Last Monday, my usual morning routine was interrupted, then taken over, by one thing and one thing alone. Ca$h Cat$ had just announced their upcoming exhibit in Oakland, and something about the venue caught my eye: Cat Town Oakland. I knew it was a non-profit, but I didn’t know it had an actual physical location… and then I lost my mind.
“Did ANYONE ELSE know that cat cafes are about to be real actual things in America?” I asked the world at large (aka the Autostraddle team). The art exhibit won’t go up until early December, but Cat Town Cafe — the first permanent cat cafe in America — was set to open this past Saturday, and it was within public transit distance from my house. After years of anticipation, of wishing I lived near any popup cat cafes, of getting my hopes up for cafes that ultimately couldn’t get permits, I had to witness this. For Journalism. The Autostraddle Press Pass was made for this exact situation.
Saturday dawned. I roped my friend Linden into coming with me (by texting her, CAT CAFE. LET’S GO), and we made our way to 29th and Broadway, where we could buy coffee from the cart on the corner and watch cats frolic in the Cat Zone through the windows. We chose to go inside for the real deal. Reader, I thought I was ready for the cat experience (cats-perience), but once I crossed the threshold I realized that I was not.
About 5% of the words I’ve used in this piece so far have been “cat,” and it’s already starting to look like a nonsense word. If this cafe were an article, 95% of the words would be “cat.” There was plenty of Cat Town merch: t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, cat-head-shaped pillows, watercolor paintings by Megan Lynn Knott, framed photos of cats behind the coffee bar, and an old-school sticker machine. There was a painting of cats climbing all over the city of Oakland. The women in line before me wore matching velour wedges with cat faces on the toes, and the women behind me were plotting all the places they could put their newly-acquired cat stickers. The cafe sold fish-shaped cookies. It was a feline extravaganza. A cats-travaganza.
In accordance with health standards (which, I learned, were the biggest regulatory hurdles that Cat Town Cafe had to overcome), the Cat Zone, where the cats hang out, is a completely separate room from the food and coffee area. It was at capacity when we arrived, so we killed some time people-and-cat watching.
“This coffee is really good. I feel like that’s important and sometimes overlooked when talking about cat cafes,” said Linden (Bicycle Coffee is great, and it’s local).
“What percent of women here are queer, do you think?” I asked her.
“Lots.”
At last, we could enter the Cat Zone. The massive room is an entire cat city. Specifically a Cat Oakland, in tribute to the community (cat-munity) that helped foster and fund Cat Town Cafe. It was, as you might expect, heavenly. Few things bring me more pleasure than a good coffee and lounging with a friendly cat, and there were nine friendly cats in the Cat Zone.
I also got to talk to Ann Dunn, the president and founder of Cat Town, the non-profit behind the cafe. She’d started the organization as an alternative to traditional shelter-based cat adoption. Shelters tend to be stressful for shy and undersocialized cats, which in turn hurts their chances of adoption. Cat Town launched a foster program for such cats in 2011, allowing them to flourish in bigger, more private environments and show their true personalities before finding them new homes. Expanding the organization into a cafe space felt like a logical next step. The cats would have room to thrive, their spots at the shelter could go to other cats, and potential adopters could meet them in a homey setting.
“I used to talk to people who’d say, ‘I’ll give you a call when I’m ready to adopt,’ and then they never feel ready. The cafe is a more natural way to interact with cats than at a shelter, and it’s easier to picture yourself adopting and actually living with one of the cats,” said Dunn. Once a cat has been adopted, another shelter cat — chosen by volunteers based on their reactions in the space and around other cats — will take its place at the cafe. The model seems to be working. Cat Town Cafe has some of the mellowest cats I’ve ever met, and as of opening day afternoon, six of them had been adopted.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest challenge in opening the cafe was food safety regulation. For example, Dunn told me, they were required to get a grease trap, even though no food is made on site. As I mentioned earlier, to keep the cats away from the food, Dunn and fellow cafe cofounder Adam Myatt (the man behind Hoodcats) divided the space into the cafe and the Cat Zone, separated by a set of double doors. They even rigged up the air-conditioning so that air flows away from the cafe into the Cat Zone, to minimize contamination (cat-tamination). Once you’ve bought your coffee, pastry or vegan treat (from another local source, S + M Vegan Chefs), you’re welcome to bring it with you into the Cat Zone. They just can’t serve it to you in an area where cats roam free.
Cat Town Cafe may be the first permanent cat cafe in America, but it definitely had competition on the way. Here’s a list of cat cafes slated to open soon, maybe near you:
KitTea, San Francisco
Purringtons Cat Lounge, Portland
Denver Cat Company, Denver
Little Lions, NYC
If you know of another cat cafe opening near you, tell us in the comments!
One last cat photo, because I am weak:
Waaa!
You know that feeling when you think someone got in your head and nicked your idea? I totes have always wanted to start a cat sanctuary which was also like a cafe/hotel where you can adopt the cats.
That said I expect 95% of people reading this article have wanted same so…
A+ reporting right here.
Really, though, I want to see a version of this where all the cats are assholes.
I would pay $$$$ to hang out with a bunch of asshole cats and watch them be total assholes to people
I think that would be cat-astrophe, as it may lead to some cat scratch fever going on.
omg I didn’t even think of that, I was thinking more about gentle asshole cats. Like the ones that walk all over keyboards. and knock over coffee cups. and climb on humans as though they are trees/perches. and SHED ON DARK CLOTHING.
would not pay $$$$ to watch people get scratched by true asshole cats, I take 50% of it back.
I get that experience every day for free.
!!!!
I have been to a cat cafe’ too, in Kuala Lumpur, but I actually didn’t like it :/ The feeling I got was that people feel that they have paid for their experience so they can demand it even if the cats don’t feel like it? I mean cats are not necessarily the most sociable of animals and so sometimes they just want to be left alone, but if people are there and they are paying, then the cats get played with anyway whether they like it or not. So there were some pretty grumpy cats when I went there, and they did not want to play.
It is a really great idea though, I hope it is executed well elsewhere! It’s so nice to combine it with a shelter :)
yeah, from what I saw at Cat Town Face they were pretty aware of cat-people fatigue. There were several infographics up about how to Be Around Cats (let the cats approach you, don’t startle them, etc), and they limit the number of people allowed in the Cat Zone to avoid overcrowding.
basically Cat Town Cafe seems to promote Enthusiastic Consent from all their cats re: playing with humans, and I’m into that
yayyyyyy happy cats!!!
Y’all I was in a cat cafe in Beijing two weeks ago and it was extremely precious. One of the kittens took up residency in my lap the whole time I was there and I had planned a whole future life with it by the time I left (its name was going to be Truck and I was going to take it on walks). Also, there were two more cat cafes on the same street! 10/10 I would eat every meal at a cat cafe.
best place to pick up a lady. ever.
ugh Cannot Use HTML Monday…
best phrase i read all day was supposed to be (ok still is)
“the women behind me were plotting all the places they could put their newly-acquired cat stickers.”
Woooooooooow!!! Cats!!!
OH MY GOD ROBIN
This was the best article I could have read today, thank you for making me laugh. I think Ann Arbor or Detroit needs a cat cafe. For practical reasons, obviously.
I am going to be in San Francisco for a bit after Christmas and that is near Oakland and I am going to pet the cats.
Is that really the AS press pass? Should I do a google image search to find out how much better that is than other press passes?
I had heard of cat cafes but hadn’t realized they were to facilitate adoption of shelter animals, which is as brilliant an idea as it is adorable. Also, apparently cats are introverts at least part of the time, which I didn’t know. Cats and I have more in common than I thought.
Keep in mind I live in a state where a driver’s license is valid for nearly 50 YEARS, and our public university student IDs are so cheaply made that the photo wears off in a few months. So, the photo part of the photo ID is whimsically arbitrary in my world. A cat avatar press pass seems totally legit.
omg a friend of mine has a driver’s license that expires in like 40 years, ARE YOU IN ARIZONA?? I am both envious and wary of a state that cares so little about up-to-date photo IDs (mostly envious)
Hi Robin! *waves from AZ* Your article totally convinced me to visit a cat cafe. :3
Seattle is working on getting a cat cafe!
https://www.facebook.com/meowtropolitan
YES! I mentioned this in the road trip thread – very exciting! :D Seattle brunch idea??
This is a real thing? I can’t….
too much.
Ahhhh can’t wait to be there, I’m exploding with catcitement!!!
This post… I can’t even…
Cat cafes are taking over the relevant news stream in my life. Just a few days ago, I read a Facebook post about the upcoming Meowtropolitan in Seattle… and now THIS post! I’ve heard of bunny cafes in Japan before, but cat cafes sound far cooler, IMO.
(And very cool about the adoption. It would be very sad if they were merely on display like zoo animals without ever going to a good home.)
There are actually a lot of cat cafes in Japan. I’m fairly sure it’s the country with the most cat cafes.
A++++ for adoption, enthusiastic pet consent, and this article!
What what? Cat cafes in my recently adopted city? So glad I moved here, and it’ll help with my roommate-cat-mooching problem. Sorry roomie- he’s just so fluffy!
This post is everything to me. I nominate it for an Academy Award, Pulitzer, People’s Choice, and also just a cat trophy for you to display proudly somewhere nice.
Ugh, I just can’t wait for the next permanent cat cafe opening in New York Spring 2015.
I’m sending my resume to the one in Portland, STAT
Today, I played with a stray cat in my neighborhood. I petted it, it purred, then I booped its lil gray nose.