Luna

Luna is a tuxedo in Fort Greene. She is the reason this entire project exists.

I do not remember exactly when I first saw her. It was during the stretch of 2020 when the city went quiet enough that you could actually notice things you had been walking past for years. She sat upright on the register, watching the door like she was keeping count.

The morning regulars shuffle in with their Greek coffee cups, greeting her before the cashier. Kids ask their parents if they can say hello. She has been on that register longer than some workers have lived in New York.

There is nothing dramatic about Luna. She does not do tricks. She does not go viral. She does not scratch inspectors or draw film crews from Japan. She sits in her spot. The neighborhood comes to her.

What caught me was that she was always there. Every time I walked in, she held the same spot, posture, and calm while workers, stock, and even the awning changed around her.

I started noticing other cats after her. One bodega, then another. A tabby in the chip aisle. An orange cat in a doorway. A tortie on a radiator. Each one stationed in its place like it had been assigned a shift. The pattern was everywhere once I knew to look for it.

Luna did not start the project. She started the looking.

I have photographed well over a hundred bodega cats since then. Written about dozens. Helped push a bill into City Council. The project grew into something I could not have planned. But when people ask where it began, I think about a tuxedo on a register who did not move for anyone.

The original manager.