The Long Wondrous Life of a Cat Named Louis
"So drunk in the August sun, and you're the kind of girl I like."
“I like to read books. I like to listen to music. I collect records. And cats. I don’t have any cats right now. But if I’m taking a walk and I see a cat, I’m happy.”
—Haruki Murakami
Remember that part of the mission statement of LAST CALL where I said “and sometimes cats” as topics of interest? Well, today’s dispatch is all about cats. One cat in particular, my dearly departed longtime companion, Louis, who I had to say goodbye to the age of 18 last fall on September 24.
Yesterday was his birthday. We always celebrated his “Gotcha Day,” the day I adopted him from PAWS Cat City in Seattle, as his official birthday, and each year marked the occasion with a can of Cento oil-packed tuna, a jumbo bag of treats, and a new toy. He was a 2-year-old former farm cat from Mill Creek, Washington, when we first met. He had been surrendered to the shelter less than 48 hours before I showed up and I was instantly drawn to him, the one cat who wasn’t fighting for my attention but instead hiding in a box in the corner of the room. I intended to name him Leo, but after he disappeared under my bed for our first month together as roommates, he seemed more like a Louis. From Seattle to Brooklyn, a cross-country road trip, four different apartments, and many days and nights together we formed a bond for life.
On that last Friday night we spent together, while waiting for the Lyft to arrive to take us to the ER, I held him close and walked around the apartment to let him see some of his favorite things one final time. I knew this was going to be a one-way trip. Louis would not be coming back home with me ever again.
Over the past 14 years I’ve lost my father, brother, mother, and several good friends, but adjusting to life without Louis was a new level of soul-piercing grief I wasn’t prepared for. The loss, the empty apartment, the endless, painful montage of his last week, last day, last hour, last moments as I held him in my arms wrapped in a blanket crying and thanking him and telling him how sorry I was and how much I was going to miss him as he took his last breath.
So many people reached out to offer their condolences, many who only knew Louis through my social media channels. My friends offered comfort with cards, conversations, texts, emails, and donations to pet charities in Louis’ name, surprise hero deliveries from Defonte’s, taking me out for pizza, rounds of Kölsch and sake at Long Island Bar, and even a beautiful, potted fiddle-leaf fig plant to help bring some much-needed life to my space.
I have nearly 1,000 photos in the “Louis” folder on my phone, but I’m also lucky to have some original artwork inspired by Louis to remember him. Here are some drawings and paintings from the Louis Collection.
Louis: A Life in Art
A circa 2007 3x3-inch painting of Louis by illustrator Bishop Lennon, commissioned by me via Etsy. This currently hangs above the intercom by the door to my apartment.
When I was a senior books editor at Amazon I hand-sold the heck out of comics artist and graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown’s book Cat Getting Out of a Bag. The sales team from Chronicle Books later surprised me with this original portrait of Louis by the award-winning artist. I never knew Louis as a kitten but this is how I imagine he looked (and sounded).
I partnered with illustrator Julia Kuo to help bring all the cats in my book Distillery Cats to life and I knew I wanted to somehow work Louis into the book. This is based on a photo of Louis wearing his new tux at an Oscar party I once hosted. (“It's after six. What am I, a farmer?”)
Grand Army, one of my favorite neighborhood bars, is known for their seasonal themed menus that have run the gamut from Scandinavian black metal albums to Gilmore Girls to Steven Van Zandt to My Little Pony. (Their current Spring/Summer 2022 menu is inspired by the Spice Girls). Following the success of their gonzo Summer 2021 menu in tribute to the oeuvre of Nicolas Cage they launched a Fall 2021/Winter 2022 Cats-themed menu dedicated to the memory of Louis. Brooklyn artist Matt Timms (of All the Bad Cats) peppered the menu with quirky felines, including Louis, complete with a halo hovering at a rakish angle over his head.
Timms also painted custom 8x8-inch portraits of all of the Grand Army team’s cats (both living and deceased) which were part of a gallery installation in the bathroom (aka “Cat Can”). I was honored that they included Louis as well and it always made me smile seeing him in there.
In October 2021, I met up with Matt Russell and Starla Lane Russell, the owners of The Horse Inn in Lancaster, who were in New York to accept their VinePair Next Wave Award for Bar Program of the Year. I started visiting Lancaster on a regular basis five summers ago and have become close with the Russells and the Horse Inn bar family. When I got home that night there was a large package awaiting my arrival, which, by coincidence was from the Russells. Inside was a striking oil panting of Louis they had commissioned from an artist in Vancouver, British Columbia. Any memory of Louis back then would immediately have me sobbing, but this particular painting helped steer my daily grief in a new direction of appreciation rather than regret. There was something about it that captured his late-in-life regal essence. There’s a sort of Presidential Portrait quality to it that makes it seem timeless, and a wonderful tribute to his legacy that takes on myth-making proportions.
Remember those terrific Matt Timms’ cat portraits that were on display for six months in the Grand Army bathroom gallery? When the Cats-themed menu changed out the cat owners were all to be gifted with their cat’s painting, but at one point there was a rash of art thefts and several cats were ripped from the wall and absconded with by mean-spirited guests. Three days before the Cats menu was to end I received a text from Grand Army’s PR team informing me that “Louis has been re-homed.” It’s sad to think he’s on display in some stranger’s apartment, but I was grateful when Timms painted a new portrait of Louis for me to have. This now hangs in the Lombardi Room of The Long Island Bar, where I can see him regularly as he watches the nightly action at my favorite bar. Be sure to stop by and check in on him next time you’re at the bar.
Louis: Spirited Tributes
In addition to art, Louis was also remembered in a few spirited cocktails from bartender friends.
Hamilton the Hipster
Ally Marrone and Robby Dow, Grand Army | Brooklyn, New York
While this wasn’t made for Louis, this was my favorite drink featured on the Grand Army Cats menu, a Negroni variation inspired by Hamilton the Hipster, an internet-famous cat with a distinctive curlicue mustache.
Ingredients
3/4 ounce Fords Gin
3/4 ounce Mulassano Vermouth Bianco
3/4 ounce Cardamaro
1/2 ounce Cynar
Garnish: Grapefruit twist
Directions
Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled.
Strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over ice and garnish with a grapefruit twist.
Louis Parsons
Will Davenport, Hog & Hominy | Memphis, Tennessee
Created by Will Davenport at Hog & Hominy, a favorite Memphis restaurant of mine owned by chefs Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer, the Louis Parsons takes elements of a classic Sazerac but transforms them into something entirely different. The layers of amaro make it an after-dinner sipper with a touch of rye for spice and to give it a bit more character, with a fluffy, aromatic Mint-Absinthe foam playing counterpoint to the dark, boozy, bitter main components of the cocktail.
Ingredients
3/4 ounce Cynar 70
1/2 ounce Amaro Braulio
1/2 ounce rye whiskey
2 dashes Angoustura bitters
4 dashes Peychauds bitters
Garnish: Mint-Absinthe Foam (recipe below)
Directions
Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled.
Dispense Mint-Absinthe Foam in the bottom of a chilled coupe glass.
Strain the contents of a mixing glass down the side of the the foam-filled coupe glass (the foam will rise to the top). Even out with a barspoon before serving.
Mint-Absinthe Foam
Base
Yield: 1-quart
400g Sugar
450g Water
20g Mint Leaves
2 ounces Absinthe
Setup a blanching staton with a pot of 450g boiling water, a strainer, and a bucket of ice water. Place the de-stemmed mint leaves in the strainer and lower into the boiling water. Leave in the boiling water until the leaves turn bright green and water gets a slightly green hue. Remove strainer with mint leaves and immediately add to ice bath to cool leaves and stop cooking.
Add sugar to boiling water and cook until dissolved. Allow sugar and water mixture to cool to room temperature.
Add cooled water and sugar mixture along with blanched mint leaves to a high power blender and blend on high until leaves are very finely chopped (about 2 minutes).
Pour mixture through cheesecloth to get out land grainy pieces. Add 2 ounces of absinthe to the strained mixture.
Foam
Mint-Absinthe Base
1 Egg White
Fill a whipped cream dispenser to just below the maximum fill line with Mint-Absinthe Foam base. Add in one egg white and screw the top on.
Charge with one N2O charger (whipped cream charger) and shake.
Louis Luau
Dan Zeiders, Per Diem | Lititz, Pennsylvania
Inspired by Don the Beachcomber’s tropical drink the Nui Nui, Dan Zeiders shook up the Louis Luau, a spicy rum-and-citrus-soaked cooler in honor of one cool cat.
Ingredients
1/2 ounce Appleton 8 Year Jamaica Rum
1-1/2 ounce Demerara Rum
1/2 ounce Homemade Spice Bush Dram (recipe below)
3/4 ounce Cinnamon Spice Syrup (recipe below)
1/2 ounce Lime juice
1/2 ounce Orange juice
Garnish: Orange Twist, Ground Cherry
Directions
Add pebble ice or crushed ice to a tall Zombie glass.
Add all the ingredients except for the Jamaican rum into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake vigorously until chilled and strain into the prepared, ice-filled glass.
Float the Jamaican rum on top of the drink and garnish with an orange peel and ground cherry (if seasonally available). Edible flowers, like nasturtium, work as well.
Spice Bush Dram
1/2 cup foraged spice bush berries, or dried allspice berries
2-1/2 cups 100-proof rum
1 cup sugar
Crush spice bush berries and place in a glass jar. Cover with the rum and seal the lid tightly. Give it a good shake and steep for 7 days.
Strain out the spice bush berries and add the infused-rum to a sauce pan with sugar and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Store in a sterile container for up to 2 months unrefrigerated, 6 months refrigerated.
Cinnamon Spice Syrup
6 cinnamon sticks
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Heat the water in a pan until low boil, add cinnamon sticks and simmer for for 5 minutes then remove from the heat. Strain out the cinnamon, add sugar and stir until dissolved.
LAST CALL logo and graphics by Ed Anderson.
Such a lovely open honest wrenching post. Thanks for sharing both your grief and your stories and photos and art of Louis. I’m so, so sorry. Drinks on me this fall at LIB, pls.
That was such a gorgeous loving tribute to a beautiful cat, Brad. He was loved by so many worldwide. I'm very happy that you had each other for all those years. I can see Louis holding court in a dive bar, ordering up a can of tuna while waiting for his turn at pool. He will never be forgotten, Brad. I do hope that one day, when you're able to do so, you will write a book about Louis and the life you had together. I know it will be a bestseller. And this time I won't miss the book signing!! =^..^=