Real party animals
Dogs are people too, especially when they can frolic day and night at parks, cafes and clubs. And they make great matchmakers.
By Cindy Chang, June 29, 2006 Special to The LA Times
For the dachshunds, French bulldogs and miniature pinschers of the Silver Lake Dog Park’s small-breed section, friendships are sparked by the wag of a tail, just so, or a whiff of scent from an especially fragrant rear end.
The owners of these feisty little dogs bring them there to socialize, and socialize they do, chasing each other from end to end of the small dirt patch, wrestling one-on-one or warding off unwanted advances with a growl.
As the humans watch their dogs at play, they test the social waters with their own species. The standard greeting is not the tail wag but a pooch query: “How old is he? What kind of dog is he?” Thus have friendships, business relationships and even romances been born.
Making the scene
The number of American households with at least one dog has increased by almost 3 million since 2002 and now exceeds 43 million, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn. More single apartment-dwellers in their 20s and 30s are getting dogs, even as they continue to frequent hipster bars and hot new restaurants.
Small wonder, then, that dogs and nightlife are starting to mix. No longer are a night on the town and a night with the pooch mutually exclusive. And wherever dogs are, people come out of their shells. If still not quite as unabashedly friendly as their canine companions, they are much less reserved, much more likely to initiate a conversation with a stranger.
At SKYBARk, a new downtown warehouse party that bills itself as “a place for both humans and canines to live it up late at night,” dogs are everywhere, frolicking in a play area laid with squares of real sod or lolling about as their owners drink and chat.
There are big dogs, little dogs, white dogs, black dogs, brown dogs, spotted dogs and dogs in tuxedos and pink satin party dresses. The humans parade in filmy tank tops and 3-inch stilettos to match the attention-grabbing outfits they have chosen for their canine companions.
But despite all the glitzy trappings, SKYBARk has more in common with the dog park than not. Think of it as a dog park with cocktails and live music.
“If they have a dachshund, they’re a cool person,” says Sharon Olan, 36, surveying the May 20 SKYBARk with her husband, David, their dachshund, Stanley, and their chow mix, Kona. The Olans relax on a sofa with three other dachshunds and their owners, some of whom are old friends and some of whom instantly bonded because of their mutual affection for the floppy-eared, long-spined dogs.
Brandon Hochman, a 33-year-old former professional snowboarder, conceived of SKYBARk both as a promotion for his PETaPOTTY product (a sod contraption that gives apartment-bound dogs a place to relieve themselves) and as a rare chance for people to go out on the town with their dogs. A silent auction at every event benefits a rotating roster of animal rescue groups.
More than 300 people and 98 dogs attended SKYBARk’s second party in May. A “Woofers Ball” took place over two days last weekend, and Hochman is planning a Fourth of July bash, complete with fireworks viewing from the rooftop deck. (Gunpowder-shy pooches, do not fear — the pyrotechnics will be too far away to be frightening.)
“A lot of people think of their dog as their date. They come alone, and they’re here to meet people in the same situation as their own,” Hochman says. “When the conversation goes stale, you can reach down and pet the dog.”
