The city says the ceremony will honor the lives lost that day and recognize the courage, sacrifice and service of those who responded. The attacks killed 2,977 people, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Earlier, at 6:59 a.m., Verdugo Fire Communications Center was expected to broadcast its traditional tribute over the fire department radio honoring those who lost their lives on 9/11, updated to reflect the current anniversary:
“Twenty-five years ago, America suffered a devastating tragedy in which nearly 3,000 innocent Americans were killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. During those attacks, 415 emergency service workers died. To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, we offer this symbolic gesture followed by a moment of silence.”
Accounts from Pasadena officials describe that fateful morning as filled with threat reports aimed at the region and concern for the Rose Bowl. A former mayor, writing for the anniversary, is urging residents to remember the local lives tied to the attacks and to the wars that followed.
That day, then-City Manager Cynthia Kurtz contacted then-Police Chief Bernard Melekian to ask whether Pasadena faced any threats. Melekian told Pasadena Now in 2021 that the department fielded reports in the first hours of aircraft headed to attack Los Angeles, along with rumors that one was targeting Pasadena.
“Everyone was concerned about local threats, especially since we have America’s Stadium here — the Rose Bowl,” former City Councilmember Paul Little told Pasadena Now in 2021. He recalled that the city assured residents it was in contact with federal authorities and that no imminent threats to Pasadena had been identified.
Mayor Victor Gordo, who had just been elected to the City Council in March 2001, said in an interview with Pasadena Now this week that the Rose Bowl’s profile weighed on him that day and that he asked city leaders for an assessment of whether Pasadena was in danger. He said the week that followed brought “a sense of fear, insecurity, but also the instillment of a bond among people from every walk of life.”
Melekian also visited New Horizon School on Orange Grove Boulevard, which described itself as a progressive Muslim school, to check on the safety of students and staff. He said in 2021 that the calls the school received came from neighbors offering help, and that no incidents were reported there.
“There was a period there of almost unparalleled national unity, and that national unity played itself out in Pasadena,” Melekian said.
Among those killed were “Frasier” co-creator David Angell and his wife, Lynn, who were aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to strike the World Trade Center. The couple were active contributors to Hillsides in Pasadena, where they developed the center’s library, according to the Writers Guild of America West.
In a guest opinion column published today by Pasadena Now, former Pasadena Mayor William Paparian wrote that the service of young Americans who volunteered for the military after the attacks is part of the 9/11 story. He named Pasadena-area service members among the Enduring Heroes whose names are inscribed at Defenders Park, including Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Scott R. Studenmund of Pasadena, who he wrote was 24 when he was killed in Afghanistan. The memorial at Colorado and Orange Grove boulevards honors 11 service members from the area who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Friday’s ceremony is at Centennial Square, 100 N. Garfield Ave. The city’s announcement does not list speakers or a program. For accessibility information or to request an accommodation, contact the City Service Center at CSC@CityOfPasadena.net or (626) 744-7311. Transit information and a trip planner are at PasadenaTransit.net.
On Saturday, first responders and their families will gather at the Rose Bowl for an on-field flag ceremony honoring those who responded to the attacks, before UCLA’s 4:15 p.m. football game against San Diego State.
Paparian also pointed to New York Drive, where he wrote that Air Force veteran and retired United Airlines pilot John McDannel spent years planting oak trees in a median that became Pasadena’s 9/11 memorial.
“Trees do not replace the dead. They do insist that the living still tend the ground,” Paparian wrote.
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