July 20, 2001

5:17 AM

Cat that lived in bookstore dies at age 20. What seems like a fairly cut and dried local interest story cranked out by hacks at our crappy hometown rag is ohhhh so much more. Click through to the comments to get the inside scoop.
posted by machaus (56 comments total)

"Gus had lost weight and, according to former bookstore owner Dennis Halloran, was having a harder time finding - or using - his litter box."

Gus slept in the front window of this bookshop. If he was too tired to make it to the back of the store where his litter box was, he would pee on the books displayed nearby. People would often read special meaning into his "selections." Since my wife runs a shop across the street, we were able to find out the last two titles he whizzed upon. The penultimate? "Take Me to the River." His final book review? "Being Dead" No foolin', I'm not making this up. I'm starting to believe more and more in reincarnation.
posted by machaus at 5:19 AM on July 20, 2001

Nice, machaus -- I liked this even better than the cute kitty photo from before.
posted by lia at 5:42 AM on July 20, 2001

The question is, did the Times-Disgrace know about this and choose to suppress it? I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

On my first or second day at UVa I was about to subscribe to the T-D from one of the street people hawking it when a kind stranger told me that the Washington Post did A.M. delivery to Charlottesville also.
posted by jfuller at 6:21 AM on July 20, 2001

jfuller, the staff at the bookshop thought that it was too dark, humor wise, so I don't think they shared it with the reporter.
posted by machaus at 6:56 AM on July 20, 2001

"...get the inside scoop."

Good story. Bad pun. :)
posted by transient at 7:01 AM on July 20, 2001

Even though I'm terribly allergic to the wee beasties, I don't fully trust any bookstore that isn't home to a cat. I still miss Captain Nemo, and Jamaica, even though she could make me break out, still gets a stroke from me every time she brushes my leg at Left Bank Books, St. Louis' last remaining independent bookstore.
posted by bradlands at 7:26 AM on July 20, 2001

All you independent bookstore junkies need to read this article in The Atlantic.
posted by lenticular at 7:34 AM on July 20, 2001

(sigh) I must need another cup of coffee or something - how do I click through to the comments? Do they not display in IE 5.5?
posted by crankyrobot at 7:49 AM on July 20, 2001

St. Louis' last remaining independent bookstore.

I thought Left Bank got bought?? And isn't that place on Euclid in the CWE still indie? I think it's just called "Books."

Greetings from above Kiener Plaza, Brad :)
posted by UncleFes at 8:01 AM on July 20, 2001

so I don't think they shared it with the reporter

A good reporter would have sussed out something that, uh, juicy :)
posted by UncleFes at 8:05 AM on July 20, 2001

Every book store and library should have at least one cat. But in these days of lawsuits for everything, how does a store manage to keep a cat for 20 years and not be sued by someone who is allergic to cats?
posted by pracowity at 8:06 AM on July 20, 2001

how do I click through to the comments? Do they not display in IE 5.5?

I struggled with that too. Machaus meant click to these comments, the MeFi comments, since he/she had the "scoop". I thought it was just me.
posted by jpoulos at 8:22 AM on July 20, 2001

> I struggled with that too.

I searched all over that damned news site for the comments section.
posted by pracowity at 8:31 AM on July 20, 2001

I thought Left Bank got bought?? And isn't that place on Euclid in the CWE still indie?

Left Bank Books is on Euclid (at McPherson) in the West End. Are you, perhaps, thinking of The Library in Clayton, which became a Borders?
posted by bradlands at 9:05 AM on July 20, 2001

Doh! You're right, I was thinking of Library Ltd, thanks.
posted by UncleFes at 9:24 AM on July 20, 2001

> this article in The Atlantic.

(gist of which is that multiplying chain bookstores are often, even usually, better that the independents they steamrolled. I agree with this wholeheartedly as far as Athens, GA is concerned, with the one exception: the Athens Borders has no cat. The Athens Barnes & Noble has no cat. The Athens Books-a-Million has no cat. At least one of the Athens independents (which appears to be doing OK despite the invasion of the chains) has a perfectly acceptable cat. Bookstores should have cats.
posted by jfuller at 9:26 AM on July 20, 2001

Bookstores should have cats.

I'm emailing my legislators as we speak.
posted by UncleFes at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2001

Perhaps the problem is they just don't have ENOUGH cats. Barnes&Noble might have a few on the payroll, who spend most of their workweek jetting around from store to store, satisfying people's desires for literary felines. But, dammit, a cat's got to sleep, what, 16 hours a day? That doesn't leave much time to get from store to store, so it's not really all that surprising that you haven't been in the store at the same time as a Barnes&Noble cat.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:46 AM on July 20, 2001

how does a store manage to keep a cat for 20 years and not be sued by someone who is allergic to cats?

I am quite hopelessly allergic to cats, but I love cats in bookstores as well. Having lived in Richmond for four years, I knew the cat at Biff's pretty well and my allergies were never bothered there. If you have a conscientious shopkeeper who isn't going to let the place get filthy, everything's fine. Sadly, this isn't the case with the used bookstore next door to me here in Chicago, where two cats live and a thickening layer of hair and dust and God knows what covers the floor. So maybe a certificate of feline care should be a prerequisite for running a bookstore as well as the actual kitty.
posted by sj at 9:59 AM on July 20, 2001

My dog wants to know if any of your local bookstores have dogs.
posted by lia at 10:00 AM on July 20, 2001

Living in Portland has its advantages... including the best bookstore in the world. Or, at least I thought so. But it is perilously cat-free, and therefore may be in danger of falling from its lofty perch of superiority.
posted by apollo at 10:01 AM on July 20, 2001

falling from its lofty perch of superiority

Now THAT is something that my cat does all the time. One of these days I'll get it on video and win some money on one of those "guys-getting hit-in-the-nuts" video shows.

My dog wants to know if any of your local bookstores have dogs.

I'd like to see a bookstore lemur, or perhaps a bush baby. Maybe a hyena warding people away from the Chicken Soup For The Soul section.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:08 AM on July 20, 2001

At the risk of derailing the general felinity of the thread, I will say that I generally prefer independent bookstores over chain outlets simply because I have found the staffs at the handful I regularly patronize to be among the most knowledgable, literate, helpful and witty people I've ever met.

It is indeed refreshing to be able to walk in and vaguely describe a book by a snippet of (perhaps misremembered) plot, title or poorly pronounced author name and have them know exactly what I'm referring to. On the other hand, I happened to be in the Borders-that-used-to-be-a-large-independent the other day and asked for a book of essays by James Thurber, only to be met with blank stares by not one, not two but three "bookseller associates" before they found it in the computer.

I don't appreciate the predatory business expansion tactics of the chains here in St. Louis, moving into neighborhoods with decent or better established indies and pricing them out of business, then raising their prices to market after killing the alternatives.

All that said, I was raised in a rural area with no other bookstore than a very poor Waldens 30 miles away. I clung to it like a lifeline.
posted by bradlands at 10:16 AM on July 20, 2001

I'm partial to bookstore lemmings, though lemurs would be fun to have as well. Perhaps Madagascar has bookstore lemurs. Must investigate!
posted by shoepal at 10:17 AM on July 20, 2001

I would swear I saw at least one cat last time I was at Powell's. A bookstore lemur might be cool; I saw the cutest lemur on a morning chat show today. Can they be kept as pets?
posted by bradlands at 10:24 AM on July 20, 2001

Also...not to derail the thread, but I think there is a similar winnowing away of decent video stores. When I lived in Santa Cruz, I would travel with delight to Soquel (a nearby town) to visit a shop called "Triple A Video", an independent store run by film enthusiasts. The small staff were in love with film and had a huge foreign section, arranged by country and director, and would talk film with you for the fun of it. If you wanted a particular film, they would try to order it for you.

At least here in Costa Mesa, it's hard to find anything but Hollywood Videos and BlockBuster, both of which offer "edited versions" of films, which I find outrageously offensive. The few independent video stores are but smaller scale versions fo these giants, or have a crap selection. Even Tower stopped renting films.

OK done blubbering now.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:25 AM on July 20, 2001

i've never seen a bookstore with dogs, but i went to a dog bakery yesterday that had one.

shut up. i got icecream for my cat. (she didn't like it.)
posted by sugarfish at 10:27 AM on July 20, 2001

startup.com came to town for about 10 minutes and I missed it. And there is no way it will be rentable in my lifetime. Any good online vid stores that rent documentaries?
posted by mecran01 at 10:33 AM on July 20, 2001

dog bakery?

That, besides being an excellent band name, is kind of a strange idea. I remember seeing a shop like that in New Orleans, and I think they had such a place in San Francisco when I lived there.

My question: Do the dogs do the baking? And if so, do they refrain from genital licking while on the clock?

Now I have that "Dog Police" song stuck in my head.

GET OUT OF MY MIND!

Dammit now I have to watch Dune.

slowly coming out of this hangover

K
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:38 AM on July 20, 2001

apollo and bradlands: Powell's features "Fup. Store cat" prominently in its regular newsletter. I've never been there (am planning a trip next month), but I assume Fup lives at the store itself.
posted by girlhacker at 10:43 AM on July 20, 2001

Kafkaesque - I grew up in Costa Mesa, and share your pain. There was a nice little video store near my house, family owned and run. The owner would sometimes put aside new releases for my mom when she went to pick up movies, and the prices were excellent (a buck a movie if you got 5; a buck fifty otherwise, if I remember correctly).

And, of course, Blockbastard moved in about a hundred yards away. The place vanished a few months later.

The 20/20 Video by my place disappeared without warning a few months ago. Thank God Vidiots is still alive and kicking.

But we're getting off topic. Anyway, on 3rd Street, we have Midnight Special sandwiched between Borders and B&N. I'm really torn because, while Midnight Special has a lot of stuff the big boys don't have right away, it's all sociological and cultural studies books. Hurray for that, but it's always a tough call when I see the giant stacks of scifi and geek books at the the big boys. Do I buy now, or walk down to MS and have 'em order it for me?

Plus, no cat at any of them.
posted by RakDaddy at 11:46 AM on July 20, 2001

"Nice, machaus -- I liked this even better than the cute kitty photo from before."

/me sobs.
posted by jcterminal at 1:23 PM on July 20, 2001

there's a paws cafe opening on 18th soon (if it hasn't already opened) here in sf. same owners as the it's delectable bakery. they plied the dogs with samples while we waited outside for our breakfast a couple of weeks ago... ham & swiss with other good things. sometimes i think the dogs eat better than i do.
posted by heather at 1:38 PM on July 20, 2001

One of the city's best-loved kitty-zens...

Kitty-zens? Sign me up for the GRE, my vocabulary is now complete!
posted by bradlauster at 1:57 PM on July 20, 2001

My sister runs a pet cafe in Albequerque. No cute aminals on staff, but all are welcome to come in with their humans to sample the wares. Last week some guy came in and got soup for his ailing snake, as all the rodent owners fled the scene.

That said, no matter how much care an owner puts in, some people cannot be anywhere near cats because they are allergic to a component of the cat's saliva which dries and becomes airborne after the kitty bathes itself. I should think that any non-animal related business enterprise with an animal lurking the premises should post a warning sign on the door.
posted by Dreama at 2:11 PM on July 20, 2001

Tucson has a wonderful independent video store called Casa Video that beats the chains in town hands down. It has a great collection (including foreign titles) and a knowledgeable staff. Plus, they have free bags of popcorn to nosh on while perusing the shelves. Our largest independent bookstore closed a few years back, but we have a nice new one that opened recently, run by a former partner in our local independent mystery bookstore.
posted by jdbanks at 2:21 PM on July 20, 2001

Jd -- I used to live in Tucson and spent a ton of money over at Casa... a very nice resource to have at one's disposal on a hot summer day.

I can confirm that Powell's does indeed have a cat -- it lives over at the technical bookstore. Not a terribly friendly cat, though, in my experience... Portland also has at least one doggie bakery (over on 23rd Ave, of course). Damn... sometimes I miss that town.
posted by ph00dz at 3:00 PM on July 20, 2001

I'd just like to point out that we only need 99 more posts to catch up to the Ugly American topic. The green pastures of the Dog Bakery and Bookstore Cat thread are combatting the general poopiness going on on MeFi and proving that happy little threads where no-one gets hurt can still thrive in today's world.

Unless someone gets offended by the idea of a Dog Bakery, which, while unlikely, is entirely possible in here.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:29 PM on July 20, 2001

Why do the dogs have to have a bakery of their own? Anything that's good enough for humans ought to be good enough for them.
posted by kindall at 3:53 PM on July 20, 2001

You know I'm sick and tired of these damn whiny dogs and their damn bakeries! These dogs are in this country illegally anyway. Let's put em all on a boat and ship 'em off to dogland or wherever the hell they came from so they'll stop stealing godfearing American jobs!

And they never bother to learn the language!

bastards!
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:58 PM on July 20, 2001

I guess I was the only one picturing schnauzers in chef hats, busily baking hot cross buns for their customers.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:59 PM on July 20, 2001

... hot cross buns or hot dog buns? Or, if they're having a bad day, hot cross dog buns?


no poodles were harmed in the making of this post
posted by spandex at 4:26 PM on July 20, 2001

no poodles were harmed in the making of this post

That's a shame.
posted by kindall at 4:53 PM on July 20, 2001

I used to live several blocks from this place. Carytown has numerous little shops and such, several of which feature a live-in cat. Sorry to see this one go.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 5:16 PM on July 20, 2001

my mother works at the grand haven library. they have a cat. she's going to be in cat fancy.

the only bookstore i know of with a cat in grand rapids is argo's used bookstore downtown. they're cool.
posted by dagnyscott at 7:41 AM on July 21, 2001

she's going to be in cat fancy.

The cat, or your mother? And did you mean the magazine, or is "cat fancy" some cat-lover's synonym for "cat heaven" or something?
posted by rschram at 6:59 PM on July 21, 2001

A cat is such an important adjunct to a book. I love book store/library cats.

But the cat in the liquor store/yarn shop in Jacksonville, Oregon is a nice idea, too.
posted by salt at 8:28 PM on July 21, 2001

Reade Moore Books (giggle) in Petaluma, CA has a bookstore cat. I wish I could have a cat at my library but some of our more churlish patrons would hurt or kill it. (High school boys)
posted by Lynsey at 10:06 PM on July 21, 2001

dreama -- is it three paws bakery? (i swear, it has to be, that's the only one in town.) because that's where i went, and the people were so nice. :)

such a damn small world.
posted by sugarfish at 10:44 PM on July 21, 2001

> But the cat in the liquor store/yarn shop in Jacksonville,
> Oregon is a nice idea, too.

That's for when Granny hits town for wool and whisky? I want her to knit socks for me.
posted by pracowity at 12:50 AM on July 22, 2001

whoa, i never would have predicted that a "bookstore kitty dies" post would garner 50+ comments! metafilter, you never cease to surprise me. xoxo
posted by palegirl at 1:01 AM on July 22, 2001

[W]hoa, i never would have predicted that a "bookstore kitty dies" post would garner 50+ comments!

And no name-calling ... yet. Perhaps cats are what make MeFi agreeable.
posted by rschram at 11:47 AM on July 22, 2001

I haven't been able to get back there for about a million years, but I'm very glad to see that the Book Corner in Niagara Falls is thriving and is still inhabited by cats.
posted by pracowity at 12:31 AM on July 23, 2001

My dog wants to know if any of your local bookstores have dogs.

Books, etc. in Portland, Maine is an Indy, and they have a bookstore dog ... his name is Fly and he's a Border Collie.

He doesn't live there, tho ... he is owned by the store manager, Sandy, and comes in to work five days a week.
posted by anastasia at 7:34 AM on July 23, 2001

Books, etc. rocks, btw. It's one of the few things I miss about Portland, ME.
posted by briank at 7:36 AM on July 23, 2001

I prefer my dogs fried. Baking saps them of nutrients.
posted by Optamystic at 11:57 PM on July 29, 2001