Elizabeth Kobliha knows that her one-eyed cat Likho has more friends than she does. So much so that last Saturday, on his 15th birthday, the sidewalk in front of his store in downtown Long Beach, where he spends most of his time, was transformed into an impromptu fair.
There were vendors selling peach cobblers, watches, hot dogs and offering tattoos and face painting. A DJ played records to celebrate.
“He's a very good businessman. We have stickers, t-shirts, keychains and buttons. [of him]and everything goes to your account, to your name,” Kobliha said about the cat.
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Before Likho wandered into the 7,000-square-foot Long Beach Vintage Etc, there was Apollo. The “big ragdoll” arrived with health problems but was the perfect store cat. Apollo, a Maine Coon who died at age 13 after an attack a year after his arrival in 2015, had curbed the store's mouse problem and brought “a lot of love and energy.”
Similarly, Likho, a one-eyed Russian blue, was also sick when Kobilha took him in when he was 8, but she loved him anyway.
“I always wanted to open my own store so I could have a cat,” Kobliha says, adding that she was inspired by bookstores with “just relaxing” cats.
Vendors line the sidewalk for Likho's birthday party. The cat is a local celebrity.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
In 2016, Kobliha was browsing Facebook when a video stopped her scrolling. In it, a woman inside a hoarder's garage swung a feather toy in front of Likho, who jumped to catch it.
The post was made by Sia Barbi in collaboration with animal rescue group Stray Cat Alliance after the cat was abandoned at the Hancock Park home. In the early '90s, Sia and her identical twin sister, Shane, made waves in the world of fashion and pop culture, often modeling for Chanel, Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier. His rise to fame began after the Los Angeles Times covered a Sunset Boulevard billboard showing the twins wearing skimpy clothing that had been causing car accidents.
“Kids of a certain generation were very angry and upset about them,” Kobliha said of the Barbi twins. When they left the modeling industry, they dedicated themselves to animal activism, volunteering for rescue groups and cat trap, neuter, and return programs.
Elizabeth Kobliha holds her cat Likho. When she opened her vintage store, she knew she wanted a store cat like the quiet cats in bookstores.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Kobliha wanted to adopt Likho, but first he would need a $3,000 operation to remove an infected eye, paid for by the Stray Cat Alliance.
“They took care of everything, then we had to wait because he had to recover,” he remembers. “The whole time I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what if it doesn't work? What if the cat comes here and is absolutely crazy?'”
That fear was in vain. Likho, who lives in the tent full-time, acclimatized in one day. “He's been a wonderful addition ever since,” says Kobliha.
He has since become the face of the store, with a mural dedicated to him outside to welcome customers. That was done by local muralist LaJon Miller, who worked on another one on the sidewalk during the Likho party.
“They adopted me,” he says of the Likho fandom. “He's been my muse on this street for a while… He just wanders around the store, relaxes, takes his little nap and hangs out with everyone, so he's very social.”
Likho has never damaged the centuries-old objects in his shop, Kobliha says, but he has scared off suspicious ghosts.
LaJon Miller, who calls Likho his muse, paints a portrait of the cat on the sidewalk outside Long Beach Vintage Etc.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Kobliha believes that ghosts once connected to the shops in the 1922 building — a former grocery store customer embarrassed by his obesity and a former furniture store owner who committed suicide — still wander the stalls of his store.
“We see shadow figures… there's a certain area where they pass back and forth. They don't do anything, but they're very scary,” Kobliha says of the unusual sightings. “Likho is very protective and we feel really safe when he is around.”
“However, it is a little strange when he is sleeping and suddenly jumps up and looks around,” he adds.
Likho's biggest fan may be a man named Dom Gomez. He lives within walking distance of the store and tends to visit it after long shifts at a restaurant aboard the Queen Mary. He stopped by the birthday party dressed in his work uniform: a white button-down shirt and black pants. His hair was combed; his hands behind his back.
Likho's face adorns Long Beach Vintage Etc merchandise, like this fan.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
When he talks about Likho, he does so with a tender cadence and a dignified countenance, as if it were his own.
“Time flies, you know?” he says, smiling, of his visit to Likho over the years. “He gets a lot of love from all the women who work here and from me… he has a lot of fans. I don't know who is more famous, Muhammad Ali or Likho the Cat.”
On a previous birthday, Gómez wanted to give Likho a gift. She decided on a boy's denim jacket which she altered into a cat with a The Cure patch on the back, but unfortunately it was “a little too big.” Next year, he'll give it another try with a sweater.
“That's my little friend,” he says. “Today is a special day. I didn't know a cat could live that long, but I think it still has a lot of energy to live… maybe another 100 years, I hope.”
