Gonzalo Acevedo thought he had a good job, and a fun job. For four years, the 29-year-old Union City resident was a tour guide at the World Trade Center, working for an Italian tour company, taking groups of travelers to the top of the Twin Towers.
Acevedo, who was born in Argentina but lived most of his life in Italy, thoroughly enjoyed showing the skyscrapers to Italian tourists.
“I was always amazed,” Acevedo said. “When I first went to the top, I never saw anything like it. I was never in a place like it. It was so cool. It was really impressive. I never got tired of going to the top. It was such a great view of New York, especially at night.”
However, on Sept. 11, Acevedo wasn’t at the World Trade Center.
“I was supposed to do a tour that morning, but I got sent to Harlem with another group instead,” Acevedo said.
By now, everyone knows about the horrors of Sept. 11, when the terrorist attacks brought the Twin Towers down, killing thousands of innocent people.
“I took tours there every day and this one day, I’m not there,” Acevedo said. “I mean, I was there every day. It was so hard for me to take. It was really difficult. So many people who I knew were gone. People that I saw every day. So many people died. It was a bad experience for me. I was really depressed over it. It was hard for everybody to deal with, but it was really hard for me. I really couldn’t believe it.”
Of course, Acevedo was out of a job as well.
“It was one of the worst periods of my life,” Acevedo said. “I lost so many things.”
However, the World Trade Center tragedy ended up motivating Acevedo to explore a new career – owning and operating a pastry shop in Weehawken.
“I was always interested in owning my own business,” Acevedo said. “I knew I had to do something different. I had to change my entire life. I didn’t want to look for another job. My roommate was a pastry chef, so I decided to open a pastry shop. My family owned something similar in Italy, so I knew about it and I knew how to run a pastry shop.”
Sure enough, Acevedo put a lot of his finances into the shop, called Patagonia, located at 4530 Park Ave. in Weehawken.
Rare penguins
Patagonia opened two weeks ago to rave reviews on the tasty treats and on the shop’s intricate d