November 7, 2014

Oakland: Cat Town; restaurant review + things to do

880 South

Cat Town  

2869 Broadway/29th St. W-Sun 10am-7pm. 

Located on Oakland’s historic Auto Row, across the street from the Mercedes dealership, the Cat Town cat rescue organization works in close collaboration with the Oakland Animal Services municipal shelter to get cats out of cages and into homes.  It opened in 2014 as America's first cat cafe.


RAWR Coffee Bar  

The motto here is “Come for the coffee, stay for the cats.”  The counter-order menu at RAWR Coffee Bar consists of light snacks such as sugar cookies (mine was decorated with “meow”), assorted pastries (vegan and gluten free options are available), and espresso drinks featuring Highwire Coffee.  You can down them while sitting on one of the few benches or carry it on into the separate Cat Zone area--definitely the way to go.  Cat treats for the Cat Zone can be purchased for $1.  Cat-themed items and all natural raw cat food and treats made by RAWR are also available to take home.

order counter at Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California
order counter at Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California


sugar cookies at Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California
sugar cookies at Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California


Cat Zone  

$10 donation.

This delightful diversion has a cat-centric art gallery and doubles as a cat adoption center.  Don’t forget to sanitize your hands before entering Cat Zone.  You can pet the kitties, play with them, and in some cases watch them catnap.  The goal is to get these kitties adopted.  Large windows make it easy to also observe from the sidewalk or cafe.  Cute cat furniture includes beds inspired by the Port of Oakland’s cargo cranes and play structures based on buildings from the downtown Oakland skyline, plus large colorful murals cover some of the walls.  For me, it was the purrfect way to spend my Caturday.

Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California
Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California


napping cats in Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California
napping cats in Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California


Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California
Cat Zone area of Cat Town Cafe in Oakland, California



Way more things to do in Oakland.

Mostly humorous cat items from Caught on the Web.

More ideas for exploring Northern California. 

images ©2014 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
updated 5-16-18

10 comments:

  1. How interesting and innovative!! Great way to find homes for these cats and kittens!

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  2. Oh, Man. I wish I'd known about this place last fall when I was in Oakland. I LOVE cats, and really miss my Jimmy when travelling. Will have to visit the Cat Cafe next time I am in town. Thx for the heads-up!

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  3. Cute idea! Dogs usually get all the fun in public. It wouldn't be a place we'd visit, though, as Pete is highly allergic. For cat-lovers, a must.

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  4. This is reason enough to revisit Berkeley! What a great idea.

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  5. Oooh! I read about the opening of this Cat Cafe! Thanks so much for taking me there with you. I'm such a cat-lover!

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  6. Fun times, there's a cat cafe in Toronto and Japan, I heard recently that the first bunny cafe opened in Japan as well. Now who's going to open the first dog café? :)

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  7. Love this idea and glad someone is finally bringing it to the USA.

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  8. What a terrific idea for a place to find homes for these lovable creatures as well as for cat lovers to spend some time or buy catcentric goodies!

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