The cupcakes were ordered, the decorations were up and the children were buzzing.
After months of preparation, the employees at Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose were all set for their biggest event of the year: Pippi Longstocking, the resident cat at the country’s oldest children’s bookstore, was turning 10 years old.
The only hitch? The guest of honor was sound asleep on the ledge above the store’s front door.
Pippi’s favorite spot at Once Upon a Time is a ledge above the front door where she often sleeps during the day.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Once Upon a Time’s owner Maureen Palacios envied the slumbering cat. “I didn’t get any sleep last night,” Palacios said as she flitted about, making last-minute space adjustments to accommodate an expected 100 guests — almost double last year’s attendance.
At her past parties, Pippi always descended from her perch in time for the birthday festivities. But during this go-round Sunday, Palacios was in full panic mode as the cat cut it closer than ever.
Pippi, a dilute calico-tabby mix, took up residence at Once Upon a Time in 2015. Her feline predecessor, Kitty Mama, was a difficult act to follow, Palacios said.
“I’ve had cats my whole life,” the bookstore owner said, “and none of my cats would ever make the cut to come and be nice and gentle and all that, [but] that’s how Kitty Mama was.”
After Kitty Mama died, Palacios worried she’d never replace her. But after consulting with Pasadena Humane, which promised to put its finest behaviorists on the job, her fears were assuaged. The shelter offered a few options, but once Palacios laid eyes on Pippi, it didn’t even feel like making a choice.
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“She was 9 months old and just literally calm and sweet and not skittish whatsoever,” Palacios said.
She was perfect.
On any given weekday, the refrain “Where’s Pippi?” will be recited a dozen times over by Once Upon a Time’s pint-size visitors. When business is slow enough, the cat will give guests a tour of the shop or even a book recommendation.
Chloe Oh, 11, pets Pippi, who’s perched atop the bookstore’s checkout counter during storytime.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Pippi is the bookstore’s employee of the month every month, although recently another employee suggested they instead give the accolade to a dog, “because Pippi’s been bad.”
Naughty behavior notwithstanding, Pippi is a fan favorite who has essentially become synonymous with Once Upon a Time. “She’s a bit of an institution here,” said Laura Festen, a longtime bookstore patron and local teacher.
Festen said the store for her is like a second home, and “a cat just makes any home a better place.”
Party attendees participated in a scavenger hunt to find nine versions of Pippi, including a Roaring Twenties Pippi, hidden throughout Once Upon a Time.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Drew Daywalt, author of the bestselling children’s book “The Day the Crayons Quit,” added that as independent bookstores fight to stay alive, a bookstore pet is not only a way to warm up the space, but also a tool for drawing business.
“I think Maureen is a genius for having a kitty cat birthday party, because, look!” Daywalt said, gesturing to the crowd of party attendees who couldn’t help but bump elbows as they moved about the store. Most of the afternoon, both the store’s checkout lines were open.
In the hour before Pippi’s party, children scoured the room on a scavenger hunt to find nine Pippis, donning disguises from a Dodgers jersey to a 1920s flapper dress. Some parents tagged along, while others hugged the bookshelves lining the room. All the while, Pippi savored her beauty sleep, and Palacios contemplated grabbing a contingency ladder to retrieve her.
At 2 p.m. on the dot, Palacios officially welcomed the guests, packed into the bookstore like sardines, and prepared for her classic party kick-off: story time (cat-themed, of course).
But before she could begin her dramatic reading, Pippi — “diva” that she is, in Palacios’ words — stole the show.
“Did you see my heart come back down when she finally made an appearance?” said Maureen Palacios, owner of Once Upon a Time Bookstore.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Rising from her slumber, the cat leaped down to the checkout counter, where she posed as if for a royal portrait. As a chorus of “Pippi!” erupted across the room, children sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor hopped up onto their knees to get a peek. The more emboldened made for the checkout counter, hoping to pet the cat.
Palacios herself cheered at the sight of the birthday girl. But once her delight settled into relief, she gently bade the young ones to return to their seats.
“We are going to let Pippi do her thing,” Palacios told the children. “She is the star.”
As the bookstore owner carried on with her reading of Brendan Wenzel’s “They All Saw a Cat,” most of the children behaved, while a few strays near the front inched closer and closer to Pippi. One of them kept her eyes glued to Palacios as she reached sneakily for the cat’s speckled fur.
After story time, select party guests presented their submissions to the writing contest prompt: “What does Pippi do at night in the bookstore?”
One guest posited that the cat intercepted meat deliveries to nearby restaurants, while another suggested she attended a local underground “catsquerade.”
Megheti Feghali, 6, holds her writing contest entry for Pippi the cat’s 10th birthday party. Her homemade book told the story of Pippi finding her mother in a castle.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Once Upon a Time Bookstore owner Maureen Palacios reads Megheti Feghali’s writing contest entry about Pippi’s journey to find her mother.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Megheti Feghali, 6, chronicled in a homemade picture book Pippi’s epic journey to reunite with her cat mother.
“Pippi saw a castle,” Palacios narrated as Feghali’s story drew to a close, “but she didn’t know what a castle is.”
“The end,” Feghali delivered her punch line as she read the story for a smaller group a while later. As she closed her hand-stapled five-page manuscript, the young author chuckled to herself.
“She’s a little comedian,” Feghali’s mother, Tsoleen Feghali, said. The Tujunga residents are regulars at the bookstore. On the days Pippi is asleep upon their arrival, Megheti Feghali begs her mother to stay until the cat wakes up.
When the 6-year-old heard about Pippi’s birthday party, her mother said, “She wanted to be a part of it.”
Pippi the cat eats her tuna cake on a silver platter as she celebrates her 10th birthday.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
At last, the time came to sing “Happy Birthday.” Indifferent to the serenade in her honor, Pippi celebrated by wolfing down her tuna cake, which had been special-ordered from Andersen’s Pet Shop across the street and literally presented to the cat on a silver platter.
Then, as swiftly as she’d arrived, Pippi scaled the bookshelves and resumed her post above the door.
Pippi paraphernalia graced every corner of Once Upon a Time during the cat’s 10th birthday party.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
In the end, Jessica Palacios, Maureen Palacios’ daughter and manager of Once Upon a Time, estimated the party had drawn more than 150 attendees, from loyal Pippi fans to passersby who wondered, “What did we walk into?”
Whoever they were and however old, both Palacios women said it warmed their hearts to see so many people in their beloved bookstore.
If throwing cat birthday parties is what it takes to keep them coming, Maureen Palacios said she’s perfectly OK with that.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
