What notable or famous event did you attend?

I attended the inauguration of George H. W. Bush. My dad an I were so far back in the crowd that we couldn't see or hear a thing. Fortunately someone in the crowd had brought a portable battery-powered radio along and was playing it loud enough for us to hear.

I was in the audience for David Foster Wallace’s commencement address “This is Water” at Kenyon College, considered by many to be the best ever, and later made into an (edited) viral video/short film. I think of it every time I’m annoyed in public.

I was there when Abraham Lincoln was shot. I didn't see anything because I was checking my emails on my iphone.

Woodstock. I was 16 years old and in way over my head. What I remember most was hearing Santana, a band I’d never heard of, play Soul Sacrifice. And then being back in high school a couple weeks later acting like the coolest guy on the planet.

My partner was at the Pentagon during 9/11. I was two blocks away. :(

Charlottesville Unite the Right. I lived downtown. Horrible and tragic. Changed the city in a terrible way. All the shine is gone.

I handed that brick to Marsha P Johnson

My sister got to go to Live-Aid in 1985.

[quote]I handed that brick to Marsha P Johnson

You were in Bryant Park r7 ?

I waded in the reflecting pond in front of the Washington monument in DC on July 4, 1976. I was 11. The crowd was so big and it was so hot the Park Service didn't try to tell anyone not to get in the water.

I went to a Presidential Debate starring Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and H. Ross Perot. I had a great seat too. But I realized that you see it much better on TV. The live audience is just a prop. I've had other chances to go to televised Presidential debates but I passed.

Live Aid at Wembly.

Not exactly world famous, but I was at the opening of San Francisco's BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system at MacArthur Station in Oakland. Somewhere, I still have a souvenir button they were giving out. The trains were so cool. Space Age!

More notable, at age 18, I was coming home from an evening class at SF State. The whole transit system was messed up and I ended up walking near Castro Street when I noticed that all hell had broken loose, like a war. There were cops everywhere, sirens, and the smell of fires. I knew that there had been protests of the slap on the wrist sentence ("The Twinky Defense") that murderer Dan White had gotten for assassinating Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone but didn't put it together until some guys yelled at me to go home (which I was trying to do) because the cops were randomly beating people up. It became known as The White Night Riots. I ended up running terrified with all of my books for a few miles - up and down hills - until I got to my parents' friend's house. I was silently attracted to other guys but not out. Would the cops just know and beat me up? I was so paranoid. They must have thought I was high or had seen a ghost. They turned the TV to the news and called my Mom to say that I'd be sleeping on their couch.

The big stadium concert in Munich 1980 with Fleetwood Mac.

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded before my very eyes.

I don't understand why OP is lined out.

I was a ticketed passenger for PSA Flight 182 on that day. I had a last-minute change of plans, so I few a day early...

I was one of the people in the huge crowd on the Golden Gate Bridge, when it closed for it's a 50th anniversary on May 24, 1987. There were so many people on the bridge that the span lost its graceful arch and flattened out instead. My friend and I decided to go very last minute. We got to San Francisco the night before and got what seemed to be the last hotel room in town. A dump on Van Ness Street. The next morning we lucked out and got a cab. The driver dropped us off as close to the bridge as he could, and we walked the rest of the way. It was an epic day.

Not me, but a close friend saw Anwar Sadat’s assassination. Her dad was an Exxon executive and they were in the parade bleachers.

I worked at the '84 Olympics in Los Angeles, and attended the Opening Ceremonies. I was also at the women's gymnastics finals, sitting just a few feet away from the vaulting horse when MaryLou Retton did her perfect 10.

I was at the world premiere of the Peter Jackson version of King Kong. The stars were all there. In fact most of the male actors except the leads were sitting in the row behind me.

Naomi Watts went into the ladies room when my friend was in there. She spoke to my friend and was lovely and funny.

George Lucas was there. To my mortification, a few friends I was with heard that and went up to get autographs from him. They got them but also got yelled at.

Kyle Chandler was there with his folks. He seemed not very happy with his performance — on the escalator on the way down after the movie, his folks kept reassuring him he had done well. I agreed with them (I mean, to myself, I didn’t interfere).

All in all, a memorable experience, even though the movie was more uneven than I had expected.

1981, I was at the Diana Ross Central Park Concert that got rained out after she sang three songs. I remember she seemed insistent on performing. But it started to rain really hard by her 3rd song and everyone was afraid she'd get electrocuted.

It started as a beautiful summer-like evening. I walked cross-town to Central Park. Then the rains came. And boy, did they!

By the time I got back home, I was completely covered in mud.

This wasn't a famous event, but it was really cool.

When I was 10 or 11 years old I went to a backyard BBQ in Long Beach CA with my older sister and her very cool older boyfriend (he was about 19). The party was full of musician types.

I can't remember why I was allowed to tag along. I think they were babysitting me or something.

After a little while, a band started playing. I remember being transfixed by the frontman, this small blonde guy.

It was Nirvana. So I saw them a year or so before Nevermind.

I am sure I am not the only one here, but I was standing on 6th Avenue and watched the second tower fall. It was very surreal and I distinctly remember thinking I’m watching history unfold right before my eyes. Honestly it felt like the end of the world in that moment. It was equally exciting and scary. That was the emotion.

I demonstrated and helped shut down the Bay Bridge back in '91? at the start of the Guld war! I was a student at U C Berkley!

Gulf War. Gulf not Guld.

I got to go to the wrap party for the first Daniel Craig Bond movie. They spent £££££ on that party. I only got to go as my friend had worked on it, I was not involvedmyself. Mr. Craig was about my height - maybe 5'9"? Petite! He was NOT in the mood to smile. We just got shit-faced with the cameramen and editors. Fun times.

July 22 1983. Central Park NYC. I was there with my significant other, I'll never forget the subway ride home wet, muddy, and totally ecstatic it was perfect! I got scared for about 5 minutes but Ms Ross had the crowd under control. Added bonus it seems at the hottest members of NYPD were there!

Northridge was 1994.

Not a particularly notable event, but my Wolfie was cruising Central Park in the early 60s and saw an open limo with JFK and Jackie sitting in it. One other car parked in front of them.

The opening of an envelope in Fresno in 1953.

I was at Yankee Stadium on July 4th, 1983 and watched Dave Righetti pitch a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.

I was in West Berlin a few weeks after the wall was down. It was an incredible time.

I was in Europe when they converted to the Euro, Jan 1 2002.

The opening of our Hobby Lobby & Chic-fil-A on the SAME DAY PEOPLE!

I got to experience both the Loma Prieta and the Northridge earthquakes. For the Loma Prieta, I was a shop bottom at Neiman Marcus Union Square. The legend was building was built on rollers to withstand earthquakes, which other architects pooh poohed. The building started shaking, and my friend was trying to cram a little old lady under a table, but she had a death grip on him. After the shaking subsided, the only things that were damaged were some housewares on the top floor. We were evacuated out, and the street had what seemed like 3" of shattered glass covering it- all the windows from the I. Magnin building had blown out.

I couldn't go home that night, as I lived in Oakland, and the BART was closed down, so I stayed with a friend in the S.F. hills. It was eerie- there was no power, and looking out, the city was completely blacked out, with 2 fires dotting the landscape.

I moved to West Hollywood in '93, and for the Northridge earthquake, I woke up, thought, "Oh it's an earthquake" and went back to sleep.. My good friend from AZ appeared at my door (he lived 2 blocks away) wild eyed and asking if I was okay, I didn't realize how destructive the earthquake was until driving through the valley neighborhoods.

In the subway coming from Brooklyn to lower Manhattan for classes at Sterns on 8:45 AM on September 11th 2001. I saw people running towards the cars as people were trying to exit. It felt like there was an earthquake. I reminded myself we were in Lower Manhattan so not an earthquake.

Same as R24 about an hour earlier

The Democratic Campaign Rally at the Boston Garden, November 7, 1960. I saw JFK make the final speech of his Presidential campaign to 22,000 people while sitting on my father's shoulders.

The largest single concert of Judy Garland's career on the Boston Common, August 31, 1967: a bit more than 100,000 people heard her. My uncle Bud was a Boston cop working the show and got me backstage.

The Blizzard of February 1978 where my boss was the only physician who stayed in the hospital where he practiced. Eastern Massachusetts was shut down for most of a week under three feet of snow. I stayed there, too, because most of the hospital staff couldn't get to work. I made beds, served meals, swept floors and helped unload a National Guard half-track that brought meds and clean laundry. Patients could smoke in the hospital then and on the third snowbound day lots of 'em were out of cigarettes. I was a hero when I walked from the Medical Area to Northeastern University where the underground part of the Green Line subway starts, went downtown to SS Pierce on Tremont Street, and came back with 40 cartons of ciggies.

The induction of a friend into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. I was happy to see her get elected as it's a very prestigious organization and her work is important. But I've known my friend for years so was more interested in meeting one of the other inductees, Sally Field, who was so pleasant to everyone: a roomful of some of the most brilliant people in the United States were lined up to meet the Flying Nun.

I joined 100K+ at the National AIDS Candlelight March. I was fortunate enough to meet Elizabeth Taylor at a pre-march reception at the Rayburn HOB and to secure a seat on stage for the Lincoln Memorial program. After many years of devastating deaths, the march, highlighted by the display of the AIDS Quilt on the National Mall, was an extremely emotional experience I will always cherish attending.

I was an extra in The Disappearance of Aimee.

I've got one some here might appreciate:

I went to the 1999 Daytime Emmy Awards and saw Susan Lucci win her first Daytime Emmy.

I can still hear Shemar Moore yell "The streak is over!"

Our seats were right on the aisle and the actors would have to pass by when they went up the stairs to use the restroom or whatever they did. Carly and Alexis from GH went by about three times. Sonny and Jonathan Jackson each went once.

Very cool experience. I didn't watch Susan's show, but I was happy she won. The whole place erupted in cheers when she was announced.

I remember that movie, r42. Wasn't it Our Faye?

I was in London shortly after QE2 died. I saw the insane multi-mile long line to look at her coffin. I was wandering around near Tower Bridge and I think the line stretched even further east.

She actually died the day I flew out. My first thought when I saw the news was basically "fuck, I hope this doesn't negatively impact my vacation".

I participated in Hands Across America on May 25, 1986

I went on the Bicentennial Train in Santa Barbara.

R45, why was the line "insane"?

Do you mean "long"?

R24 here, I should quickly mention the beginning of it all. I was 25, working for H&M at the time in Soho. Every morning we had to unload the trucks and car went past blaring the news instead of music which I thought was odd. Someone mentioned a plane flew into the WTC. A group of us walked over to West Broadway to see the building downtown. There was a huge gaping hole, what seemed like at least 10-15 stories. My first thought was, "Wow, people had to have died in that," and "Great, we're going to have to look at a scaffolding for the next I don't know how many years." We all went back to work waiting for the news to come in, which got worse, obviously. They let us go and we all started walking north. I remember coming up past Washington Square Park and looking back and seeing only one Tower. That was really an "Oh, SHIT!" moment. I distinctly remember an older Asian women walking in the opposite direction of us, downtown as fast as she could saying her daughter was in the building. Then there was a huge gasp from everyone and I turned around on 6th and about 4th St. and that is when I just saw the second tower twist ever so slightly and collapse in a huge cloud.

I am not going to lie. It was exciting in an out of body way. I felt like my eyes were recording history, trying to take it all in, remembering everything. You heard absolutely nothing. That was the amazing thing. Something that big happening you'd think it would break through the normal hum of the city. Nothing. You'd think something like that would envelop the atmosphere, but it didn't. The city looked normal, no screaming, no honking. And yes, the sky was SO blue that day. And in the proceeding days, the silence is what became the most unsettling.

Later I went out with my video camera and just started recording everything - the garbage trucks lined up on Houston, all the doctors waiting outside of Saint Vincents for patients that would never arrive, the pile that was building 7, and days later all of the missing persons fliers and the banner in Union Square that everyone, including me, signed.

The first Us Festival, Labor Day Weekend 1982, staged by Steve Wozniak at Glen Helen Regional Park. All three days. It was 110 degrees.

Grace Jone's 50th birthday bash at Life in 1997. I was sitting at her booth when they brought out the cake. I was a nobody who snuck in and had absolutely not right being there. But there I was, basically right next to her.

You should be able to answer that question using context and basic human intelligence, r48. Yes, I thought the people were insane for sending in a very long line to pay tribute to a dead person. I'm not very sentimental.

Orange Skies Day was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.

So no takers for Judy then.

Well, R48, apparently you don't take hints easily. Which is fine, as mostly it was a joke.

But equating your lack of sentiment with the fact that many people stood on line mistakes the underlying truth that many did not do it out of sentiment but respect, honor, and appreciation, of which seems to involve the insane.

But one must use a little more than "basic human intelligence" to see that, perhaps.

Have a lovely day.

I was at Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops’ performance of the 1812 Overture at the Hatch Shell on July 4th, 1976.

I still have burn scars from Pompeii.

I was at Foxboro’s then-Schaefer Stadium to see Elton John that night, R56

I got to attend the record breaking performance of "Grease" when it broke the Broadway record for longest running musical of all time in 1980. That night it was invitation only and the original stars, Barry Bostwick, Carol Demas, Adrienne Barbeau and such came back and played their roles for that night. I also got to meet and talk with fellow invitees, John Travolta and Olivia Newton. Travolta was filming "Urban Cowboy" and Olivia was making "Xanadu" which she called a "Roller Disco Movie".

Well if you ever needed proof that most Dataloungers live quietly in their mother's basement in Atlanta, this thread is it.

I was at one of the 1984 Olympics track meets and saw the Mary Decker/Zola Budd collision. (What I remember just as vividly that day was the medal ceremony for another competition. The silver medalist was absolutely beaming with happiness, tears streaming down her face. It seems that a lot of athletics, reporters too, look at the silver medal as a disappointment, so that memory has always stuck with me.)

R20 here. I have similar memories from the medal ceremonies, R61. Here in the US we think of Gold as the only win, but for so many athletes just getting to the games is an accomplishment. Silver and Bronze medalists are rightfully proud of their wins. I love it when the Gold medalist insists on the other two joining him/her on the top stand.

Along those same lines, our television coverage is extremely biased towards American athletes and world favorites. If you attend a gymnastics event you'll see hundreds of athletes that get absolutely no television time -you'd never know they were there. That is particularly hard on those from smaller countries, who rely on the US TV feeds for their coverage. And if you did see all the competitors, you'd appreciate the top contenders even more!

That's why I have a VPN and watched the Paris Olympics on French channels. They didn't omit anything from the opening ceremonies like the U.S. did (parts of the Gojira/Marie Antoinette number, the drag queens, and one other thing I can't remember), and the announcers don't talk constantly. They also show more countries competitors other than the U.S.

9/11 front row seat, also witnessed WTC 7 demise first hand. Top that.

For me nothing equals my father's participation in the Olympics. He was an athlete.

I was in the Tony Awards audience the year Rosie ODonnell hosted, and it opened with performances of leading ladies: Patti LuPone, Jennifer Holliday, and Betty Buckley (1998)

I saw one of Nadia Comaneci's perfect tens in the 1976 olympics. Don't ask for details. I was on acid.

R4 that is awesome. I love Santana.

I was on the set of the movie version of "Deathtrap" and got to see Michael Caine kiss Christopher Reeve. They only did a couple of takes.

She looks like Britney Spears there

I wasn't in attendance, but, as a child, I saw Jack Ruby fatally shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live television. I realize that lots of people saw this. But most of them are dead by now.

I did, too, R71. Had to go to church anyway, post live-TV Sunday morning shooting.

If our innocence wasn’t over then, it would be shortly.

I went to the first "Gay Night" at Disneyland on May 25, 1978, which was sponsored by Studio One.

The Funeral Mass of John Cardinal Ritter.

At 14, I took two buses to arrive an hour early to get a good pew. I couldn't understand why no one wanted to go with me,

Op, I actually remember the day Judy Garland died. My mother came to pick me up one afternoon from elementary school, and on the way home the corner news stand had several different newspapers with the bold Judy Garland is Dead headlines. My mother was shocked, but as a kid I only knew her from her role as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

In 1984, a good friend of mine was very active in the Walter Mondale Presidential campaign. He invited me to the private election night “victory” party that was held in a night club in St Paul. There perhaps 75 people there. All of the Mondales were present. It was very interesting to see them let their guard down. They were nothing like their public persona. And that was when I realized that what we see on TV is tightly scripted and controlled. It’s like a scripted show.

Final Wham concert at Wembley.

Prince's final concert in ATL

R64, Same. Many people dont realize how dense a residential area the FD is (along with Battery Park City). I lost visibility when tower 2 was a few floors down, in perspective looked like 2', but it seems similar to the day Kennedy was assassinated, everyone remembers where they were when they 'saw it' (even if only on TV).

A friend’s grandmother, Italian-American and never too greata witha da English, 90-something and not too steady mentally by then had the TV on all day and kept watching them re-run the footage of the planes crashing into the Towers but didn’t quite grasp that they were the same towers.

She thought they were bringing down every skyscraper in New York with airplanes, one by one, all day long on September 11th.

Obama’s speech the night before he got elected. It was electric.

Fall of Saigon. Never again!

I saw Zac Efron prolapse his anus off the Cote d'Azur.

Oh who hasn't?

I got to see Fat Elvis in concert not long before he croaked.

I was in Centennial Park when the bomb went off.

I’ve always been moved by this video, particularly the audience’s reaction when they learn his secret.

R76, how were they different?

I brought room service to Stormy Daniels's and Donny Dump-Pants's hotel suite and overheard her tell him his dick looked like a TOADSTOOL. It was alm I could do to leave the room without busting out laughing. The place smelled like ass. Probably his.

I was originally the pilot for JFK Jr’s private jet but in a last minute frenzy he decided to fly it himself.