BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (WIAT) – When Christy Eubank moved to Birmingham from Charlotte a few years ago, the pandemic lockdown prevented her from getting to grips with the Magic City as quickly as she would have liked.
But last summer, after Eubank joined a social group and started going out more, she finally met someone who really made her feel at home in Birmingham – Tab, Parkside on Fifth’s resident chat .
Yesterday, less than a year after first meeting Tab, Eubank and hundreds of other Birmingham residents learned the sad news of his death.
“It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that our friend and ‘Birmingham’s Coolest Cat’ TAB has crossed the Rainbow Bridge,” the Avondale bar said on its social media accounts. “He was loved by so many people.”
Eubank said the news was heartbreaking.
“I’m very sad,” she said Wednesday. “He’s just one of the magic things here in Magic Town.”
She said Parkside was closed the first day she met Tab, but she hung out with the friendly orange cat outside.
“Tab and I spent a lot of time together, having little private moments,” she explained. “He was so adorable and memorable.”
Every time she returned to Parkside – or even passed by – she looked for Tab, who was honored as Birmingham Animal League’s Coolest Cat of 2022.
“I always looked for it,” she said. “Who wouldn’t? It had become a staple of Birmingham.
Eubank, who works in finance but is an amateur belly dancer, said she had just thought of Tab when she learned he was dead. She said she plans to bring some sort of gift to Parkside just to remind those caring for the friendly feline that he will be missed.
Parkside on Fifth also plans to commemorate Tab in some way, though the plans aren’t set in stone yet.
“We are planning a memorial for him soon and will put a plaque on his bench out front,” the bar post said.
Parkside on Fifth asked those who knew Tab to share their memories and photos to keep his legacy alive.
Eubank said she will always treasure her time with Tab.
“It was always ‘give love, receive love,'” she said of Tab. “That’s what he did, and that’s what we should do too.”
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