What Everybody’s Talking About . . .
Henry, walking Merle Gross on Astor Street. Henry styled by Life with 16 Dogs.
Dogs are everywhere—up and down Astor Street, Lake Shore Drive, State and Dearborn Parkways, and population in increasing by the week. Chihuahuas, Pomeranians, Shih Tzus, Pugs, Terriers, Spaniels. Then there are the Irish Setters, Golden Retrievers, English Bulldogs, German Shepherds. And have you seen the outsized black Standard Poodle that just moved into the neighborhood?
A couple of dog-related fall benefits, October’s Big Night and November’s PAWS Chicago Fur Ball, just keep growing by the year. And one of the most popular articles ever to appear in Classic Chicago was titled Men and Dogs, with photographs of Paul Bodine and Posy, John Fornengo and Bunny Boy, Ed Schimmelpfennig with Bertie, and a few other best friends with their men.
Last Sunday, the mania exploded into Rush Street, Oak Street and Delaware Place. Tables were set up in front of shops that bear some of the city’s—and world’s—most elegant names, Versace, Hermès, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, GRAFF and Christian Louboutin. They were offering dogs for adoption on the spot for those few Gold Coast residents who still find themselves dogless.
In the midst of all this, a notably attractive young woman, wearing extraordinarily high heels, a very short skirt, crinkly blonde hair and a distressed expression on her face, crossed Rush Street from east to west at Chestnut Street, and a few minutes later she jaywalked back from west to east just south of Delaware and was seen later walking north toward Oak Street. Then west again. Back and forth, up and down. She was heading south through Mariano Park when asked if she were lost.
“Oh no, it’s my baby who’s lost. I saw the most adorable puppy, but I had a lunch date. I told them I would be right back to adopt it, but now I can’t find the puppy or where it was. It’s the second time this has happened. I was about to adopt another puppy a few weeks ago, but I had to go to India for 10 days. When I returned, the puppy was gone.”
There was a time when this would have been known as a “shaggy dog story.”
Dog fever will continue on Saturday, June 25, from 1 to 3 p.m., when the Gold Coast Neighbors Association holds its first annual dog show for well-dressed canines in the southeast corner of Lincoln Park at North Avenue and Inner Lake Shore Drive. Think of it as an Evening on Astor for dogs.
MMcK
Photo Credit:
Kay Whitfield
