A familiar sight inspires some to make art, and others to wax poetic.

Brendan Bernhard

Garbage is but a flower
Which garbage trucks devour;
Darkness falls from the air,
Stars have died young and fair,
Dust hath closed Amy’s eye.
We are sick, we must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

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Local punk rocker and bar owner Dick Manitoba has truly entered the realm of the immortals: he now has his own bobblehead. “This figure, capturing Richard’s signature modern-day look is limited to 1000 numbered units,” according to a post on Mr. Manitoba’s Maniblog. “Don’t mess with Manitoba as he stands proudly representing the Lower East Side. He’s accurately sculpted right down to the weathered Dictators leather jacket and searing glare.” Mr. Manitoba was last heard from talking trash about his former bandmate in the Dictators, Andy Shernoff. Despite the drama, a Dictators reunion is still in the works, sans Mr. Shernoff.

Stephen Rex Brown Workers on a cherry picker chipping away at the mural this morning.

While trudging through this morning’s nasty weather, The Local spotted a pair of workers peeling away the Shepard Fairey mural on the building adjacent to the recently rechristened Standard Hotel.

Later in the day, a spokeswoman for Balazs properties, Lucy McIntyre, confirmed that the mural depicting a monk was coming down. “Having discussed with Art Production Fund that the piece was originally intended to be a temporary mural, and given its condition was peeling off the wall, we opted to remove it,” Ms. McIntyre said. Read more…

A man in his 20s was removed from under an M train at the Broadway-Lafayette Station at around noon, according to a spokesman for the Fire Department. The man, whose name was not available, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with “multiple traumas,” the spokesman said. The police did not yet have further information regarding the incident. DNA Info reported that witnesses saw the victim bleeding but conscious.

The housing advocates at Good Old Lower East Side will host a workshop next Wednesday on how to use the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal to one’s advantage in the fight against neglectful landlords. The talk will cover how to best to combat “harassment, rent overcharges, reduction of services” and other common tenant woes. A lawyer will be on hand to answer questions beginning at 7 p.m. at the Perseverance House at 535 East Fifth Street.

Daniel Maurer

Last night, a doorman guarded a private friends-and-family dinner at a forthcoming restaurant in the former David’s Bagels space at 228 First Avenue, between 13^th and 14^th Streets. The sign over his head read Agave Azuré (a permutation of the restaurant’s original name, Agave Azul), but the illuminated “Agave” lettering was dark. According to a partner in the cantina and taqueria, that’s because a restaurant in the West Village, Agave, sent a cease-and-desist letter just days before opening night.

Evangelos Gavalas, 36, said that when the restaurant opens for dinner tomorrow (followed by lunch and brunch service in the coming weeks), it will be called Tepito, after the chef’s native town in Mexico. Executive chef Adrian Ramirez, he said, was born and raised in Mexico before coming to Austin, Texas and then to Manhattan to work at Le Cirque and eventually Dos Caminos.

“Tepito in Mexico is a badass place, just like the Lower East Side,” said Mr. Gavalas. “It’s not a culinary destination – more of a drug destination.” Read more…

Philip Kalantzis-Cope The Theater for the New City at 155 First Avenue.

The Theater For The New City is in the final stages of a 24-year fundraising drive to pay off its debt.

In 1986 the theater’s mortgage was $717,000. Now, it’s down to $90,000, and administrators are orchestrating a big push to ensure its political, avant garde and always-colorful productions continue at the location on First Avenue.

“Our building, our permanent home, is the basis of our ability to produce new art,” said Crystal Field, the theater’s executive director in a press release. “The economic difficulties coming our way, indeed, to the whole of the art world, will best be met by a strong foundation.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Workers packed up at Hottie on Monday night.

Stephen Rex Brown Hottie at 5 St. Marks Place.

Employees were spotted packing up the inventory at Hottie on St. Marks Place on Monday night.

Aurora Berdejo, a sales associate at the gaudy jewelry store between Second and Third Avenues, would only say it was closing for “personal reasons.” Another employee, Olivia Lee, said that the store had been open for four years, and that the rent was $10,000 per month.

A “For rent” sign was already up in the window.

Lauren Carol Smith The now-closed location of Nevada Smiths.

The popular soccer bar Nevada Smiths served its final beer last night, but there’s no need to behave like a hooligan: the staff will be showing games at Webster Hall until the bar reopens at its new location.

Owner Patrick McCarthy told The Local that he planned on showing his first game at Webster Hall this weekend. A staffer at the nightclub and concert hall confirmed the arrangement.

“It’s perfect in there,” said Mr. McCarthy, who was cleaning out his old space on Third Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. “I want to stay in the neighborhood, naturally. This all worked out great.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown La Vie Lounge.

The police have arrested a 31-year-old man involved in the post-Thanksgiving brawl at La Vie Lounge that left three people with knife wounds.

A police spokesman said that Jamar Jones was charged with third-degree assault in the donnybrook in front of the nightclub on First Street near First Avenue. According to a criminal complaint, a witness observed a group of seven or eight people surrounding a 23-year-old man on the ground at around 3:45 a.m. on Nov. 25. The witness said that Mr. Jones kicked the victim numerous times. Mr. Jones later admitted that he “bloodied him up,” according to the complaint.

The police are still searching for the culprits responsible for cutting two others during the brawl.

A receptionist at La Vie said no one was available to comment on the incident.

In rural New South Wales, Australia, where Amy Chaplin grew up, Thanksgiving was a non-event. But at the vegan institution Angelica Kitchen, where she was executive chef from 2003 until 2010, it was a very big deal. “It was the biggest day of the year for us,” she said, adding that she and her staff would work for days roasting and stuffing squash, preparing homemade chutneys, heirloom beans, pickled vegetables, flatbreads and their signature nut-and-seed brittle for a five-course feast.

Today, Ms. Chaplin, 37, works with large food companies to help them develop recipes featuring whole grains and legumes, and cooks privately for clients like Natalie Portman, whose spindly figure she helped maintain throughout the filming of “Black Swan.” An East Village resident since 2000, she seemed like just the person to tell us how to recover from the turkey-day binge. Read more…

Courtesy of Frontstoop Films.

I Love Old New York recently visited the Block Drug Store, snapped a few pictures from the sidewalk, and chatted up the owner, Carmine Palermo. The blog’s shutterbug wasn’t allowed to shoot inside, however: “[Mr. Palermo] told us that such permission would cost a lot of money.” The Local called up the pharmacy to inquire about Mr. Palmero’s asking price, and he said that in general he only charges top dollar to filmmakers.

“We’re local,” he explained. “People depend on us. There are very few times when we can close — they want to take over the store for 12, 15 hours.”

So, just how much would he charge? “Whatever it takes to discourage them,” Mr. Palermo said.

Of course, nothing is stopping filmmakers from shooting the store’s neon sign. That’s exactly what local auteur Ajay Naidu did for the above shot in his film “Ashes,” which recently became available online.

Next month’s calendar for Community Board 3 meetings was just released, and a variety of familiar businesses will try their luck before the liquor license committee. Nublu, which has temporarily set up shop beneath Lucky Cheng’s, is again on the agenda for a possible new location on Avenue C. Japa Dog, the hotly anticipated hot dog chain, is also once again on the agenda. Nevada Smith’s will apply for a liquor license at its new home, 100 Third Avenue, as well. One other item caught The Local’s eye, too: A “request to support legislation to reclassify Alcopops (malt sweet pre-mixed alcoholic beverages), as spirits to be sold only in liquor stores.” Anyone ever tried an Alcopop?

Two adjacent lots on East Houston Street near Attorney Street have recently gone on the market for $9.5 million, The Lo-Down reports. The lots, at 327-329 East Houston Street, are part of the portfolio of the deceased William Gottleib, who was “legendary for hoarding his estimated $1 billion worth of NYC properties,” according to the blog. Following an inter-family struggle, Mr. Gottleib’s nephew is now selling much of the real estate empire piece by piece.

Daniel Maurer The window at 7A.

What to do now that it’s too late to pick up a Thanksgiving to-go from Momofuku Ssam Bar or a slab of heat-and-eat porchetta from Porchetta? Obviously, you’re going to have to eat out. With a bounty of all-American standouts in the neighborhood (Back Forty, Peels, and Five Points, to name just a few), you won’t have to go far. But why limit yourself to Americana? The Local has rounded up Thanksgiving menus of every variety – from French to Italian to Ukrainian – and ordered them from cheapest to most lavish. (Prune’s $78 repast is fully booked, but we’re told there will be a walk-in table for two plus four seats at the bar.) Just remember to call ahead for reservations and hours of operation, since many restaurants close early on turkey day. Read more…

Mary Beth Powers often awakes to the overwhelming odor of bacon wafting from the IHOP 11 stories beneath her apartment.

“There can be times at three or four in the morning when you feel like you’re in the kitchen with them,” said Ms. Powers, who lives on 15th Street. “There is no relief.”

The smell is at times so pungent, she said, that it clouds her thinking.

“It smells like rancid bacon. I just imagine it: a film of crap on my furniture, on my rugs, on my walls. I actually wonder, is this being soaked up in my apartment?” said an exasperated Ms. Powers. “Is it in my hair? Do I smell like IHOP now?” Read more…

Daniel Maurer, Japa Dog The store as it was today, and a rendering of the interior design.

This morning, The Local spotted a construction crew working on the East Village outpost of Japa Dog, the Japanese-style hot dog chain that counts Anthony Bourdain (and apparently Ice Cube and Steven Seagal) as fans. Noriki Tamura, who founded the chain in Vancouver, Canada, where it now boasts four mobile locations and a storefront, said the first of what he hoped would be multiple New York City outposts (including hot dog stands) will open at 30 St. Marks Place sometime next month.

So why St. Marks? “There are so many stores here; so many restaurants,” said Mr. Tamura, with the aid of an interpreter. Read more…

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One hundred and two years ago today, Clara Lemlich made a speech that echoed through the Great Hall of Cooper Union and led 20,000 women to walk out of sweatshops and onto the picket lines to protest intolerable working conditions. “The Uprising of the 20,000,” as the general strike led by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union came to be called, started in November of 1909 and ended in February of 1910 with higher wages and a 52-hour work week. A little over a year later, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire would claim 146 victims (roughly one out of three of them East Village residents) and galvanize labor reform still further.

On Saturday, to commemorate the anniversary of the Uprising, Andrea Coyle of The Lower East Side History Project led a Women’s History Walking Tour of the East Village. Now readers of The Local can follow her path by clicking on the map, beginning with the tour’s starting point at Cooper Union and continuing southward down and around the Bowery.

The police have arrested a suspect for an attack on a woman at the Broadway-Lafayette Station on Nov. 10.

Police say that 50-year-old Samuel Mangum of Staten Island snuck up behind the woman at around 10 a.m. as she was boarding an M train and assaulted her. No injuries were reported. Mr. Mangum faces one count of sex abuse in the third degree.