THE RE-BIRTH OF THE ZONE AROUND THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

The Oculus
The zone around the World Trade Center (Ground Zero) now stands for — wining, dining and shopping. The area has blossomed into a river-to-river mosaic of fancy hotels, restaurants
headed by celebrity chefs, Madison Avenue-level stores, sparkling new parks, movie theaters and two shopping malls.

It is also now home to fashion, beauty and publishing companies including Condé Nast, Time Inc., Omnicom, Droga5, SNY, Hudson’s Bay Company, HarperCollins, Revlon, Gucci and Hugo Boss Fashions Inc.

Besides checking out the enormous outdoor memorial pools, which is emblazoned with the names of the people who died during the 9/11 attack, and stopping by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, recommended is the Brookfield Place, located at the former World Financial Center. It anchors a sea of boutiques and food courts - not your typical food court full of junk food though, but instead fresh healthy food. There’s a salad place where you can tell them exactly what you want on your plate. Sushi fans will love the sushi bar. One of my favorites is the Chipotle Mexican grill, likewise you could mix what you want. The cupcakes from Sprinkles are delicious. Free Wi-Fi everywhere.

Westfield World Trade Center shopping mall at the Oculus
There’s an Apple store in the Westfield World Trade Center along with lots of stores. The central promenade of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is called the Oculus. Inside, columns extend skyward, linked by a thin spine of skylights. The architecture is stunning, with skylights that can be opened - sun-blasted space, high windows and vaulted ceiling.

One World Observatory at One World Trade
In NY, shopping malls are usually situated in the suburbs. Growing up the only mall that I frequented was King's Plaza Shopping Center in Brooklyn. But this has all changed. It has been revamped since into a semi-luxury mall.  

Did you know that the man who invented shopping malls was an Austrian-born architect named Victor David Gruen (Viktor David Grünbaum). He is best known as a pioneer in the design of shopping malls in the United States. He designed the first suburban open-air shopping facility called Northland Mall near Detroit after the war, in 1954.



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