Manhattan Beach September 11 Memorial

I had often wondered how our September 11 Memorial beams came to us. Our local paper, The Beach Reporter, solved the mystery for me this week. 


The article says Manhattan Beach resident, Jeff Neu, received the contract to recycle the steel from the World Trade Center, and he donated two red beams from the collapsed towers to the Manhattan Beach Fire Department. The memorial on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Valley Drive, in front of the fire department, was designed by Scott Yanofsky of the Terra Firma Group and dedicated on September 11, 2007. Yanofsky designed the placement of the beams to mirror the placement of the towers as they stood at the World Trade Center.


A memorial ceremony is planned for tomorrow, September 11, 2011, at 8 am at the memorial site. Since I live just a few blocks away, on Valley Drive, I'll be there. Please join if you can.

The Manhattan Beach September 11 Memorial

Launching A Landmark

I live in a land of landmarks –

the Hollywood sign,

the dinosaurs out in Cabazon,

the big brown donut (Inglewood’s claim to fame),

the light towers at LAX,

the hand and footprints of the stars

inlaid into the Graumann’s Chinese Theater patio,

and the giant windmills gracing the entrance

to our desert resorts.

All touristy and cheesy for my taste

except for the new sculpture

just down the street from my house.

Created from the I-beams salvaged

from the World Trade Center Towers,

it sits on our new Fire Department property

aligned to echo how the buildings stood

in downtown New York.

But, I fear it hasn’t reached the landmark stage -

I don’t yet see hordes

of people gaping at it

with tears in their eyes

and sighs of remembrance.

by Madeline Sharples

(April 2009)

"We Shall Never Forget."