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Brooklyn Today December 8: The Watchtower Sign Is Gone From the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Old Headquarters

December 8, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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THE LEDE: Happy Friday, Brooklyn! Legal groups protest ICE officers in courts, Santacon stays away from Brooklyn this year, and we say goodbye toBrooklyn Heights’ famed Watchtower sign. Plus, Mayor de Blasio disses the Nets, Australia legalizes same-sex marriage, and The New York Times is sueingHarvey Weinstein’s company. Finally, protests start in the West Bank, we travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Alaska Airlines is offering early boarding for customers who wear ugly sweaters. Have a great weekend.    
 
IMPRINT: Nicole Kidman looks terrified on the most recent cover of The New York Times Magazine.

 
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The Rundown
 

~THE WATCHTOWER SIGN IS GONE FROM THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ OLD HEADQUARTERS: It’s the end of an era. The red-lettered Watchtower sign, an icon of the Brooklyn waterfront for many decades, is gone. It stood atop the former Brooklyn Heights headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have moved to Warwick, N.Y. The old Watchtower headquarters at 25-30 Columbia Heights is located across the street from Brooklyn Bridge Park. The sign — which also tells the time and temperature — could be seen from the park and from Brooklyn Bridge and many spots in Lower Manhattan. The sign’s 15-foot-tall letters were removed from the top of the building on Wednesday.On Thursday, there was nothing left but the sign’s lattice framework, which will serve as the support for a replacement sign — and small red electric lights that continued to flash forth the time and temperature. “The letters will be going into storage,” a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses told us. “Presently we don’t have any plans to repurpose them.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~ROOFTOP BROOKLYN HEIGHTS SOCIAL CLUB OPENS: Nearly a year after its opening, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is now the proud owner of theBrooklyn Heights Social Club. The tenth-floor rooftop and lounge location was the result of restaurateur Matt Abramcyk seeking to find a proper hotel to house his expectations. The spot with almost-eye-level views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan ended up being the right fit for the club’s expensive cocktails and extensive wine list. For those looking to spend a fortune on a night out, the bar offers bottle service for a pretty penny. For those lacking the funds, snacks and $18 cocktails can be served right up. (via Grub Street) 
 
~BOOZE IS BANNED ON TRAINS & IN STATIONS, MTA WARNS SANTACON NYC DRUNKARDS: The normally alcohol-friendly LIRR and Metro-North are battening down the hatches with an alcohol ban for this weekend’s debauched Christmas-themed pub crawl, SantaCon NYC. Grinches (aka MTA police) will be enforcing the ban on trains and in stations including Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and other stations frequently overrun with thousands of reeling, inebriated Kris Kringles and Rudolphs. Alcohol-toting Santas will have their beverages confiscated and will receive a summons carrying a fine or imprisonment, and may be booted from the train or station by police. The ban will remain in effect from noon on Saturday through noon on Sunday. SantaCon NYC 2017 starts Saturday at 10 a.m. The word is Santas won’t be vomiting their way across Brooklyn this year. The thousands of Santas will assemble in Midtown, a SantaCon organizer told Patch.com. This year will mark the second straight year that SantaCon will be confined to Manhattan, according to Patch. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

~LEGAL AND IMMIGRANT GROUPS PROTEST ICE OFFICERS IN BROOKLYN COURTS: Representatives of dozens of immigrant rights, legal and religious organizations rallied on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall on Thursday to demand that ICE remove its officers from New York State’s courts.On Tuesday, dozens of public defenders staged a walkout at Brooklyn Criminal Court after a Legal Aid client was arrested by ICE in the hallway. The attorneys marched to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, demanding that the Office of Court Administration and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore implement a policy to prevent court staff from collaborating with ICE officers or entering court property. See photos of the rally here. (via Brooklyn Eagle)
 
~BROOKLYN TRASH TALK: DE BLASIO DISSES NETS, TEAM CLAPS BACK WITH TWEET: Barclays Center is primarily known for being the home of the Nets and Islanders, but the arena is also recognized for hosting premier boxing matches. And a heavyweight bout could be in the works following a feud that started this week between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Brooklyn Nets. At a town hall on Tuesday in Queens, de Blasio fielded several questions from attendees. One resident wearing a Nets jacket began to ask about traffic safety when the mayor interrupted him. “I’m from Brooklyn too, but this Brooklyn Nets idea has not been working out as it was planned,” de Blasio said. “So I admire you for sticking with them.” On Wednesday, the Nets responded to de Blasio’s remark on the team’s official Twitter account. “Hello, @NYCMayor. From one Brooklynite to another, you should know that we always have each other’s backs,” the Tweet read. “Like all of NYC, we’re always grinding to get better. If you want to see some real grit, our doors are always open.” (via Brooklyn Eagle)

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Staff Picks:   
 

LONG READ: “Deep Throat: An Institutional Analysis” (via The Atlantic)
 
ANOTHER LONG READ: Read Joan Didion’s 1961 essay “On Self-Respect“(via Vogue)
 
TRAVEL: “36 Hours in Jackson Hole, Wyoming” (via NYT)
 
HOLIDAYS: Here’s a New York City-made gift guide for everyone in the family. (via Thrillist)

 
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NATIONAL BULLETIN: Alaska Airlines is offering early boarding for customers who wear ugly sweaters…Navigation apps send drivers directly into California’s wildfires…And The New York Times is sueing Harvey Weinstein’s company for not paying for print ads. (via USA Today, CNET and NYT)                   
 
FOREIGN FLASH: Australia legalizes same-sex marriage…There are 2,000American troops in Syria, four times the previously stated amount…Andprotests start in the West Bank following Trump’s Jerusalem decision. (via WaPo, NYT and USA Today)   


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 ROYAL WATCH: Calling all foodies! Here are some of the Royal Family’sfavorite recipes. (via Today)


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BROOKLYN TONIGHT  
 

10:00AM – 7:00PM — Plein Air & More: Paintings by Paul Patous at Daphne Art Gallery. Details.
 
11:00AM — Shape Up NYC: Healing Hatha Yoga at Audobon Center at the Boathouse. Details.
 
11:00AM – 6:00PM — Imaginarium at United Photo Industries. Details.
 
12:00PM – 8:00PM — The Culture of Crown Heights Holiday Market at The Black Lady Theatre. Details.
 
3:00PM – 6:00PM — Witness to War at The Old Stone House. Details.
 
4:00PM — Madame Morbid’s Trolley Tours & Holiday Clothing Drive at Cadman Plaza West. Details.
 
7:00PM — The Brooklyn Nutcracker at Irondale Center. Details.
 
7:30PM — Home at BAM Harvey Theater. Details.
 
7:30PM — Suddenly at BAM Fisher. Details.
 
9:00PM — Gabriel Garzón-Montano at Warsaw. Details.
 

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 EAGLE SPORTS: St. Francis Brooklyn women’s head basketball coachJohn Thurston liked what he saw Wednesday morning, hours before his Terriers were slated to host Loyola University (Maryland) at the Pope Physical Education Center. “I like to say that the first two people in the gym are going to have the best game,” Thurston revealed, shortly after sophomore backcourt mates Jade Johnson and Amy O’Neill had carried the Terriers to a 64-47 victory over the Greyhounds in front of 218 fans on Remsen Street. “When I got here this morning, [Jade and Amy] were the first two here,” Thurston said.(via Brooklyn Eagle)


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MILESTONES
 
Happy birthday to Kim Basinger, Red Berenson, Ann Coulter, James Galway, Teri Hatcher, Dwight Howard, Nicki Minaj, Dominic Monaghan, Mike Mussina, Sinead O’Connor, Ian Somerhalder and Mary Woronov!


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