Room 8
Encyclopedia
Room 8 was a neighborhood cat that wandered into a classroom at Elysian Heights Elementary School, Echo Park, California. He would live in the school during the school year and then disappear for the summer, returning when classes started again.
News cameras would arrive at the school at the beginning of the year waiting for the cat's return; he became famous and would receive up to 100 letters a day addressed to him at the school. Eventually, he was featured in a documentary called Big Cat, Little Cat and a children's book called Room 8 was written as well. Look
magazine ran a three-page feature by photographer Richard Hewett in November 1962, titled "Room 8: The School Cat". Leo Kottke
wrote an instrumental called "Room 8" that was included in his 1971 album, Mudlark
.
As he got older, he was injured in a cat fight and suffered from pneumonia, so a family near the school volunteered to take him in. The school's janitor would find him at the end of the school day and carry him across the street.
His obituary
in the Los Angeles Times
rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph. The cat was so famous that his obituary ran in papers as far away as Hartford, Connecticut
. The students raised the funds for his gravestone. He is buried at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park.
Elysian Heights Elementary School has a wall mural on the outside of the school that features Room 8, and the teachers read his book to each new class.
In 1972, a cat shelter was started in his name called The Room 8 Memorial Foundation.
News cameras would arrive at the school at the beginning of the year waiting for the cat's return; he became famous and would receive up to 100 letters a day addressed to him at the school. Eventually, he was featured in a documentary called Big Cat, Little Cat and a children's book called Room 8 was written as well. Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
magazine ran a three-page feature by photographer Richard Hewett in November 1962, titled "Room 8: The School Cat". Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
wrote an instrumental called "Room 8" that was included in his 1971 album, Mudlark
Mudlark (album)
Mudlark is American guitarist Leo Kottke's fourth album, his first on a major label and his first to feature other musicians. It reached #168 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts.-History:...
.
As he got older, he was injured in a cat fight and suffered from pneumonia, so a family near the school volunteered to take him in. The school's janitor would find him at the end of the school day and carry him across the street.
His obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph. The cat was so famous that his obituary ran in papers as far away as Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. The students raised the funds for his gravestone. He is buried at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park.
Elysian Heights Elementary School has a wall mural on the outside of the school that features Room 8, and the teachers read his book to each new class.
In 1972, a cat shelter was started in his name called The Room 8 Memorial Foundation.
Further reading
- A Cat Called Room 8, Virginia Finley and Beverly Mason, illustrated by Valerie Martin, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1966, ISBN 0-399-60085-X, LCCN 66-14332.