Dog's best friend *

When LA Weekly lifestyle editor and Style Council blogger Linda Immediato lost her Venice home suddenly, she looked around and came up empty. No place she could afford would let her move in Stevie, her dog. A friend suggested the pound, but that wouldn't do. When Immediato's best prospect came down to a Van Nuys Motel 6 with close proximity to Tommy Burger, she decided to blog about it:

How DID I get here? It's a long and boring story. But my lease was up at the end of June and my landlord wanted me out. O-U-T. At least that's what I interpreted the 3-day eviction notice to mean. I needed to find a new place, and despite a borrowed Westside Rentals password and constant Craigslisting, I found no place that would take me and my dog... at least none I could afford.

Most nights during the two weeks I curled up fetal on my bed, my dog on the floor looking up at me like a kid who hears the knocking of Child Protection Services. Yes, Stevie, I failed to take care of you. I'm 32. Imagine I DID have a child, a real one, not one who slept on the floor at the foot of my bed scratching and licking her privates.

[skip]

When all was said and done I had a storage unit in Culver City, a Jeep full of "going out" clothes, an air mattress, and a dog I couldn't house. I called my friend, a friend I thought we could stay with, but alas, a cat was involved, so the comfy garage I thought would be refuge was an illusion. I looked at Stevie and cried....

Friend after friend, offered to let ME stay with them, but Stevie could not come— cats, and more cats. So I drive. I drive— to where I'm not sure. All I had was a dog and a financed Jeep. I'm down one dog, and a beautiful house and now what? There's a Motel 6 in Van Nuys that allows dogs, there's a Tommy's around the corner, I can eat. I'm starving. That's as far as I got.

Coming out of it: Linda posts this afternoon, "Thanks everybody for your support and suggestions! I finally found a friend to help. He offered to take Stevie for a whole month. I also found a place to live in August with a yard. The landlord said 'not only are dogs welcomed, they are encouraged.' Things are looking up. thanks again!"

Photo: LA Weekly.com