By Garrison Frost

Media reports tell us that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 at one point targeted downtown Los Angeles' largest building for their attack. Thankfully, they changed their minds and never went through with their plans in L.A.

But I can't help wondering if perhaps their decision had less to do with putting too much on their plate, and more to do with the fact that they just couldn't figure out which building they were talking about.

As someone who works downtown, I can never figure out what to call the thing. Apparently now we're calling it the US Bank Building, but I always thought it was the First Interstate Building. No, people tell me, it was the Library Tower before -- even though the library is across the street. I can imagine the terrorists scratching their heads. And if I'm any indication, they wouldn't get much help asking a local in a suit on the corner of Fifth and Flower.

Anyway, it's easy for people who work downtown to be mindful of airplanes crashing into the tall buildings, and not just because of 9/11. I remember well the first time I sat in a meeting in one of those glamorous window offices with a panoramic view of Disney Hall, City Hall, the Financial District and Staples – and thinking to myself, "Holy crap that airplane's low!"

One of the bigger jumbo jets looked like it was coming in for a landing on Bunker Hill.

Planes buzz the downtown all the time. One of these days I'm going to up to the roof and ask a stewardess to hand me some peanuts.

It all has to do with an arrival pattern for Los Angeles International Airport which brings some planes inland so that they can turn around and land into the wind. The turnaround landmark for these planes is – you guessed it – downtown Los Angeles, which guarantees a steady stream of airliners making daring descending banks right over some of our tallest buildings.

Not long ago, flying in from a business trip to San Francisco, my plane came down along the coast and turned eastward at Sunset Boulevard. Right over downtown, we banked southward and kept turning until we were right over the 105 freeway, which we followed to our runway. As we banked over downtown, I could practically see people in the US Bank building giving themselves the sign of the cross.

But you get used to it, I suppose. I no longer cringe when I see a 737 that I'm sure is going to fly between me and the BP Building.

I can't say the same thing about the military helicopters that occasionally slalom through the downtown obstacle course. It still freaks me out to look out our windows and find myself face to face with some guy in the Army Reserves.

One of the bizarre truths of our new age, to paraphrase Dashell Hammett: on 9/11 we became used to a world where airplanes crash into tall buildings, and now that they haven't in a while, we've gotten used to them not crashing.

(August 18, 2004)

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