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Los Angeles' First Cat Cafe Has An Official Opening Date
The upcoming Crumbs & Whiskers, which will be Los Angeles' first permanent cat cafe, will officially open its doors in September.While Los Angeles saw its first dog cafe open in April, we (and by we, I mean I) have long suffered without one for cats. Finally, in June, D.C.-based Crumbs & Whiskers announced that they'd be opening a Los Angeles outpost this year. We now have an opening date: Crumbs & Whiskers will host a pre-opening September 15-29, with a grand opening to the public on September 30.
When the cafe opens to the public, guests may go and play with the adorable, adoptable cats housed within by making a reservation. A 75-minute reservation will cost you $22. Coffee, espresso, tea and sweets will be available via their partner cafe, Open Space. As you might expect, the Health Department does not allow animal cafes to prepare food and beverages in the same room as the animals, so runners will go retrieve the cafe items and bring them to the cat cafe. Guest should expect 15-20 cats at a time. The cats will come from local shelters and should you take a liking to one, you may see about adopting him or her. You can start making reservations on September 21 via the cafe's website.
Perhaps you are wondering how to pet some kitties during that exclusive pre-opening period. Crumbs & Whiskers will be conducting online contests through various affiliates, and will be selling a limited number of passes on September 7. Those will cost $200 a piece, and will allow entry for the buyer and one guest to one of the cafe's pre-opening events. A portion of the proceeds will go on to benefit Karma Rescue, Crumbs & Whisker's shelter partner. These events may include yoga with cats—which any cat owner knows is quite challenging—evening events and kitten parties, complete with refreshments and plenty of kittens available for adoption. Keep track of updates on their Facebook page here.
Cat cafes are quite popular in other parts of the world. Crumbs & Whiskers founder and Cat Lady In Chief Kanchan Singh told LAist that she was inspired to start her own cat cafe in the U.S. while on a trip to Thailand about two years ago.
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The short version is, I was traveling in Thailand and had met these people on the road who saw that I was sharing every meal with stray dogs and cats. They picked up that I really loved animals, and so on my last day in Thailand, which was also my 24th birthday, they decided to take me to a cat cafe. I didn't know what it was, and I went in there, and I remember thinking, 'This is amazing, why have I never heard of this before?' I told [my friends] that I was going to go home, quit my job, and start a cat cafe. And then I actually did it.
Crumbs & Whiskers is located at 7924 Melrose Ave. near the intersection of Melrose and Fairfax.
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