The 1980s

By the 1980s the towers weren't new anymore: they were finished, familiar, and everywhere. No more topping-out ceremonies, no more scaffolding on screen; just two matching monoliths anchoring the skyline, film after film, the way the Empire State Building already had for fifty years.

It's the decade the towers stopped being "the new buildings downtown" and became shorthand for New York itself: Wall Street's financial-district energy, Working Girl's ferry-commute skyline, Ghostbusters' rooftop climax a few blocks away. Part of the city's visual furniture, which is exactly the kind of appearance this archive exists to catch.