‘Cuteness overload’: LA finds joy in a weekend of ‘Disneyland for cat people’

Amid a year of hardships, thousands flock to Pasadena for kitty adoptions, crocheted beds and community at CatCon

It's been a difficult year in southern California, with deadly wildfires, immigration raids that have that left communities in fear and thousands of soldiers deployed to Los Angeles. In downtown Pasadena over the weekend, though, the region received a badly needed dose of joy.

On Saturday and Sunday, thousands of cat lovers flocked to the city for a weekend dedicated to all things feline. Inside the city convention center, there were 200 kittens waiting to be adopted and hundreds of vendors selling everything a cat lover could dream of: treats, charmingly kitschy tees, crocheted beds and medieval period-inspired portraits of regal cats.