Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Hope you had a good Howl! Festival. The Allen Ginsberg Project wishes the poet a happy birthday and notes that the flowering dogwood that was planted at St. Mark’s Church in 1999 is flowering in his honor once again. You can still enter to win a tour of the poet’s longtime East Village apartment by signing up for The Local’s free newsletter.

The Times reports that State Senator and gay rights champion Thomas K. Duane, whose district covers part of the East Village, will not seek reelection. “It’s not that Albany isn’t a lovely place, but it’s not home,” he tells The Times after 14 years of service. “I always knew that I was going to have another chapter in my life, and it’s time for me to start that new chapter.” Possible successors: State Assembly members Deborah J. Glick and Brian Kavanaugh, or Brad Hoylman and Corey Johnson, the chairmen of Community Boards 2 and 4.

The Times points out that a new Website, 1940s New York, has reprinted a real estate market analysis of New York based on the 1940 census. In it, the Lower East Side (as the East Village and its neighbor to the south were collectively known) is said to be in transition. “Its more than 100,000 foreign-born population gives the Lower East Side a tinge that is essentially alien,” reads the guide. “But the district is changing. It has lost nearly 40,000 foreign-born since the last census.” It goes on to note new parks and big housing developments.

The Wall Street Journal discovers that kids at the Henry Street School for International Studies play a weekly Texas Hold ‘Em tournament. At the school, poker, or “tournament card play,” is considered a “mind game.”

East Village Radio commemorates the 15th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s death. “Buckley earned a cult following around his adopted home of Manhattan’s East Village, most notably at the club, Sin-é, in the early ‘90s by mesmerizing crowds with live performances littered with a diverse range of cover songs by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bad Brains, Robert Johnson, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Bob Dylan, Édith Piaf, and Elton John, among others.”

Daily Intel reports from the Midnight Half Marathon, which was organized by the Orchard Street Runners and started and ended in the East Village.

The Post notes the spate of bee swarms recently, including the incident on the Bowery last month. “There are too many hives right now,” says Andrew Coté, the beekeeper who recently relocated bees from Central Park to East Sixth Street. “As it increases in popularity, it will be more and more difficult to control.”

Bowery Boogie notes that an East Village pop-up shop, the Little Shoe Store, now has a permanent home on Orchard Street.

More Than Usual has a look at the Jim Joe show that briefly graced The Hole, along with photos from its opening. It was up for just a few days.

Suzannah B. Troy has footage of a plaque being dedicated to Harry Greenberg, the former supervisor of Tompkins Square Park.

The Daily News notes that People’s Pops, which is once again open for summer on East Seventh Street, is coming out with a cookbook that includes 55 recipes, including a raspberry and cream recipe that’s reprinted in the News.

The Village Voice pens a rave for Prima: “The inflexible seafood lover will find his bliss with the dinner entrées: skate, snapper, Arctic char, daurade, all served huge, hot, with a crisp and beautiful skin that has been washed over with bonito butter, the meat finished in the oven for not a moment too long ($15 to $22).”

Eater reports that Death & Co. has extended its opening hours by an hour, and the Daily News notes that the popular East Village boite has opened an outpost in the Financial District.

And East Village Eats notes that the Toucan and the Lion is now serving brunch.