Lower Manhattan Storefront Preserved as 9/11 Memorial

Lower Manhattan Storefront Preserved As 9/11 Memorial
August 25, 2006A Lower Manhattan storefront that's been preserved since 9/11 is back on display as a reminder of that day. The owner of Chelsea Jeans chose not to clean away all of the dust and debris that covered his merchandise. Instead, he kept some racks of clothing covered in ash as a memorial in his store. The business struggled after 9/11 and Chelsea Jeans eventually closed. But the memorial was donated and stored. It’s now on exhibit at the New York Historical Society on the Upper West Side. The curator says the store's owner wanted it to be a way for people to remember what the city went through and lost. "He felt that as soon as the dust and ash and debris and all of the wreckage was cleared and cleaned away that we might forget how awful the day was, so he decided to save a piece of his store exactly as he found it," said Amy Weinstein of the New York Historical Society. The Chelsea Jeans exhibit is open now through January - including September 11th. For more information you can go online to www.nyhistory.org.