Marriage: A Collection of World Trade Center Wedding and Love Stories from the Sonic Memorial Project. Feb. 14, 2002.
Stories of Loss:
Families Suffer Deaths of Husbands, Fathers in Terror Attacks. Dec. 24, 2001.
Listen to Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan's interview with Michael Lomonaco, former executive chef of Windows on the World. Nov. 21, 2001.
Listen to All Things Considered host Noah Adams' interview with Maine restaurateurs Carolin and Gary Brouillard, who gave over $12,000 to the family of a Windows on the World restaurant worker who died Sept. 11. Oct. 23, 2001.
Listen to a Weekend All Things Considered report by NPR's John Burnett on aid from the restaurant and food service industry to families of restaurant and cafeteria workers who died in the World Trade Center. Sept. 29, 2001.
Listen to a Morning Edition report by NPR's John Burnett on Windows on the World, the restaurant that New Yorkers called "a little United Nations." Sept. 20, 2001.
Sifting Tattered Artifacts of World Trade Center Lives: An Essay by NPR's Robert Siegel. Sept. 12, 2001.
Other Resources
• The Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund.
• A New York Magazine article about David Emil and Noche.
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