Lolcats they are not: They’re not cuddly, expressive, or internet-friendly. They don’t play the keyboard on YouTube. They’re not even the cute mousers who live in many of the bodegas in our contemporary city.
These felines are old-school apartment and alley cats who caught the attention of photographers—perhaps impressed by their toughness and ability to survive on the city’s mean streets.
This cow-spotted furball is lounging on a fence post in 1937 at Rhinelander Gardens, a beautiful stretch of circa-1850s homes with decorative cast-iron torn down in 1957 to make room for P.S. 41.
Two years earlier, a similar-looking kitty hangs out on a window frame. No protective screens in that walkup.
On Catherine Street in 1952, thanks to residents who failed to put their trash in cans, a hungry alley cat is sniffing out his dinner.
[Photos: MCNY]
Tags: alley cats New York, Cats eating from trash, cats hanging out on windows, cats in tenements, cats on brownstone stairs, Feral cats New York City, lolcats of New York, Rhinelander Gardens, stray cats NYC
Ephemeral New York 
March 3, 2014 at 5:42 pm |
Reblogged this on Liberty and Annachy and commented:
This makes me happier than it should
March 4, 2014 at 8:00 am |
Few things in this world are more resilient than the cat. Cockroaches, maybe, but they are way less nice to look at. But, being a social creature myself, I am mystified at the zen-like peace of any creature so content to be alone.
January 9, 2017 at 7:41 am |
[…] “Mrs. Goodman receives no pay for her attention to the cats, only the satisfaction which it gives her to attend to the maimed, neglected animals.” […]