Room 8 (c. 1947 – August 13, 1968) was a neighborhood cat who wandered into a classroom in 1952 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California.
Leo Kottke wrote an instrumental called "Room 8" that was included in his 1971 album, Mudlark.
[1] As he got older, Room 8 was injured in a cat fight and suffered from feline pneumonia, so a family near the school volunteered to take him in.
His obituary in the Los Angeles Times rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph.
[2] In 2024, a feature documentary film about the cat's life, Room 8, was made by film-maker Scott Mabbutt.