“Pets are humanizing,” wrote James Cromwell, “They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life.” Room 8, the cat featured here in this portrait next to the classroom after which he was named, exemplifies this beautifully.
In 1952 this stray, gray-striped tabby strolled into the Elysian Heights Elementary School and into Room 8. The students, teachers, and staff fell in love with him, and not only let the cat stay but eventually designated a regularly appointed 6th grader to be the cat’s “feeder.” Although the cat remained a stray — wandering the halls and sleeping where he pleased — he would leave the school grounds every summer and show right back up upon the start of the school year until the middle of the 1960s.
The school named the cat Room 8, and he grew low-key famous in the Los Angeles area, receiving over 10,000 fan mail letters over his lifetime at the school. _Time_ magazine did a feature on him. After Room 8 died, there was a huge fundraiser for his burial site, and he was eventually interred at the Los Angeles pet cemetery in Calabasas, alongside the pets of rich and famous movie stars — Room 8’s grave is apparently still the most visited.
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