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The Center for Brooklyn History of the Brooklyn Public Library, located at 128 Pierrepont Street (photo; corner of Clinton) has an extensive collection of art and artifacts relevant to the history of Brooklyn. You may see some of these items on display at the Center, which is open Monday through Friday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Saturday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and closed Sunday. You may also see items from the Center’s collections, which “include over 5,700 artifacts, 300 paintings, 1,700 drawings and watercolors, 1,200 prints, and more” on line here.

This weekend – late Friday night, September 25 to early Monday morning, September 28 – there will be no Manhattan bound service at High Street, as A and C trains will be re-routed to the F line, A trains from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street-Washington Square and C trains from Jay Street-MetroTech to 59th Street-Columbus Circle. This means extra Manhattan bound service at York Street in DUMBO. All weekend there will be no service at Court Street or at the N/R platforms at Borough Hall or at Jay Street-MetroTech as daytime and evening R trains and overnight N trains will be re-routed in both directions between DeKalb Avenue and Canal Street, and overnight R train service will be suspended in both directions between Whitehall Street-South Ferry and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.

The following work week – Monday morning, September 28 through Friday evening, October 2 – late nights Monday to Tuesday through Thursday to Friday there will be no service at High Street, as A trains will be re-routed in both directions to the F line between 34th Street-Herald Square and Jay Street-MetroTech, and C train service will end at 9:30 pm.

These are the PLANNED changes affecting local service for this weekend and for the following week. Always check MTA Info for unplanned service changes that may affect local service or service on other parts of your trip, or for planned service changes that affect stations to or from which you may be traveling. You can also get real time service alerts: register here.

In addition to the tag sale there will be free walking tours of Brooklyn Heights provided by McNeil Tours beginning at 1:00 and 3:00 pm. Registration is encouraged, but you may simply show up in front of Khaosan Thai Restaurant, 128 Montague, near the corner of Henry, at the appointed time. Even long time Heights residents may find these tours informative, as our neighborhood is so rich in history.

There will be other events offered at Open Streets Montague on October 4. We’ll give you more information next week.

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The 51st annual Atlantic Antic, a street fair that stretches along Atlantic Avenue from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue, will be held  Sunday, October 4 from noon until 6:00 PM. Local merchants will be represented, with special deals for the occasion, along with food, music, dancers, visual artists, clothing vendors, and fun sites for kids. There’s .more information here.

Photo: Chuck Taylor

The 21st annual Brooklyn Book Festival takes place this week. The principal events will be this coming weekend. Childrens Day, featuring “a full day of readings, workshops, performances, book signings, and art projects with favorite authors” will be Saturday, September 26, starting at 10:00 am at the Borough Hall Plaza and the  Festival Day (photo), Sunday, September 27 starting at 10:00 am at the Borough Hall Plaza, with over 200 stands offering books by many authors and publishers, and a multitude of lecture and discussion groups featuring many authors. During the coming week and weekend there will be many Bookend Events at sites throughout Brooklyn as well as some in the other four boroughs. One of these will be at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street, at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, September 23; another at Books Are Magic, 122 Montague Street, at 7:00 PM Friday, September 25.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this weekend (late tomorrow evening, Friday, September 18 through early Monday morning, September 21) should be a “green light weekend,” as there are no planned cancellations, route changes, or station skips directly and negatively affecting service at any local stations.

The following work week – Monday morning, September 21 through Friday evening, September 25 – late evenings to early mornings Monday to Tuesday through Thursday to Friday there will be no service at High Street after 9:30 pm, as C train service will end early and A trains will be re-routed to the F line in both directions between 34th Street-Herald Square and Jay Street-MetroTech, and C trains do not serve Brooklyn late at night. This means there will be extra service at York Street in DUMBO.

These are the PLANNED changes affecting local service for this weekend and for the following week. Always check MTA Info for unplanned service changes that may affect local service or service on other parts of your trip, or for planned service changes that affect stations to or from which you may be traveling. You can also get real time service alerts: register here.

Update: because of rain expected, this Sunday’s Open Streets Montague has been cancelled. This Sunday, September 20, Montague Open Streets, presented by the Montague Street BID and the City’s Department of Transportaton, will feature a FAD (Fashion Art Design) Market. Local merchants, restaurants, studios, and spas will be offering free samples or workouts, or special deals.  Montague Street between Clinton and Henry and between Henry and Hicks will be closed to traffic from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm; all parked vehicles must be moved from these blocks by 10:00 am Sunday.

Are you a bus enthusiast? I know there must be some such. I have fond childhood memories of walking a quarter mile to catch a school bus that would take me several miles to the three room rural school in which I began my formal education, and of Mrs. Clark, the bus monitor, calling out, “Sit down; sit down!” In any event, as The Eagle reports, there will be a Bus Festival this Saturday, September 19 from 10 am until 3:30 pm at the Emily Warren Roebling Plaza of Brooklyn Bridge Park, presented by the New York City Transit Museum and the MTA. At this event you can “enjoy activities for all ages, meet the bus operators and crew who keep the city moving, and snap pictures of the old-time vehicles” that you can also “climb aboard and explore.” The event is free. If you want to attend, you’re encouraged to register here, but it’s not mandatory.

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We’ve received word that the Bossert Hotel, once considered the Waldorf Astoria of Brooklyn, which had languished for some years since the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who had used it as a dormitory, moved their headquarters upstate, is now slated to become the “Ritz-Carlton Residences Brooklyn Heights.” Earlier this year we posted an interview with Ian Ross, Founder and Managing Principal of SomeraRoad, Inc., which had purchased the Bossert and had “plans for the Bossert’s renaissance, including what promises to be a premier, fine dining restaurant that will be open to the public.” Now we know that SomeraRoad has entered into an agreement with Marriott International under which the Bossert will become “Ritz-Carlton Residences, Brooklyn Heights.” It is not said that this will mark any change in plans to change it into luxury residences beyond the addition of the Ritz-Carlton name.

Many of us Brooklyn Heights residents have vivid, often very sad but also sometimes inspiring, memories of what happened 25 years ago today. Andrew Porter has shared his here. Feel free to share yours in comments to this post. Here are mine:

I had just dropped Liz, my daughter, off at PS 150, located about 1/4 mile from the World Trade Center, where she was in second grade, and was walking across Reade Street to catch the subway to Midtown, where my office was located. I heard an airplane overhead, and thought it sounded very close. Then there was a moment of silence, followed by a loud explosion. People behind me on Greenwich Street were screaming. I ran back, looked up, and from the location of the gash in the side of One WTC, the North Tower, from which flame and smoke were coming, knew that if Charlie McCrann, a close friend of many years, had been in his office on the 100th floor, he had been killed. I called Martha, my wife, and told her what had happened. I thought of calling Charlie’s home, but didn’t want to perhaps needlessly alarm Michelle, his wife, and their two children. When I got to the subway station I took a look toward the burning tower just as the second plane crashed into the South Tower. I knew then that my city was under attack. The following day I called Michelle and got the devastating news that Charlie was among the “missing.”

I went back to the school, were many parents were huddled in horror. After a while the principal announced that the school would be evacuated and the students could go to another school further north in Greenwich Village or could go home with their parents. Marie, another Brooklyn Heights resident whose two sons were at the school, said she wanted to take them home and asked me what Liz and I would do. I had spoken with Martha on the phone and we agreed that Liz should come home. We were told the subways were shut down, and smoke was pouring onto the Brooklyn Bridge, so we would have to get there by a circuitous route.

The school was evacuated en masse, and as we were all walking up Greenwich Street a tower collapsed, sending dust and debris billowing up the street and causing us all to run. When we got to Canal Street I asked a cop if the Manhattan Bridge was open. He said it wasn’t, so Marie and I continued northward. In front of the Tenement Museum a man was holding a sign, “Water and Restrooms Inside,” so we took a badly needed break. Shortly after we found our way to the Williamsburg Bridge and took the pedestrian walkway across to Brooklyn. While we were crossing, jet fighter planes were flying overhead. On the Brooklyn side of the bridge we were greeted by Orthodox Jews with jugs of water and cups. We got off the bridge and went to the front of the Peter Luger Steak House. The kitchen staff invited the kids in and gave them fries while we were able to phone Marie’s husband, Mark, who came and drove us home.

This weekend – late Friday night, September 11 to early Monday morning, September 14 – there will be no service in either direction at Court Street or at the N/R platforms at Borough Hall or Jay Street-MetroTech, as N and R trains will, at all relevant times, be either re-routed or suspended. Those traveling to or from Brooklyn may transfer between N or R trains and 2, 3, or 4 trains at Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center; those traveling to or from Manhattan may transfer between N or R trains and 4 trains at 14th Street-Union Square.

The following work week – Monday morning, September 14 through Friday evening, September 18 – the only planned change affecting service at local stations is that C train service in both directions will end each night Monday to Tuesday through Wednesday to Thursday at 9:30 pm instead of 11:30.

These are the PLANNED changes affecting local service for this weekend and for the following week. Always check MTA Info for unplanned service changes that may affect local service or service on other parts of your trip, or for planned service changes that affect stations to or from which you may be traveling. You can also get real time service alerts: register here.

This weekend and next, with performances on Friday and Saturday starting at 8 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm, The Heights Players will present Damn Yankees, their revival of the 1955 Broadway musical, directed by Marie Ingrisano Isner. Performances will be staged at the John Bourne Theater, located at 26 Willow Place. There is an accessible entrance at 25 Columbia Place, directly behind the theater. You can buy tickets here.

Photo: Marth // NYC Photographer

Repast Baroque returns to McKinney Chapel of the First Unitarian Congregational Society, Brooklyn, 121 Pierrepont Street (between Clinton and Monroe Place) on Saturday, September 19 at 3:00 pm with “Pigment: Prussian Blue,” the first of a series of concerts, “Color Contrast,” that will focus on the relationship of music and the visual arts.

In 1704, an accidental discovery inspired an obsession. Attempting a red pigment, color maker
Johann Jacob Diesbach produced a vivid, deep blue unlike anything the world had ever seen. It
spread across Europe, changed painting forever, and became known as Prussian Blue.
Alongside vivid watercolor samples from Dutch artist Boogert, Repast traces this pigment’s story
through the intertwined worlds of music, art, science, and commerce with music by Graun,
Handel, Schaffrath, C.P.E. Bach, and Princess Wilhelmine von Bayreuth.

Known for its creative programming, Repast explores new contexts for baroque music through
diverse themes and art forms. Performances often incorporate multimedia elements, from silent
film to visual art, reimagining new ways for audiences to experience the music of the past
through the lens of history.

Tickets are available here.

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This Friday, September 11, marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the then twin towers of the World Trade Center. The Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association, which includes Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy, will present a memorial service for the victims, who included Heights residents along with firefighters and police officers stationed here. The service will take place on the Promenade, near the Montague Street entrance, beginning at 7:15 pm. In the event of rain, it will be held at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, enter at 157 Montague.

Update: because of the weather forecast, the start time for the event has been changed from noon to 1:00 pm. “Open Streets Montague,” presented by the Montague Street BID, the Brooklyn Heights Association, and the New York City Department of Transportation, will resume this Sunday, September 13 on Montague between Clinton and Henry and between Henry and Hicks. This week’s event, presented in cooperation with Brooklyn Bridge Parents, will be a Back to School Party with activities, entertainment, and games suitable for kids up to 12. There’s a full schedule here.

Montague Street between Clinton and Henry and between Henry and Hicks will be closed to traffic from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm; all parked vehicles must be moved from these blocks by 10:00 am Sunday.

As we noted here, the Brooklyn Heights Association’s 2026 Designer Showhouse is the recently restored 1 Monroe Place. It will be open starting Friday, October 2 at 11 am. After that it will be open Thursdays and Fridays 11 am to 7 pm and Saturdays and Sundays 11 am to 6 pm through Sunday, November 1. Tickets, proceeds of which support the BHA’s civic activities, are $50, or $40 for BHA members. Ten packs are available for $450. They can be purchased here.

In other news, the BHA has received a grant of $100,000 from the City’s Department of Small Business Services to collect data to

help the BHA identify the needs and opportunities for public programming and public space activation, merchant organizing, district marketing and branding, streetscape enhancements, business support services, and other quality of life improvements.

This work will be supervised by Devan Paul (photo), the BHA’s new Program Manager, whose specialty will be commercial revitalization.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this long Labor Day weekend (late tomorrow evening, Friday, September 4 through early Tuesday morning, September 8) should be a “green light weekend,” as there are no planned cancellations, route changes, or station skips directly and negatively affecting service at any local stations. On Labor Day (Monday) all trains will be running on their normal Sunday schedules.

The following work week – Tuesday morning, September 8 through Friday evening, September 11 – late evenings to early mornings Tuesday to Wednesday through Thursday to Friday there will be no Brooklyn bound service at High Street, as A trains will be re-routed to the F line from West 4th Street-Washington Square and Jay Street-MetroTech, and C trains do not serve Brooklyn late at night. This means there will be extra Brooklyn bound service at York Street in DUMBO.

These are the PLANNED changes affecting local service for this weekend and for the following week. Always check MTA Info for unplanned service changes that may affect local service or service on other parts of your trip, or for planned service changes that affect stations to or from which you may be traveling. You can also get real time service alerts: register here.

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We’ve posted before several times, most recently here, about 112 Montague Street (photo by C. Scales for BHB), which has been vacant since 2012, when street level tenant Starbucks relocated to 134 Montague.  The latest comes from Sophie Penenberg in The Eagle (note: this may be paywalled for non Eagle subscribers), who notes that the building’s owner, “Nathan Royce Silverstein, a prominent real estate manager in New York, New Jersey and Florida” whose “family has reportedly held the property since 1936,” is holding out for “a national chain with a ‘Triple-A’ or ‘Triple Mint’ credit profile.”

The Eagle story quotes City Councilmember Lincoln Restler,

It is worth us taking a hard look at whether the time has arrived for a commercial vacancy tax … However, it would have to be tailored to go after bad actors who choose to leave their property vacant and not penalize small property owners who are trying to find good businesses to fill their spaces and are struggling.

That sounds like a tough legislative drafting assignment.

This weekend (late tomorrow evening, Friday, August 28 through early Monday morning, August 31) the only planned service change is that on Saturday and Sunday there will be no Manhattan bound C train service at High Street, although A trains should be running normally. Manhattan bound C trains will be re-routed to the F line between Jay Street-MetroTech and 34th Street-Herald Square. This means extra Manhattan bound service at York Street in DUMBO.

The following work week – Monday morning, August 31 through Friday evening, September 4 – late nights to early mornings Monday to Tuesday through Thursday to Friday there will be no service to or from Manhattan at Court Street, as R train service will be suspended and N trains will serve Brooklyn only, originating and terminating at Court Street.

These are the PLANNED changes affecting local service for this weekend and for the following week. Always check MTA Info for unplanned service changes that may affect local service or service on other parts of your trip, or for planned service changes that affect stations to or from which you may be traveling. You can also get real time service alerts: register here.