Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Even dogs deserve a cushy vacation hideaway, figured interior designer Jarrett Hedborg. So why not imagine a canine cottage of bamboo and straw beneath the palm trees of a lovely Hawaiian beach?

That’s exactly what Hedborg did--and built. As a result, his pooch-sized Hawaiian hut is among the most elaborate and humorous contributions to the “Cool Dogs / Hot Digs” exhibit of designer doghouses at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. The exuberant show ends with an April 18 auction of the works to raise money for PAWS/LA, a charity that helps people with HIV and AIDS care for their pets.

“It’s a place where a dog could retreat and dream of the South Seas,” Hedborg said of his thatched roof beach house, which has a lush pillow, a shell collection and a Tiki god doll inside “to ward off fleas.”

The neighborhood is wildly eclectic, packed with visual and verbal puns. Among the 31 doghouses are a little firehouse, a cozy Victorian cottage, an Italian villa, a “Books for Boning up” library, two churches, postmodern and deconstructivist dog pads (one with a computer screen) and even a miniature of the Blue Whale, as the PDC is also known. A golden pyramid for a “TutenCATem” also snuck into enemy territory.

Some displays might not be used as pet houses by winning bidders, conceded Merry Norris, design center vice president for business development. “But more importantly,” she added, “these are wonderful pieces of art and architecture.”

Joel Kimmel, a PAWS/LA official, agreed. “Each one is more whimsical than the next,” he enthused. “And as funny and delightful as they are, I was so touched to see what people had done from the goodness of their hearts.”

Architects, interior designers and set decorators who volunteered for the project were each given a plain, prefabricated doghouse donated by Petco Animal Supplies and Sierra Manufacturing. Told to remodel, they undertook the task with glee and their own resources.

For example, Bonnie Sachs used uneaten doggie treats left in a cupboard after her own beloved springer spaniel died last year. Those cookies, and many others contributed by stores and a manufacturer, cover her doghouse exterior in colorful, brick-like patterns she calls “Milkbone Vernacular.” The interior walls are painted in Matisse-like tableaux.

Sachs titles her exhibit “Sit,” like a giant bribe. But she expects the winning bidder will put it under plexiglass as a “functional art” end table. “If they feed it to a dog, pull the glue off first,” she joked.

Edward Webb and Joan Robey hope their “Rooftop Doghouse” becomes a home. Inspired by hippie dogs who climb on Venice roofs, they created a real slice of shingled roof to display their canine perch, decorated with beaded window curtains and plastic water bowl. “It has sort of a grunge quality to it,” Webb boasted.

The opposite effect was sought by Thomas C. Achille and his associates. Their 6-foot-high “Church of the Good Canine, or St. Bernard’s” echoes the white and high-steepled 19th century churches Achille saw recently in Virginia. The dog version has stenciled windows and a burgundy velvet pillow inside. “Very papal,” he pronounced.

Asked whether his two bouvier des Flandres dogs would sleep in such a church in the yard, Achille laughed. “Are you kidding? They are so spoiled rotten they have my whole house.”

“Cool Dogs / Hot Digs” is on the third floor, room B-377, in the Pacific Design Center’s blue structure. Admission is free from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday, until April 18. Tickets to the reception and auction, starting at 5:30 p.m. that day, are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. For more information, call (213) 876-0977.