As Jeff Lunden reported on NPR yesterday, Matilda -- the stately Algonquin cat of the even statelier Algonquin Hotel in New York -- has her own chaise lounge in the hotel's famous lobby.

Perhaps the Algonquin's most famous guest, the hotel's lobby cat has been a mainstay since the 1930s, when a stray cat wandered in off the street. The hotel manager felt sorry for it and let it stay. A tradition was born, and the Algonquin's resident cat has been a resident ever since. Upon the suggestion of actor John Barrymore, when the cat is a male, he's always named Hamlet; when female, she's always named Matilda.

The first Algonquin cat had a champagne glass to drink milk from. The current incarnation has its own email account. Its email signature? "Have a PURR-fect day." I kid you not.