Editing Windows on the World (section)

== Impact ==

=== Reception ===
In its last iteration, Windows on the World received mixed reviews. [[Ruth Reichl]], a ''New York Times'' food critic, said in December 1996 that "nobody will ever go to Windows on the World just to eat, but even the fussiest food person can now be content dining at one of New York's favorite tourist destinations." She gave the restaurant two out of four stars, signifying a "very good" quality rather than "excellent" (three stars) or "extraordinary" (four stars).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/31/dining/restaurants-food-that-s-nearly-worthy-of-the-view.html|title=Restaurants; Food That's Nearly Worthy of the View|last=Reichl|first=Ruth|date=December 31, 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 22, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In his 2009 book ''Appetite'', William Grimes wrote that "At Windows, New York was the main course."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pLESNSYb8C&pg=PA281|title=Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York|last=Grimes|first=William|date=October 13, 2009|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-42999-027-1|pages=281|language=en}}</ref> In 2014, Ryan Sutton of ''[[Eater.com]]'' compared the now-destroyed restaurant's cuisine to that of its replacement, [[One World Observatory]]. He stated, "Windows helped usher in a new era of captive audience dining in that the restaurant was a destination in itself, rather than a lazy byproduct of the vital institution it resided in."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ny.eater.com/2015/6/30/8862293/one-world-trade-dining|title=Everything You Need to Know About Dining at One World Trade|last=Sutton|first=Ryan|date=June 30, 2015|work=Eater NY|access-date=February 22, 2018}}</ref>

=== Legacy ===
[[Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund]] was organized soon after the attacks to provide support and services to the families of those in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries who had been killed on September 11 in the World Trade Center. Windows on the World executive chef [[Michael Lomonaco]] and owner-operator David Emil were among the founders of that fund.

On January 4, 2006, a number of former Windows on the World staff opened [[Colors (restaurant)|Colors]], a co-operative restaurant in Manhattan that serves as a tribute to their colleagues and whose menu reflects the diversity of the former Windows' staff.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Li Yakira |date=September 10, 2019 |title=COLORS restaurant to reopen on the Lower East Side |url=https://www.amny.com/lifestyle/eat-and-drink/colors-restaurant-nyc-1-36142747/ |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=amNewYork}}</ref> The original location closed in 2017 and reopened in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tuder |first=Stefanie |date=September 12, 2019 |title=Restaurant Founded by Twin Towers Restaurant Staff Will Reopen on the LES |url=https://ny.eater.com/2019/9/12/20862547/colors-opening-lower-east-side-nyc |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=Eater NY}}</ref> Windows on the World was planned to reopen on the top floors of the new [[One World Trade Center]], but that project was canceled in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |last=Feiden |first=Douglas |date=March 7, 2011 |title=Plans to build new version of Windows on the World at top of Freedom Tower are scrapped |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/plans-build-new-version-windows-world-top-freedom-tower-scrapped-article-1.122810 |access-date=July 14, 2020 |work=New York Daily News}}</ref> Instead, One World Observatory contains eateries named ONE Dine, ONE Mix and ONE Café.<ref>{{cite web |title=One Dine |url=https://oneworldobservatory.com/restaurant/ |access-date=July 14, 2020 |publisher=One World Observatory}}</ref>

=== Cultural influence ===
It has been speculated that ''[[The Falling Man]]'', a famous photograph of a man dressed in white falling headfirst on September 11, was an employee at Windows on the World. Although his identity has never been conclusively established, he was believed to be Jonathan Briley, an audio technician at the restaurant. Jonathan was the younger brother of [[Alex Briley]], the original "[[G.I.]]" from the band [[Village People]].<ref>{{cite video
 | people = Henry Singer (director)
 |date = 2006
 | title = 9/11: The Falling Man
 | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810746/
 | medium = Documentary
 | publisher = [[Channel 4]]
}}</ref>

In March 2005, the novel [[Windows on the World (novel)|''Windows on the World'']], by French novelist [[Frédéric Beigbeder]], was released; the novel focuses on two brothers who are in the restaurant on September 11 with their father.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lacey |first=Josh |date=September 11, 2004 |title=Review: Windows on the World by Frédéric Beigbeder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/sep/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview17 |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=the Guardian}}</ref> [[Kenneth Womack]]'s 2012 novel ''The Restaurant at the End of the World'' is a fictive recreation of the lives of the staff and visitors at the Windows on the World complex on the morning of September 11.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 24, 2014 |title=Author Reviews The Restaurant at the End of the World Book at BSI |url=https://gantnews.com/2014/03/24/author-reviews-the-restaurant-at-the-end-of-the-world-book-at-bsi/ |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=GantNews.com}}</ref>

In 2021 young adult novelist [[Alan Gratz]] published a book called ''Ground Zero'' about a boy named Brandon who is with his father in Windows on the World on the morning of [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001]].