Cats in New York: Meet Nicholas and his Human, “the Cat on the Head Guy”

Cats in New York: Meet Nicholas and his Human, “the Cat on the Head Guy”

We still have some posts about NYC kitties, and this one would have been welcomed before Christmas. Why? Because the kitty’s name is Nicholas, like, well, Saint Nicholas.

Nicholas and his human - NYC | Texas, a cat in... Austin

It was the first time that my human spotted Nicholas. She saw him and his human several times afterwards, Nicholas always comfortably sitting on his human’s head.

Apparently, Nicholas and his human have been walking NYC streets for several years, at least since 2008, Nicholas earning his human a dollar or two to have his picture taken. My human saw them back in 2012, in Tribeca.

According to a a 2008 NYT article, the human’s name is Charlie Perito and he started walking the streets of NYC with his cat on his head after losing his job:

Mr. Perito said he was just another victim of the recession and increasing joblessness, though he also admitted to problems with the law and addiction. A Staten Island native, he said he worked for years fixing air-conditioning and heating systems, but recently lost his job. So he taught Nicholas the balancing act and proceeded to use the gimmick to balance his budget.

Mr. Perito said it was not the first time around with the old “lose the job, train the cat” trick. He has lost other jobs and trained other cats before, he said. Anyway, Nick is pretty cute, and the whole thing looks pretty amusing, so Mr. Perito makes out pretty well.

According to a 2011 blog post here:

Charlie told me Nicholas is the THIRD cat that he has performed with, and that Nicholas loves being perched up there on the summit while watching all the happenings in New York City as they walk around town.

I asked him how did he start doing this and he told me how he was with his girlfriend one time and the original cat climbed up the chair where Charlie was sitting and rested on his head..He then found he could get up with the cat and walk around, so he took it to the streets of NYC.

This blogger also made a video in which you can see Nicholas climb on top of his human’s head:

My human said that Nicholas seemed not scared at all. He was just looking around him at what was going on. She wished she had had treats in her purse that day to give Nicholas (what?!?).

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Hayes and Rainer at Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Hayes and Rainer at Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers

Today we are going to the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, to meet with Hayes and Rainer, at the Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers bookstore.

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers | Texas, a cat in... Austin

Hayes – which can be spelt Haze, too – is the mostly black, tuxedo kitty.

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers | Texas, a cat in... Austin

Rainer is the tabby and is a tripod.

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers | Texas, a cat in... Austin

My human went to this bookstore twice because the first time, she only got to see Hayes. She did met Rainer the second time and was glad she did come back: Rainer was really affectionate.

According to the person my human talked to, Hayes and Rainer have been there for 10+ years and enjoy sleeping on books.

Here are some more pictures.

[You can click on any pic to biggify and open the slideshow]

Once again, we would like to thank the bookstore humans for letting my human take pictures of the resident cats.

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.387.7322
http://spoonbillbooks.com/

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Tiny at Park Slope Community Bookstore

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Tiny at Park Slope Community Bookstore

One day, my human was reading an article about a bookstore in New York City. The article had nothing to do with cats (I know!). To her surprise though, she discovered in the article (she cannot find the link again, sorry) that the bookstore in question, the Alabaster bookshop in New York, had a resident cat.

She got an idea: find out about this kitty and other resident cats in NYC bookstores!

She looked on the Internet and found different old articles including this one, this one, and this one. All included bookstores in New York, but they were not recent.

My human learned, for example, that the kitty from the Alabaster Bookshop had crossed the Rainbow Bridge about 4 years ago. The Alabaster Bookshop is a book lover heaven (according to my human), with books piled everywhere. Apparently, the kitty loved to find hiding places in there!

Humphrey from the Drams Book Shop in Manhattan is now living with his human, and Francis from BookCourt in Brooklyn has moved in with a new family.

She wasn’t lucky either when she went to Babbo’s Books on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. The bookstore had just been sold and was closed. She has no idea what happened to Holly.

Then she went to The Park Slope Community Bookstore in Brooklyn.

Park Slope Community Bookstore | Texas, a cat in... Austin

She knew the bookstore, but had never entered. It is extremely unlikely for my human not to visit a bookstore. She had first spotted it thanks to this:

Bookstore-Cats---Park-Slope-Community_01

Yes, the kitty! Little did she know there was a real one in the bookstore at the time!

When she went back last summer, she learned that Sir Marjorie Lambshank III had unfortunately crossed the Rainbow Bridge (he is pictured in the second article linkie above). But she got to meet Tiny!

Park Slope Community Bookstore | Texas, a cat in... Austin

Tiny is said to be good-natured… only when he feels like it =^.^= He let my human took some pictures though, so she thought he was a really nice kitty.
According to the bookstore humans, Tiny was part of a litter found in front of the store. His litter mates were all adopted and scattered around the neighborhood. He has a polydactyl brother the bookstore humans still hear about.

Here are some more pictures.

[You can click on any pic to biggify and open the slideshow]

My human and I would like to thank Tiny and the bookstore humans for letting my human take pictures of the star of the store.

The Park Slope Community Bookstore
143 7th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 783-3075
http://communitybookstore.net/

Next week, we will stay in Brooklyn, but we will go to Williamsburg!