As little girls, sisters Ashley Zisook and Allison Zisook Goldstein loved heading downtown for “major” shopping trips with their mom, Lili Ann Zisook. The pair adored fashion and playing in their mother and grandma’s closets, dressing up like movie stars such as actress Sophia Loren.

So they feel as if they’ve come full circle since recently opening Sofia, a Loren-inspired boutique at 72 E. Oak, filled with one-of-a-kind vintage pieces, as well as new lines from up-and-coming designers.

“We both thought Sophia Loren was the epitome of grace and glamour,” said Goldstein, adding that when Loren was born her name was spelled with an f rather the ph she came to use. “Oak Street is so iconic, and we had this opportunity. It’s a dream come true for both of us.”

Sofia is the brainchild of Zisook, 28. While living in L.A. for a short while, Zisook developed The Piece, a monthly party inviting friends over to essentially play dress up — to try on, and buy the women’s clothing and accessories she collected from various parts of California. Missing her family, Zisook returned home to create something similar, but on a larger scale and for both sexes.

Her sis — a former Chicago Public Schools teacher who just had a baby — decided to join her. The pair is no stranger to fashion or retail, either. Their grandfather was Morrie Mages, who for years ran a sporting goods store in River North, at Ontario and LaSalle.

What’s impressive about these women is they’re not just opening shop in the community, they’re also serving it. As board members of the downtown-based Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation, they’re co-chairing the foundation’s first-ever Summer Soiree on July 29 at the Standard Club, 320 S. Plymouth. Their parents, Lili Ann and Rich Zisook — owners of Sandz Development Co. at Armitage and Halsted — are founding members of the organization, which works with Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Lili Ann and Lynn — both Lake View High Schools alums and longtime residents of the neighborhood — were best buddies, so it’s fitting that Lili Ann’s daughters are carrying Lynn’s torch. The foundation, formed after Lynn’s death at 39 from breast cancer, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year (more on that come October, when Rob Lowe speaks at its annual luncheon).

Meanwhile, Zisook said when she isn’t busy running Sofia, she’s working hard to recruit young folks to the foundation her parents helped establish and grow.

“It’s closest to my heart,” she said.

A VOICE NOT TO MISS Luis Antonio Galvez-Alcantara will perform in Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington, on July 23 as part of the Peruvian Arts Society’s Actividad Patriotica-Cultural. This guy sings incredibly. Don’t miss him. The event starts at 11:30 a.m.

EAGLE-EYED Skyline reader Kathy Posner “coiled in shock and revulsion” at graffiti at the Ritz Carlton Residences, 625 N. Michigan, where photos on a construction wall were defaced with, “burn,” “gasoline the bitch,” and the image of a Jewish Star painted on the out-stretched hand of a white-gloved man. But after Posner pointed it out, I called the Ritz folks and the defacements quickly disappeared. Posner even received an apology call from Bruce Schultz, the Residences owner and developer.

THE WAY WE WERE Thanks to reader Marian Shaw for this abbreviated South Side tidbit: “Our stop in South Shore … Saturday was a regular visit to the Jeffery or Hamilton movie theaters, on 71st Street, for 10 cents. Holloway’s caramel chocolates, then known as Yip Yaps, still are around. The corner also was a favorite place for the traveling carnival with merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and the shoot-the-shoots. One best memory: Poinsettia plants going for five cents on Christmas Eve, 1938 or so, and my rushing home with one for Mother.”