He may look like a regular guy on a leash, but the wiener dog in the picture above was a champion citizen of Silver Lake, known to some as the king of Sunset Junction, a t-shirt inspiring mascot for the boutique Pull My Daisy. He had many fans, famous and commoner alike. I didn't know Bingo personally, but what I read this morning in the photo and the note below, and in an LA Weekly profile from 2004, made me feel the loss to the community when Bingo was killed last Sunday.

In an email forwarded to me, Tamala Poljak wrote:

Hello friends, many of you have probably heard this sad, sad news already but our sweet BINGO, (Sarah Dale's dog, the king of Silverlake/Sunset Junction, Pull My Daisy's mascot, bacon eater, champion of wiener races and a lover to many) was hit by a car last Sunday and passed away. ... He was an unbelievable little man who made everyone smile. I knew him since he was a little puppy. He had the best social skills of any being I know and taught me a lot about love and affection.

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....

In the LA Weekly, Seven McDonald wrote of Bingo:

"Dachshunds were bred for badger hunting [said Sarah Dale]. 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."

Some people, you don't know you'll miss them until they're gone.