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Video: "Freedom Tower" Construction Workers Having Fun High Above Manhattan


By

John Del Signore

Published Sep 11, 2012

Modified Sep 11, 2012


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BREAK IT DOWN WOODY

 


By

John Del Signore

Published Sep 11, 2012

Modified Sep 11, 2012


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One World Trade Center is still called the "Freedom Tower" in some circles, and that includes the hard hats responsible for raising it up into the NYC skyline. And judging by a couple of videos that recently surfaced on YouTube, these guys know how to have a good time while doing it. In this first video, entitled simply, "NYC Freedom Tower Fun at Work," a hard hat named Woody "breaks it down" for coworker's cell phone camera. Be sure to watch all the way to the end for a vertiginous peek down the side of the skyscraper:

In this second video, the ironworker behind the cell phone introduces his coworkers and delivers a boisterous narration as workers put a panel in place. Hey, somebody has to do the grunt work of documenting this job for future generations! Breakdancing Woody has a cameo, and we also meet the "Stud Fallon (sp?) straight from Jamaica, THE RUDE BOY, the Womb Stretcher!" It's like the guy just got his first cell phone camera and can't bear to put it down. And we're all the richer for it:

"That's IT, that's how that gets done," he explains once the window panel is in place. "See how easy it is when you got one hand on a camera?" Your move, Sinatra-singing sandhog.

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John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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