Allegro watches the joint City Council and School Board meeting unfold. Photo by Chelsea Sektnan
Soon after the joint meeting between the Hermosa Beach City School District Board of Education and City Council commenced, Allegro, a local Hermosa Beach orange tabby cat sauntered into the crowd from the chilly evening outside. Community members snickered as the cat walked under chairs, eventually making his way to the front of the room. He rubbed on chair legs and the podium and eventually sat on a city council chair and fell asleep.
The cat was carefully picked up after waking up and brought outside, only to return an hour later to make his second appearance of the night. This time he was allowed to stay and eventually fell asleep on a chamber chair. He eventually woke up and after rubbing on an unused microphone, walked across the dais and eventually ended up lying across Deputy City Clerk Linda Abbott’s pile of papers.
“I had to ensure that he didn’t walk on my keyboard,” Abbott wrote on Allegro’s Facebook wall. “He was a good boy.”
At one point, School Board Member Jack Burns had to stop mid-sentence when he noticed that the cat was getting more attention than he was.
“Is that cat crawling around behind me?” Burns asked. “I’m allergic to cats; this is not a good omen. If it jumps on me it will make good TV apparently.”
“Coda Allegro~Lobby Cat” has a Facebook page dedicated entirely to his antics around the city offices. He is often found sleeping in city chairs, drawers and desks and can often be found hanging around the police and fire departments. Over Christmas he even received his own Christmas stocking.
“We’re going to need to install an official police kitty door,” read one picture of Allegro walking into the police department.
Apparently Allegro’s real home is not at the police station, but like all residents of Hermosa Beach he is allowed to stop-in, hang out with the staff, and make sure everything is running smoothly.
