News
The Downtown Dogs of L.A.
February 09, 2008, 11:31 MT
By Sandi Cain
Dogs Live the Good Life in Condos, Lofts Downtown
Dogs Live the Good Life in Condos, Lofts Downtown
By Sandi Cain
At a time when people facing foreclosure on their homes often can’t find a rental that allows their pets, there’s one place teeming with happy dogs and cats in lofts, condos and apartments. That place is Downtown Los Angeles, and about 62% of these happy pets live in rental units.
Encouraging people with pets to move in is all part of the long-standing effort to develop a new residential community downtown that started back in 2000 with the first loft conversions in and around the bank district.
“We had 230 apartments around Skid Row and we knew we had to do something to get those leased,” said Hal Bastian, now senior vice president and director of economic development for the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. The group is a coalition of 400 property owners trying to improve the 65-block central business district.
Bastian—a self-proclaimed dog ‘nut’—was moving downtown from Silver Lake with his dog Buddy, a golden retriever, and thought that allowing dogs in the rentals might bring in more people. “Los Angeles is one of the only cities where it’s a big deal to have a pet in a rental,” he said. He wanted to change that. The developers agreed, but there was a caveat. Would-be furry residents had to pass a social test with another dog: Buddy. If Buddy liked the new dogs, they’d be allowed. “He became the chief dog negotiator,” Bastian said. Of course, every dog passed. Who ever met a golden retriever that didn’t like everyone?
But it wasn’t just about Hal and Buddy. It was about building a community in downtown Los Angeles. Bastian said he and other officials met with developers, architects and others to get buy-in for the concept of downtown homes where dogs and cats could be just as much at home as people. Some buildings have added gravel doggie-doo-doo patches; others have dog-walking areas on the rooftops.
“Dog acceptance is a wonderful way to build a community,” Bastian said. “When people have dogs, they need to be out on the streets to walk the dogs and people come to know each other by their animals; that makes people more social, too.” Last summer, he organized a “Downtown Dog Day” at the new cathedral, inviting ‘”dogs of all faiths” –and of course their owners—to attend. It was such a success, it will be held again this summer.
Today, those first 230 apartments in the old bank district are all occupied. Besides the humans, about 130 dogs live there. Better yet, almost every building downtown is trying to follow that first model, due at least in part to some serious cheerleading on Bastian’s part. That’s no small feat, considering there are now almost 19,000 housing units with about 28,878 residents downtown, half of whom are single.
It turns out that allowing dogs in downtown rentals also is good for business. Dog walkers greet each other, they stop for coffee at places like Pete’s Café, and they linger on open-air patios with dogs at their sides. They see new retail stores and come back later to shop. They also inspire pet-serving businesses.
Bark Avenue, in the heart of downtown on Hill Street, is a 9,000-square-foot pet emporium that offers boarding, day care, retail products and even a separate area for rescue animals all under one ‘woof.’ Its clientele is made up largely of busy downtown workers willing to pony up $30 a day for day care, complete with pick-up service and live video feeds that owners can watch during the day. Its rescue area serves other rescue groups that run out of space and it has a nonprofit Bark Avenue Foundation that promotes spay/neuter and humane education and helps feed homeless animals.
The newer Pussy & Pooch Pethouse & Pawbar--which bills itself as “an urban oasis in the City of Angels for pets and their people--opened in December. Its P&P Pawbar has a menu of in-store prepared meals for Fido—and a three-stool ‘bar’ where they can eat and socialize. That may sound over-the-top, but the owners claim it promotes interaction for both the pets and the people with them. There’s also a self-service pet wash and an outdoor patio with free Internet service, mostly used by the humans, and a line of retail goods. This Tuesday, Pussy & Pooch is hosting what might be another first: a speed-dating party for singles and their pets.
Buddy, now known as downtown’s “First Dog,” was guest of honor at the Pussy & Pooch grand opening in December. But he doesn’t let celebrity go to his head. Though Bastian has changed offices since 2000, Buddy still dutifully reports to work at the old office two days a week. Longtime employees pick him up from his home two blocks away and he puts in full eight-hour days, watching the doorway, bringing his toys to visitors and welcoming them to downtown. He also works one day a week at the Old Bank District corporate headquarters with developer Tom Gilmore. Bastian was quick to point out that Buddy works only 24 hours a week, so he doesn’t get employee benefits. He does, however, get plenty of attention.
As downtown Los Angeles reinvents itself, it also is becoming a model for would-be pet owners everywhere. The more places that allow pets successfully, the easier it might be in the future for renters to find landlords willing to accept well-behaved canine and feline friends. All it took in Los Angeles was one set of willing landlords, a dog ambassador, and a human advocate for pets. If it can work in downtown Los Angeles, there’s hope for other communities, too!
For more information:
http://downtownla.com
http://barkavela.com
http://pussyandpooch.com
Photo of Buddy at home courtesy of Hal Bastian