Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll have a look at a cat cafe on the Lower East Side the place folks can play with cats who stay there or are up for adoption.
On Sunday, Christina Ha threw open the doorways to the brand-new Essex Street home of Meow Parlour, her cat cafe.
In the cafe, which Ha, 38, says was the primary of its type in New York City, human guests can snack on meals and drinks — they purchase them subsequent door, in an area with a separate entrance and handle to abide by New York City well being code — whereas they play with cats who both stay there completely or are up for adoption.
At 18,000 sq. toes, the area is thrice as massive as its earlier iteration, which Ha co-founded 10 years in the past across the nook on Hester Street. While the old area may accommodate 15 cats, this one can match greater than 20, and the area is designed to be a feline paradise.
“The cats who had been in the previous space were like, ‘What is all this other stuff?’” Ha stated.
There are cubicles the place people can loosen up whereas cats climb above them on cabinets and peek down at them. The partitions are lined with round holes for cats to climb by way of to get from room to room. There is a bookshelf for them to discover, and a tree with hammocks hanging off the branches for snoozes.
“The kittens figured out how to climb the steps to get up there right away,” Ha stated. “They hopped into the hammocks and went to sleep.”
The area, which served as a boxing fitness center earlier than the pandemic, got here with a prebuilt refined air flow system, “because gyms can be really smelly,” Ha stated. On opening day, patrons remarked about how good the place smelled.
The new area can even accommodate 14 to 18 guests per hour, an upgrade that’s permitting Meow Parlour to permit walk-ins for the primary time. “On opening day, it was incredible to allow people in who saw us from the street,” Ha stated.
The cafe a part of Meow Parlour, which sells containers of macarons, pizza rolls, iced tea and occasional drinks amongst different objects, is awaiting inspection and will open within the subsequent few weeks. Ha, a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education baking program, is the pinnacle pastry chef. Her associate within the enterprise is Emilie Legrand, 41, who was one of many first kitchen staff of Meow Parlour.
Meow Parlour additionally acts as a cat adoption company, sourcing cats from Animal Care Centers of New York, an area animal shelter, and the Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society in Bowling Green, Ky., which brings cats to New York who can’t discover houses in Kentucky.
Ha began your entire endeavor in 2014 after she and her husband, Simon Tung, 42, discovered a kitten exterior their condominium in Chinatown. “We found Mr. Socks, took him home and went full-blown cat lady,” she stated. “We adopted Pickles afterward and started fostering.”
Meow Parlour now has between 50 and 70 cats in its program at any time. They both stay on the cafe or in foster houses. The purpose of the brand new area is to have the ability to provide them extra providers.
The cafe arrange a surgical middle within the basement the place an area veterinarian is doing spay and neuter surgical procedures. “Our goal is to start taking in more senior animals, getting them fixed, cleaned up and ready for adoption,” Ha stated.
There are additionally two walled-off rooms for particular wants cats who require their very own area for a bunch of causes. They are presently occupied by Thunder, who “has complicated feelings for other cats,” as Ha places it, and Homer, who’s on a particular protein eating regimen and might’t danger sharing meals along with his companions.
“We call these our V.I.P. rooms,” Ha stated. “That is something we never thought we would have.”
Weather
Prepare for an opportunity of showers and thunderstorms, persisting by way of the night, with daytime temperatures within the mid-60s. At evening, it will likely be windy, with temperatures within the mid-50s.
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A. & P. truck
Dear Diary:
I used to be ready for the downtown Second Avenue bus at some point within the early Seventies as I did each morning. Time glided by, and an A. & P. truck pulled up.
