E35. Bodega Cats of New York with Dan Rimada, Cocoa, and Charles

So how did you start documenting, um, y- the New York bodega cats? Like you talked a little bit about the inspiration behind that.

So this kinda goes back to COVID.

So during COVID when, you know, the world shut down and we were all stuck in our homes, um, one of the things that were open were bodegas.

In New York City-

Mm-hmm

... we still had bodegas.

They were considered essential businesses and, and you know, like long before COVID, long after COVID, bodegas are always gonna be essential businesses.

They're always essential to New Yorkers.

They have everything you need in a pinch, right? And in 2020, I was standing in a bodega, I was online, and I looked over and then I saw Luna, a cat that I had always seen, but I've, I grew up in New York City, so I've seen bodega cats my entire life.

They didn't really stand out in any special way, and then in 2020 when the city had slowed down enough for me to like notice things that I would've otherwise not really paid a ton of attention to, 'cause I, I was a busy-

Mm-hmm

...

New Yorker just like everybody else.

Yeah.

And you know, I couldn't be bothered with like small things.

I finally no- noticed the small things, and one of those things was Luna, and then I started to think deeply about it and I was like, "Wow, she's, she's a working animal.

She has, she, you know, d- she has a job to do." Like this is-

Mm-hmm

... um, a, a, a cat with like actual responsibilities.

It's, it's not-

Yeah

...

so much a pet as it is like an employee of the store and, and some people call them, you know, the manager of the store.

Mm-hmm.

And, and they really are.