By Erica Schwiegershausen 8/09/12 11:30am

cats

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Sphinx in a green dress

Catwalk Mysteriously Absent from the Algonquin Hotel’s Kitty Fashion Show (Slideshow)

It wasn’t until The Observer arrived at Wednesday evening’s cat fashion show and reception at the Algonquin Hotel to benefit NY Save—hosted by cat-in-residence Matilda and her handler, Alice de Almeida—that we realized there would be no catwalk.

Feeling a little foolish, we asked Ms. de Almeida whether Matilda, a 4-year-old ragdoll who is the third female cat to inhabit the lobby (or part of it anyway) of the Algonquin, enjoys dressing up.

“No!” she exclaimed, looking at us somewhat incredulously. “She doesn’t dress up. We just let the other cats dress up,” Ms. de Almeida said, showing us a rhinestone collar that she was going to attempt to get Matilda to wear for the show.

In lieu of a costume, Matilda showcased her notoriously snobby disposition and remained in her cage in a separate room from the other fashion show participants for the majority of the reception. In a second-floor hotel room, Savannahs in tuxedo shirts and studded leather jackets and sphynxes in tutus lounged on couches, while some of the younger show cats jumped on the bed. Read More

By Laura L. Griffin 6/05/12 9:30am

Swag Bag

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Swag Bag: A Toolkit for Reviving the Algonquin Round Table

Last night, about 150 bookish folk raised their glasses to a new partnership. The refurbished and reopened Algonquin Hotel hopes to resurrect its literary reputation by hosting the Penguin Previews Series at the Round Table–readings and talks featuring Penguin authors held in the famed hotel lobby, where the wits of the Algonquin Round Table met and traded barbs through the 1920s.

After they’d had their fill of the thematic cocktails (The Penguin, a variation on a White Russian, and The Matilda, a liquored-up mimosa named for the housecat that lives in the lobby and serves as the hotel’s mascot, perhaps even more so than Dorothy Parker), partygoers traded in a postcard-size photo of the resident kitty for a gift bag. Below the jump, a catalog of the goodies contained therein. Read More