Last night, politicians and neighbors gathered at the St. Mark’s Bookshop to celebrate the lowering of its rent. So the bookstore survives, but for how long? Will it still be on the corner of Ninth Street and Third Avenue in a couple of years? Or will there be a giant bubble tea shop there instead? It seems like a good time to document an institution of a kind that’s vanishing from the East Village.

As a physical space, St. Mark’s Bookshop is sort of retro-futuristic, and more theatrical than relaxing. There is a big-city sense of being on stage. No attempt is made to foster the kind of somnolent, wood-paneled cubbyhole atmosphere so beloved of the stereotypical independent book store. Anyway, it would be a difficult trick to pull off, what with those HVAC pipes slithering around above the customers’ heads like giant, interstellar worms. Read more…

Chelsia Rose Marcius Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street.

With few parishioners attending only one service per week, the nearly century-old Mary Help of Christians Church is officially on the market and making preparations to be sold.

After what seemed like several years of rumors regarding the fate of the church on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, Pastor Kevin Nelan confirmed that developers have recently expressed interest in purchasing the parish. Read more…

Wally Gobetz

The changes are coming fast at The Standard East Village (formerly the Cooper Square Hotel). A post on Craigslist calls for applicants for a variety of positions at the hotel that was officially purchased by Andre Balazs last month. The openings include “bartenders, barbacks, bussers and hosts for all shifts” in the restaurant. Appropriately enough, applicants should be able to “thrive in a stylish, fast-paced environment.”

Just yesterday the hotel finished removing a four-story mural by Shepard Fairey.

The police easily tied one of the men accused of robbing Souen to the crime: he had a large bird tattoo on his face that was captured by surveillance cameras. DNAInfo reports that 22-year-old Jorge Molina was arrested on Nov. 20 for running from the police — seven days after the macrobiotic restaurant near University Place was burglarized. The police quickly recognized the tattoo on his right cheekbone and charged him with the crime. An accomplice in the heist is still being sought.

A documentary premiering tonight at the Duo Theater on East Fourth Street examines the impact of AIDS in the 1980s and early 1990s through the eyes of a local musician, DNAInfo reports. Mimi Stern-Wolfe recalls in “All The Way Through Evening” that “You didn’t expect an illness to wipe out a whole section of people with such swiftness.” The film follows Ms. Stern-Wolfe as she plans an annual concert named after one of her fellow artists who died from the disease in 1988.

If it hurts to watch, just be glad you’re not a contestant. On Monday nights the comedy troupe Face Off Unlimited takes over the basement of Jebon Sushi and Noodle on St. Marks Place and puts on its own version of a cringe-inducing Japanese game show.

The Local recently talked with one of the performers and watched with a mix horror and delight as audience members ate sushi off of a hairy man’s belly — but not before signing a waiver, of course.

The above video has been edited to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 2, 2011

A previous version of the video gave incorrect names for Jay Painter and Eric Robinson.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

In case you missed it, President Obama’s motorcade rolled down East 12th Street last night, to the consternation of many. Above, Scott Lynch got a photo of preparations at University Place. According to City Room, more than 100 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to the president’s next stop, the Sheraton Hotel in midtown, to protest a fundraising event there.

Back when The Local spoke to Clayton Patterson about his in-the-works anthology, “Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side” (which ended up being successfully funded on Kickstarter), he showed off a mock-up of the “Legends of the Lower East Side” coloring book that he was working on with artists Troy Harris and Orlando Bonilla. The Villager has more about the project, and Bowery Boogie publishes some sample pages.

The Times reviews “Golem” at the Ellen Stewart Theater and opines that its “visual illusions feel far more magical than anything you’ll see in a Broadway blockbuster.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Now you don’t: the Shepard Fairey mural is no more.

Well, that didn’t take long.

Yesterday, The Local noticed that the four-story Shepard Fairey mural on the side of the Standard East Village was coming down. Today, all evidence of the massive Buddhist monk was gone.

A spokeswoman for the hotel’s new owner, the famed hotelier Andre Balazs, said that there were no immediate plans to replace the mural.

The East Village’s most well-known yoga studio, Yoga to the People, has been sued by the originator of the Bikram variety of yoga for stealing poses, DNAInfo reports. Bikram Choudhury, the creator of the yoga done in sweltering studios, alleges that instructors at Yoga to the People were illegally using his copyrighted poses. Mr. Choudhury is seeking over $1 million in damages.

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…

Daniel Maurer

Demolition work continues at 25 East First Street. Today, protective netting shrouded the scaffolding that The Local spotted yesterday, and a gap in the construction barrier offered a glimpse of the bygone dive known and loved as Mars Bar. On Second Avenue, a dumpster was being filled with debris, and the storefront next to Mars Bar was a gaping hole. Asked when demolition of the bar itself would occur, a construction worker said in about a week.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 23, 2011

An earlier version of this article misidentified the avenue where the construction dumpster was located.

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.

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.