#001 - NYC History: Philippe Petit
Lesson #001: Philippe Petit
By Professor Dceve
March 21, 2008
To write our names all over the city for fame is a stupid, ridiculous objective. When someone asks me why I do it, I don't have a solid, justifiable answer for them. I guess its like a personal accomplishment and fuck it, its life, you should have fun right?... Here is an inspiring, rather extreme story that can somehow relate...
"When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk."
It was the morning of August 7, 1974 and wall street was waking up to the morning rush. That particular morning, one could look up 1,350 feet to find Philippe Petit walking across a wire that he illegally attached between the towers (of the recently completed) World Trade Center through "clandestine and brilliant means."
The most interesting part of this story is not only what Petit accomplished on that day, but the six years of prior planning that got him to that point.
From 1968-1974, Petit perfected his skills as a high-wire artist and learned everything he could about the World Trade Center. In January of 1974, he arrived in NYC and snuck into the north tower for the first time while the buildings were still under construction. He rode elevators and ran up staircases to evade security guards. It took him an hour to get to the roof.
He went home to Paris and continued reading everything he could find about the towers and compiled a file of information. Funded by money from street juggling, he returned to New York in April and began sneaking into the towers every day. He roamed through the buildings for hours, dodging guards, taking photographs and making sketches, noting access routes, security patrol routes, equipment clearances. He obtained numerical security codes; hired a surveyor's measuring wheel to determine the distance between the buildings; rented a helicopter to photograph them from above. He found that on windy days, the turbulence on the roof of the towers made it impossible even to stand up without holding on to something; and that the buildings swayed in a strong wind: enough to snap a steel cable tensioned between the towers. He also discovered the police station in the basement.
Back in Europe again, he persuaded his friend to put up the money to help finance this 'coup'. He built a scale model of the towers at home, sought detailed advice on rigging the wire and started practicing daily. Finally, in May, he returned to New York one last time. He planned one date after another for the walk and abandoned one attempt at the last minute - until fixing on 7 August 1974.
On the afternoon of 6 August 1974, Philippe and six accomplices set off for the World Trade Center in an unmarked van. With forged ID passes and dressed as delivery men, they had arranged one team to deliver all the packing cases of heavy equipment. The 60m cable, the machine to tension it and Philippe's 8m balancing pole disassembled into sections were to go to a friend working in an office on the 82nd floor of the south tower. The other team dressed as business men, were escorted up by the inside man. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon. Both teams had to remain hidden until nightfall before they could even begin the rigging.
On the 110th floor of the south tower, Philippe and his friend Jean-François spent more than five hours motionless, concealed under a tarp - sitting on an 8 inch wide I-beam over a three-story drop. Off-duty construction workers had decided to hold an impromptu party on the roof. Then, still evading security guards, and with a line fired by bow-and-arrow by his friend Jean-Louis from the north tower, the two teams spent the whole night rigging. The first construction workers would arrive for work on the roof at 7am. By dawn, they still hadn't managed to tighten the cable. At 6.45, Philippe was still desperately trying to overcome difficulties with the cavalettis. One of his accomplices had simply given up helping. At the last possible moment, as the freight elevator was on its way up to the 104th floor with the first shift of workers, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were firmly linked for the first and only time in their existence. Philippe Petit finally began his walk.
On the street below, people stopped in their tracks -- first by the tens, then by the hundreds and thousands -- staring up in wonder and disbelief at the tiny figure walking on air between the towers. Sgt. Charles Daniels of the Port Authority Police Department, dispatched to the roof to bring Petit down, looked on in helpless amazement as Petit toyed with authorities. He was literally jumping and dancing while he was on the wire. When he finished his walk, he was quickly escorted away in handcuffs.
The World Trade Center walk immediately made Philippe Petit one of the most famous men in America. His picture appeared on the front page of newspapers across the country. The phone rang with one offer after another. There was a multimillion-dollar film deal from MGM. There was a book proposal; beer endorsements; wine commercials; Burger King offered him $100,000 to dress up as a Whopper and wire-walk across 8th Avenue to open a new franchise. Someone even wanted him to make a record. He turned them all down.
When asked about the walk, Petit replied: "I'm trying to sneak inside the biggest, most surveilled, protected building in the world. I was a kid from the street and I thought: maybe I could have two crews coming at more or less the same time and then putting a ton of equipment across and then guylining it and then tightening it - without being caught by all the cops and the guards? And you're asking me did I think about the walk? Of course not. The walk was a stupid, ridiculous objective. And maybe when I did think about the walk, it was nothing. I am a wire-walker. I can walk any time, anywhere - I'm indestructible. So the walk was never a subject. Really, the tough part was the bank robbery. Getting out alive? Pfft! I was not interested in that..."
Fast forward to today, this video proves that the French just love doing some stupid things:
Next Class:
For Lesson #002, Professor Rike will go over the origin of some of the "hip neighborhood" street names in NYC.
By Professor Dceve
March 21, 2008
To write our names all over the city for fame is a stupid, ridiculous objective. When someone asks me why I do it, I don't have a solid, justifiable answer for them. I guess its like a personal accomplishment and fuck it, its life, you should have fun right?... Here is an inspiring, rather extreme story that can somehow relate...
"When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk."
It was the morning of August 7, 1974 and wall street was waking up to the morning rush. That particular morning, one could look up 1,350 feet to find Philippe Petit walking across a wire that he illegally attached between the towers (of the recently completed) World Trade Center through "clandestine and brilliant means."
The most interesting part of this story is not only what Petit accomplished on that day, but the six years of prior planning that got him to that point.
From 1968-1974, Petit perfected his skills as a high-wire artist and learned everything he could about the World Trade Center. In January of 1974, he arrived in NYC and snuck into the north tower for the first time while the buildings were still under construction. He rode elevators and ran up staircases to evade security guards. It took him an hour to get to the roof.
He went home to Paris and continued reading everything he could find about the towers and compiled a file of information. Funded by money from street juggling, he returned to New York in April and began sneaking into the towers every day. He roamed through the buildings for hours, dodging guards, taking photographs and making sketches, noting access routes, security patrol routes, equipment clearances. He obtained numerical security codes; hired a surveyor's measuring wheel to determine the distance between the buildings; rented a helicopter to photograph them from above. He found that on windy days, the turbulence on the roof of the towers made it impossible even to stand up without holding on to something; and that the buildings swayed in a strong wind: enough to snap a steel cable tensioned between the towers. He also discovered the police station in the basement.
Back in Europe again, he persuaded his friend to put up the money to help finance this 'coup'. He built a scale model of the towers at home, sought detailed advice on rigging the wire and started practicing daily. Finally, in May, he returned to New York one last time. He planned one date after another for the walk and abandoned one attempt at the last minute - until fixing on 7 August 1974.
On the afternoon of 6 August 1974, Philippe and six accomplices set off for the World Trade Center in an unmarked van. With forged ID passes and dressed as delivery men, they had arranged one team to deliver all the packing cases of heavy equipment. The 60m cable, the machine to tension it and Philippe's 8m balancing pole disassembled into sections were to go to a friend working in an office on the 82nd floor of the south tower. The other team dressed as business men, were escorted up by the inside man. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon. Both teams had to remain hidden until nightfall before they could even begin the rigging.
On the 110th floor of the south tower, Philippe and his friend Jean-François spent more than five hours motionless, concealed under a tarp - sitting on an 8 inch wide I-beam over a three-story drop. Off-duty construction workers had decided to hold an impromptu party on the roof. Then, still evading security guards, and with a line fired by bow-and-arrow by his friend Jean-Louis from the north tower, the two teams spent the whole night rigging. The first construction workers would arrive for work on the roof at 7am. By dawn, they still hadn't managed to tighten the cable. At 6.45, Philippe was still desperately trying to overcome difficulties with the cavalettis. One of his accomplices had simply given up helping. At the last possible moment, as the freight elevator was on its way up to the 104th floor with the first shift of workers, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were firmly linked for the first and only time in their existence. Philippe Petit finally began his walk.
On the street below, people stopped in their tracks -- first by the tens, then by the hundreds and thousands -- staring up in wonder and disbelief at the tiny figure walking on air between the towers. Sgt. Charles Daniels of the Port Authority Police Department, dispatched to the roof to bring Petit down, looked on in helpless amazement as Petit toyed with authorities. He was literally jumping and dancing while he was on the wire. When he finished his walk, he was quickly escorted away in handcuffs.
The World Trade Center walk immediately made Philippe Petit one of the most famous men in America. His picture appeared on the front page of newspapers across the country. The phone rang with one offer after another. There was a multimillion-dollar film deal from MGM. There was a book proposal; beer endorsements; wine commercials; Burger King offered him $100,000 to dress up as a Whopper and wire-walk across 8th Avenue to open a new franchise. Someone even wanted him to make a record. He turned them all down.
When asked about the walk, Petit replied: "I'm trying to sneak inside the biggest, most surveilled, protected building in the world. I was a kid from the street and I thought: maybe I could have two crews coming at more or less the same time and then putting a ton of equipment across and then guylining it and then tightening it - without being caught by all the cops and the guards? And you're asking me did I think about the walk? Of course not. The walk was a stupid, ridiculous objective. And maybe when I did think about the walk, it was nothing. I am a wire-walker. I can walk any time, anywhere - I'm indestructible. So the walk was never a subject. Really, the tough part was the bank robbery. Getting out alive? Pfft! I was not interested in that..."
Fast forward to today, this video proves that the French just love doing some stupid things:
Next Class:
For Lesson #002, Professor Rike will go over the origin of some of the "hip neighborhood" street names in NYC.
NIGGA, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? I DON'T WANT TO READ! I CAME HERE TO LOOK AT PICTURES... YOU GUYS ARE NOT THUGGIN' IT AT ALL WITH THIS SOFT SHIT... I'LL CATCH YOU IN MY SCARFACE JACKET IN THE HOOD... STAY BLUNTED AND DRINKIN' THAT HEN'... DIP SET! DIP SET!
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Europeans love that mission impossible shit...
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Europeans smell bad.
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We like to make party then paint train:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYGjAkIPqmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkM3WUTAB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6cLJQlhhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0rjkCXTiE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcPXLET0HvE
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Do i really smell?
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you do.
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Those crazy french men.
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I thought the guy who sells halal food on madison and 53rd smelt bad but you my friend take the cake.
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so whats good with that burger king commercial.....
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con smell delcioius best belive that
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I remember hearing this story as a kid and thinking this was the coolest guy in the whole world. Criminal childhood heroes=smart future
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