You have been a local landmark and urban North Star, orienting lost Brooklyn visitors and residents for decades and providing a unique exclamation point to our skyline. We'll miss seeing you from the Smith St./9th St. train station and BQE, but we're glad you won't end up broken and forgotten in some landfill.

Maybe you'll turn up where we least expect to see you, maybe you'll turn up in a museum with all of your old friends. Either way, we will all miss seeing you standing tall and proud in our neighborhood. Farewell, friend.

See more photos of the sign's last illumination here.