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Philippe Petit Will Recreate His Wire Walk Above Grand Central
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 2, 2012
Modified Apr 2, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 2, 2012
Modified Apr 2, 2012
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Photo by Katie Sokoler/Gothamist
Philippe Petit, aka Man on Wire, will recreate one of his famous wirewalks (not that one) from 1987, when he walked 80 feet above Grand Central Terminal’s main concourse. According to the NY Post, the reprise of the walk will be in honor of the station’s 100-year anniversary and will take place next February 1st at the stroke of midnight.
The famous wirewalker, who is now 62-years-young and lives upstate, told the paper, “I remember vividly as if it was yesterday." During the original walk, organizers had him perform during a 12-minute window between trains, around 8:30 p.m., fearing vibrations would cause him to lose his balance—he told them, “One minute too much, it was a disaster."
When we talked to Petit in 2008, we asked where he would like to pull a stunt in the city now, but by then The Man had mostly gotten him down: "Well, I continue to have in my mind some illegal walks, of course. But we live in a different time now, and suddenly in a big city like New York, if I'm caught by the powers that be at the top of a building with some equipment, I would be shot first and asked questions later. I think it's probably impossible, and yet what I do in my life is I tackle the impossible." And in 2010, he gave us our own personal wirewalking lesson... approximately 78 feet below where the height he'll be walking at next year.
Tagged
grand central
man on wire
philppe petit
tightrope
wirewalking
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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