9/11: Remembering a Dear Friend

Mar Vista resident James Tumminia’s close friend Joe Allen died on 9/11. Allen, 39, was working at Cantor Fitzgerald in the twin towers when the planes struck. He called his family from his desk and told them the building had been hit but that he was fine and he was going to get out safely. He never made it.

“Joe and I met here in Los Angeles,” Tumminia recalled. “We were both originally from New York and we were both actors here in Los Angeles, but in the late '90s he decided he wanted to move back home, leave acting and settle into a stable job.

Tumminia remembers Allen as a “dynamic, spirited guy. He loved to dance. He loved a good story and he loved his friends. He was the go-to guy to hang out with or talk to if you needed to chat.”

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Tumminia is making sure to honor Allen’s spirit and life in the same way he has been doing ever since Allen was killed, by organizing a mass in Allen’s honor at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica, which will be held this year at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, followed by a meet up at an Irish pub where Allen’s friends will toast his memory.

This year’s anniversary is slightly different though, Tumminia said.

“Because it’s a significant anniversary we’re actually holding two memorial services for Joe, one in Santa Monica and one in North Hollywood so all his friends can attend one event or the other. Then we’re all going to meet up and toast his memory.”

As the anniversary approached Tumminia said, "I’m slowly reconnecting to those feelings of 10 years ago. You just know it’s going to be a significant anniversary in our nation’s history, like Pearl Harbor.”

He said that even though a decade has passed, it’s still difficult to wrap his head around the fact that his dear friend is gone.

“It’s still hard to deal with the fact that Joe left us in such a tragic way and at such a young age,” Tumminia said. “What makes it even harder is that so many other people were lost in the same way. Even after 10 years it’s still surreal.”

Stories like these, 911 of them, are featured in an extenisve photo display on Patch's sister site, HuffingtonPost.com. The images were collected by Patch editors across the country and tell the stories of lives lost on Sept. 11, Ground Zero heroism and the continuing toll from the wars that followed. They also reflect the resiliency of Americans, their hope in their children and the extraordinary changes for good wrought by a disaster that we now mark on its 10th anniversary.

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