Mark MauerI didn't know Charlton Heston, but I knew Bingo. And I'm sorry to say that Jenny Burman has posted that Bingo was hit by a car and killed last Sunday.
Bingo was a dachshund belonging to Sarah Dale, who runs Pull My Daisy on Sunset near Hyperion.
Bingo owned that stretch of sidewalk, and in fact I saw him holding court, resting on the sidewalk, just last Sunday. So at least I got a last chance to tell him hello, not long before his end.
There will be a memorial:
There will be a memorial in his honor on Sunday, April 6, at noon near the mural at the surplus store on Hyperion and Sunset, near the Casbah [cafe]. Please join us to celebrate his life, bring some flowers or some pictures or bacon….
Seven McDonald wrote about Bingo in LA Weekly a few years ago. Pictures, excerpt and link after the jump.
Thursday, October 28, 2004 – 12:00 am
Everybody here Loves Bingo. See for yourself. That gray-haired man carrying his newspaper: “Hi! Bingo.” Those three cool rocker girls with their cell phones out: “Hey, Bingo!” That cute N.Y.-looking couple wearing blazers and holding hands, they’re all crazy for Bingo.
“He has definitely helped business,” says 30-year-old bleached blond Sarah Dale, owner of Silver Lake’s Pull My Daisy boutique and Bingo, the 12-pound dachshund.
“He’s a pied piper,” she says, eyeing Bingo, who sits in the doorway looking out. “He brings in all kinds of people.
“Dachshunds were bred for badger hunting. They’re perimeter dogs, they burrow and patrol, and he definitely likes to patrol. He guards his turf. Every morning the first thing he does is walk up and down the block and check in at all the stores. He doesn’t like skateboarders or anyone running.”
Bingo’s beat is Sunset Boulevard between Sanborn and Lucille avenues, i.e. the heart of Silver Lake. His block, which includes Casbah café, Eat Well, Flea’s Silverlake Conservatory of Music, the Cheese Store of Silver Lake and Gilly flowers, has such a small-town feel that the shop owners refer to it as “Mayberry L.A.”
Bingo takes his neighborhood so seriously he seems to have lost all interest in normal dog activities.
“We used to go to the dog park or go on hikes,” says Dale, a former Eat Well waitress, who bought her business four years ago, essentially on her credit cards.
“Now he’s sort of over dogs. He’d rather socialize and hang out around people. On my days off I’ll just drop him off at the store. That’s the way he likes it.”
Click here to read the rest of the article.
First we lost the Lucy from Skylight Books and now Bingo from Pull My Daisy. We need some new store animals in our neighborhood.
UPDATED: Pictures of Bingo's shrine and his likeness on the mural at the corner of Hyperion and Sunset.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.