Pet owners, get excited. Cats About Town is a new venture sharing the hidden history behind the famous felines from Brooklyn Heights. NBC New York’s Linda Gaudino joins the first tour.
A new walking tour for friends of felines is replacing the "C" in NYC with cats.
New York City is rich with history and there are countless sightseeing tours and attractions to experience it, but journalist and author of "The Cat Men of Gotham" Peggy Gavan felt that the city that never sleeps was missing a crepuscular animal-themed walking tour. The Cats About Town Walking Tour was born after the creator of "Bodega Cats of New York," Dan Rimada, approached her with the idea.
Sitting on a bench at Walt Whitman Park, Gavan was adorned with cat ears on her pink New York Yankees cap, a fluffy cat tail keychain on her backpack, and a flowy skirt printed with punny, mock newspaper articles featuring cat characters.
"Who knew that it was a cat that christened the Brooklyn Bridge? Who knew that it was a cat that saved Brooklyn Borough Hall from burning down?" Gavan exclaimed as she talked to NBC New York ahead of her first official tour in Brooklyn Heights.
She had been writing a blog called "The Hatching Cat NYC" for 12 years, telling stories about cats, dogs, horses, cows and other quirky animal tales that she had found in newspaper archives. Gavan, a licensed tour guide, originally wanted to include all animals in her tour, but when cat-lover Rimada came in to help figure out logistics, it made more sense to focus on cat stories "because so many people love cats."
The walking tour lasts about an hour and a half to two hours, and the walk covers about two miles. Gavan takes the group to different locations where cats lived with a famous cat lover, or to a historic hotel, telling true stories from the 1880s through the 1940s.
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"You can take 100 tours of Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Bridge, none of these stories are going to be told. So it's kind of cool, especially if you love cats as much as I do," she said.
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Gavan and Rimada share a passion for cats and New York City culture.
Rimada, an artist, runs an Instagram account where he shares photos and art of bodega cats. He had created it after a neighborhood cat that he loved had died. He created a sketch of the cat and gave it to the bodega owner for keepsake and the owner hung it up behind the counter, which got the patrons talking. It became an outlet where he could monetize his art and share his love for felines.
Instagram is also a venue where he's promoting the Cats About Town Walking Tour. Rimada said he and Gavan are working on expanding the tour to the Financial District, Midtown and Central Park because there are so many more cat stories to be told.
One attendee on the first tour described the personal cat stories as an "emotional roller coaster." The tour concludes at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe where visitors can meet adoptable cats and kittens looking for a new home.
Don't worry, dog lovers. Gavan and Rimada don't plan to stop with cats.
Gavan is publishing a new book, "The Bravest Pets of Gotham: Tales of Four-Legged Firefighters of Old New York," in September. It chronicles fun and touching stories about the New York Fire Department's beloved animals in the late 1800s and early 1900s --- and she said a dog-focused tour is in the works.
