In 1952, a gray-and-white stray cat entered an open window at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Los Angeles and stayed. The students named him Room 8 after the classroom he showed a preference for. The cat would disappear during vacations and summers, only to reappear each fall on the first day of school. Beverly Mason, the school principal, said they received as many as 100 letters a day, some addressed simply to “The Cat, Los Angeles.” Eventually, a woman revealed that Room 8 was probably her cat originally, until a boarder through rocks at him and chased him away. Students enjoyed reading books to the cat, and he often slept on their desks. Eventually, Room 8 was injured in a fight with another cat, and as he aged he developed feline pneumonia. A family near the school adopted him, and when he began having difficulty walking the distance to his home, the school janitor carried him across the street each day after classes were done. Room 8 died in 1968, after being the school mascot for 15 years. His obituary in The Los Angeles Times rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph. The students were overwhelmed at the response to a fundraiser they held for Room 8’s burial. The campaign received enough money to give the special cat one of the largest gravestones at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Elysian Heights Elementary School has a wall mural outside the school that features Room 8, and the teachers read his book — “A Cat Called Room 8” — to each new class. Room 8’s paw prints are also displayed in cement on the sidewalk outside the school. In 1972, a cat shelter was started in his name called The Room 8 Memorial Foundation.
