That’s where I was on the Bicentennial! About half way up on the south(?) tower! (The one closest to the water.) It was amazing. I was 16 at the time. My uncle was a big shot at PanAm. A huge area, the entire floor perhaps, was filled with food and drinks - but I don’t recall it being too crowded with people. Everyone had a window seat for the fireworks show. The fireworks were at high level for us!
We spent the entire day in the tower - watching the boats was great. We had trailored our 17.5-foot open bow ski boat out from Minnesota. Earlier that week we took it out into the the river and got some nice close up views of the Tall Ships. It was pretty wavy in some areas with that little boat!
Is the tall ship in front of the World Trade Center the Amerigo Vespucci?