South Park Personalities - Gina and Honey
If you’ve been in the neighborhood more than a few days you have no doubt noticed this month’s South Park Personalities – Gina and her loyal French Bulldog, Honey.
The two are inseparable. You can usually find them enjoying breakfast on “Gina’s Bench” between Grand and Hope on 11th almost every morning the weather is cooperating. You will also note that both are invariably dressed in matching outfits. Gina is a designer and a model. Honey is her full-time companion.
Gina and I met at “Gina’s Bench” early last week to discuss her background and life here in South Park. She grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University. She moved to LA a little over eight years ago to attend FIDM (now Arizona State University). From an early age she had wanted to be a fashion designer and, at the time, FIDM was literally the best place in the U.S. to learn the field .
She attended FIDM for two years but found it mainly a design school rather than a technical skills school. She drew lots of designs but felt the school was a little light on actual clothing construction. After two years at FIDM she transferred to LATTC (Los Angeles Trade and Technical College). “I found that most of my FIDM instructors also taught at LATTC, but the classes were much more affordable at LATTC. It was a no brainer.” She went to LATTC for two years and mastered clothing construction skills. As a result, she was able to perform the design/build process from top to bottom.
After schooling, she found herself in wardrobe production on local Hollywood productions. For some time, she designed and constructed dresses and gowns for “Dancing with the Stars,” working twelve hours a day, not getting treated that well, and for little pay. She always had a dream of modeling and so focused her efforts on breaking into the “talent” end of the business which she found to be much more rewarding. She currently keeps very busy as a full-time model.
I asked her to elaborate on her sideline business of designing and manufacturing matching outfits for people and their dogs. (She also “dabbles” in matching kid’s sets so the whole family can get involved.) Her education and wide experience in the industry have allowed her to practice the complete “design/build” process on clothing; designing and constructing dog clothing now fills her spare time when she is not modeling. She has turned the living room of her apartment into her sewing production room and her living room couch and coffee table are now located on her outside deck. (Where else but Los Angeles could this ever work!) She markets her products through the internet site Etsy. Find her at Primadoge.etsy.com and @primadoge on Instagram if you’d like to talk about a custom production – or just stop her for a chat when you see her and Honey out in South Park!
Gina closed the interview with “I’ve always lived here in South Park, and I will always choose South Park as long as I live downtown. I love the neighborhood. The people are so nice, and, on every block, there is a new adventure. You see everything down here – whether you want to…or not. In addition, this is a great dog community, and it has the all the vibe of a small, friendly village.
By John Nilsson