Oakland Cat Town Cafe, first to open in USA! ABC Nightline TV interview, Shinjuku Tokyo Robot restaurant.
So many maooos! Last December, I was honored to be interviewed on ABC Nightline, the long-running news program that is broadcast worldwide. The network flew me to San Francisco to be interviewed in a segment about cat cafes and the spread of J-pop culture to America.
If you missed this ABC Nightline episode, don’t fret — you can watch it below and on my YouTube channel. It includes footage of the psychedelic Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, bikini-clad fembots and kawaii maid cafes!
The TV crew and I filmed at the first cat cafe to open in the USA: Cat Town Oakland (near San Francisco). Unlike Japanese kitty cafes, this one has a meaningful mission: to save at-risk abandoned felines.
Want to peek inside Cat Town and a J-pop mall in San Francisco? Then read on.
First, details of what I wore on my TV appearance. There’s a mao-mao peeking out from my striped top! It’s actually a dress by Mandycat in Hong Kong. (Here’s a similar striped top with a bat on it.)
Click the items below, to build an outfit like mine!
My long, leather skirt is by the young Hong Kong-based designer, Erbert Chong. Everyone is raving about his leather, edgy yet wearable designs for women. I can’t get over the materials and finish of his pieces — they’re some of my favorite items in my wardrobe right now.
My white creeper shoes, with a pirate bear, are Peace Now. This Japanese brand has unfortunately shut down…
My coiled, silver 3D bracelet is from Angelica Brigade.
Everyone should have a cat ring, in my opinion! Here’s where you can get a cat-faced ring like mine.
Trevor joined me for the ABC Nightline TV news shoot at Cat Town (address: 2869 Broadway in downtown Oakland, California). Not a bad job, playing on-camera with a dozen kitties. (Watch the video here).
Like the Shinjuku cat cafe, the space is creatively decorated with all sorts of climbing platforms and toys.
Japanese cat cafes — cute as the concept is — tend to operate a bit like petting zoos. These cafes bring in rare purebred species, like exotic shorthairs, for the customers to enjoy.
In contrast, Cat Town is a partnership with Oakland Animal Services. The cafe provides a stimulating environment for shelter cats, especially the ones who are the least likely to be adopted. Volunteers help to run the space, and the goal is to let these abandoned cats blossom and find permanent adoptive homes.
As soon as you step into Cat Town, you feel that the operation is full of heart. The humans who work here puts the needs of the cats first (and the decor reinforces their prime position!)
The coffee shop is separate from the cat-petting area, but you can bring your latte inside and sip it while playing with cats. The cafe focuses on supporting local businesses, and sells small-batch pastries from a local baker, like cookies laced with “Cattitude.”
Like in the Tokyo cat cafes I visited, there are rules to follow, which keep the cats safe. However, unlike in Asia, guests don’t take off their shoes before entering, nor are they required to sanitize their hands.
(Do you see the Scottish Fold drawing in the top corner? It’s the only fold at the cafe, since this round-faced breed rarely ends up in animal rescues.)
I’ve been chatting with ABC Nightline’s team for some time now, and gave them travel tips when they went to Tokyo. As a follow-up for their Tokyo pop culture stories, I appeared on the show to give background and context on maid, cat and robot cafes in Japan.
Here I am with ABC News presenter Cecilia Vega, and producer / director Nick Capote. They’re so sweet, and we had a fun day together!
Cecilia and I wandered around Cat Town, and played with the cats. It’s great to see the strays thriving in this cat-tastic environment.
You can grab a cat toy, and they’ll pounce all over it. The walls are covered with colorful murals, including artwork of Grumpy Cat, Totoro, Nyan Cat and more pop culture icons.
The custom-built playgrounds are a tip of the hat to San Francisco’s landmarks, like the Tribune building.
Cecilia Vega and I chatted about the appeal of cat cafes, the spread of Japanese concept cafes to North America, and more. Watch our conversation on the ABC Nightline segment.
Peekaboo, I see you! The cats have a private room in the back where they can escape the crowds and sleep.
A few of the kitties couldn’t take their paws off our film equipment. Several took a nap in a camera bag.
Rescuing and re-homing cats continue to be a challenge in cities worldwide. Animal shelters do great work, but are over-crowded and stressful.
So far, Cat Town is succeeding at giving them space to thrive.
Already, adoption rates are up: customers will play with the cats and fall in love with one. All the adoptions go through a screening process, to make sure the pets go to secure homes.
The volunteers genuinely care about the cats, and do the best for them. As an example, I noticed that they feed the kitties Wellness — a byproduct-free, grain-free brand that I feed my own Scottish Fold baby, Basil Farrow. The staff told me that they turned down sponsorship offers from big-name cat food companies, since this mass-produced food doesn’t contain the best ingredients for their health. Go Cat Town!
Another instance of dedication: co-founder Adam has a tattoo of their coffee partner’s logo (Bicycle Coffee), with cat-ears and whiskers. On the left, Trevor strokes a black cat, which matches his look.
For these reasons, I’ve been recommending Cat Town to everyone who visits San Francisco. It’s the first cat cafe to open up in America, and hopefully sets the standard for a meaningful, adoption-oriented approach.
Entry is by donation; you can reserve a guaranteed visitation time with a minimum $10 donation. Every hour, about 20 people are allowed into the space, and you can play with about 10-15 felines.
Trevor, the ABC team and I took a quick lunch break in SF’s Japan Town. I’m still thinking about the ramen at Waraku, it was that good!
We continued filming for the episode at New People World, the Japanese fashion mall. (The address and a tour of the boutiques are in my San Francisco shopping guide.)
MaruQ, located on the first floor, remains my favorite store in the Jpop mall. So much cuteness in one room, including brands like Ayammy, Omocat and Liz Lisa.
Raise your paw if you love Rilakkuma the bear! (Sadly, this segment was cut from the ABC Nightline feature, but I still wanted to share these images with you.)
Cecilia and I walked around the store, and chatted about the growing popularity of Japanese street fashion in America. Can you spot Trevor in the background?
Gothic tattoos and a rainbow cat dress: spooky meets sweet, that’s how we roll.
The shop girls are adorable as ever. They’re modeling a variety of looks from Japanese style tribes.
Trevor couldn’t resist getting these sunglasses. “And I won’t break your heart shaped glasses.”
For more info on where to get Goth, vintage, alternative and kawaii clothing, check out my San Fran shopping guide.
A million “arigatos” for the ABC Nightline team, for having me on the program!
Please take a moment to watch my interview on ABC Nightline! The segment includes crazy footage from the Robot Restaurant in Japan (with robot-women performers), maid cafes, and cat cafes in Tokyo and California.
Have you ever been to a cat cafe? Would you want one to open in your hometown?
Shop my ABC TV outfit below…
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Our Cat-Friendly Bedroom Design! Essentia organic memory foam mattress, Allem Studio bedding, Airportag pillows.
Introducing… the Maohaus! Basil and I moved to a new apartment, which presented the perfect opportunity for a bedroom makeover.
I wanted our shared space to be as feline-friendly as possible, without looking like a crazy cat lady’s home. In other words, the Maohaus had to balance form and function.
How did we do this? With cat-friendly colors, natural materials, and multifunctional objects that harmonize into a cheerful design. I balanced my preferences with my cat’s, taking into account factors like his ability to see certain colors.
I’m pleased to finally unveil my new sleeping-space! Featuring a natural memory foam mattress from Essentia, colorful bed sheets from Allem Studio…
… and these awesome Airportag travel pillows. Inspired? Intrigued? Then read on, and I’ll show you how it all came together.
I wanted to create a “Maohaus” after seeing how Japanese cat cafes design a living environment that is aesthetically pleasing to humans, yet safe and enjoyable for felines.
In other words, you can make a wonderful space for your cats without Garfield bedsheets, hot pink pet beds and ugly carpeted climbing trees.
The team at Essentia mattresses loved our idea from the start, and just two weeks after we spoke, our bed arrived. Essentia provided us with “white gloves” service, meaning the deliverymen carried everything to our apartment, unrolled the mattress and set it all up. (Although Basil tried to help.)
Basil Farrow knows this is a very special bed… I did my research, and found that Essentia makes the highest-performance and healthiest mattress out there. The family-run company is the only one in the world to make mattresses with natural, organic memory foam. (We put it on a boxspring to give it some height.)
Basil walked all around the bed. Looks like his paws are happy with the two inches of natural memory foam!
Our mattress is the Classic 8 Queen size, but Essentia has a variety of mattresses with different sizes, firmness, performance levels and prices.
Look at how the surface gently cradles his big feet! In the world of mattresses, memory foam is considered the best you can get. The technology relieves pressure points and contours the body as you sleep.
I knew Essentia was the perfect choice for the Maohaus. I want Basil to live in a space with non-toxic, natural materials. This mattress is made with materials like rubber tree sap, plant extracts, and certified organic cotton.
The surface is wrapped in a removable 100% organic cotton fabric, with Essentia’s signature stripe. The color even matches my cat’s fur!
I confess I love to sleep, and at times, I’ve stayed in dream-land for 12 hours. And cats are notorious for spending more than half the day asleep.
That’s why it was important for me to get a high-end performance bed, like Essentia’s Classic 8. Memory foam beds are an investment, but they’ll last well over a decade. Getting a good rest is important for so many reasons, and sleeping on this bed will benefit my health (and Basil’s!).
Now that we’ve got our bed, it’s time to decorate. I want my room to feel modern, artistic and minimal. What I wear is different from how I want my bedroom to look — so no cat-face prints, dark colors, chains or ruffles.
Allem Studio to the rescue! Basil’s clone looks over the chic bedding they sent us, tied with organic cotton and placed in a custom, matching case.
Basil tip-toes over Allem Studio’s Tara duvet cover and Tara lime pillow cases.
Eco-friendly, long-lasting materials are of importance to me. These 100% cotton sheets create a calm, fresh environment, which I think delights both humans and cats.
As I mentioned before, I don’t want to live in Dracula’s Lair. I love Gothic style and culture, but I feel best living and working in a light, Zen-like environment.
I can’t ask Basil what his favorite color is, but I can take a good guess. Cats can only see limited colors of the rainbow: violets, blues, greens. That’s why I stuck to this lime scheme.
If you prefer a different color, Allem Studio has other modern patterned bedding (and are releasing new collections soon). On their website, you can also pick up shams, throws, outdoor pillows and more home decor.
The duvet cover comes in King and Queen, and is reversible (there are big, grey flowers on the other side). You can’t find a softer fabric: 100% high quality cotton, and hand screen-printed.
I looked around at a lot of bedding, and had a hard time finding something that felt “me.” Allem Studio’s designs connected with me — they’re modern, global, vivid, joyful. As you can see, our bedroom is pretty small and minimal, so this splash of leafy-lime makes a big impact.
Finally, I wanted to add some decorative accents that reflect my passions and personality — particularly my love of travel. Enter AirporTag, purveyors of flight-inspired interior decor.
How cool are my puffy pillows? They say “Departures,” and pay tribute to the old revolving flight boards, which flip around to indicate if a plane is “Boarding” or “On Time.”
Airportag sells the niftiest gifts for travelers: pillows, posters, mugs, t-shirts and more… decorated with airport city codes! You can show your love for JFK (New York City), CDG (Paris), NRT (Tokyo), and every other major flight hub. I spent over an hour browsing through Airport Tag’s website – it was hard to choose!
Essentia sent us two more memory foam accessories: an Ergonomic Pillow (which gives S-shaped neck support) and a Comfort Pillow. If I go without a proper pillow, I wind up with a headache.
A lion is on the prowl! I covered the mattress with Essentia’s unbelievably soft sateen cotton organic bed sheets. Basil curled up and fell asleep immediately.
The little lion surveys his territory. Essentia spoiled him with one last gift…
… a memory foam pet bed! Both cats and dogs can relax on the Kingston, which comes in different sizes.
This pet bed is designed for breathability and to relieve pressure. In addition, it looks great in our apartment. What a difference from the usual gaudy, badly-made beds that you find in pet stores.
At first glance, visitors might not even realize this is a cat product, since it integrates seamlessly into the interior design. That’s the goal of the Maohaus.
We feel good about supporting Essentia since their business is family-run, and their mattresses are made in Canada (just outside Montreal).
Essentia has store locations all over the US and Canada, so you can visit and try their mattresses for yourself.
It’s easy to order the pet cushion and more from their site. (Isn’t Basil lucky, having two memory foam beds?)
I hope you enjoyed my new bedroom tour! Thanks to all our partners, for helping us make the Maohaus concept a reality.
PS – the word “Maohaus” is a combination of “mao” (which means “cat” in Chinese) and “haus” (the German word for “house”). It’s also a tribute to the Bauhaus movement.
I have a feeling Basil and I are going to spend a lot of time in here…
We still have a lot of decorating to do, and I can’t wait to show you the rest of the apartment. Basil Farrow is a fan of the view out the window.
Now that’s a catwalk. Coming up next, I’ll show you more ways that you can design a beautiful space for yourself and your kitty.
If you’re feeling inspired to do a bedroom makeover, you can get started with Allem Studio bedding, Airportag accessories and Essentia Mattresses.
What do you think of our Maohaus so far? How did you decorate your own room?
LA CARMINA
