Dennis RomeroThis is one of those only-in-L.A. stories.
A traveling showcase that features acrobatic cats – yes, the Acro-Cats – had one of its vehicles vandalized in Hollywood last night. Culprits smashed and slashed a custom, $2,000 fiberglass cat that was mounted to the SUV's roof.
The show's organizer and star, Samantha Martin, says she believes the suspects were …
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… teenage skateboarders who had been hanging around.
It happened between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. as the Honda Element was parked outside the Undergound Theater where the Acro-Cats were performing on the first night of a three-week national tour, Martin told us.
Credit: Courtesy Acro-Cats
“My dreams are shattered,” she laughed. “The cat's demolished. It's going to have to be rebuilt.”
The cat atop the vehicle was custom mounted, we were told. And Martin purchased the SUV specifically for this tour. The car is normally towed behind the act's tour bus, a publicist said.
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The vandals smashed the rear window and a side window of the Honda, Martin said. She believes the suspects used skateboards to pummel and make gashes in the fiberglass feline.
Martin says a car parked next to the Honda also had a window smashed; a skate company sticker was slapped on it, too, she said.
The LAPD was notified and a police report was taken.
Gigi Gentile, the act's public relations director, says that one of the skateboarders was seen by witnesses before the Acro-Cats' second show last night and that he said something like, “I hate cats.”
Noted: Helen Bernstein High School is right across the street.
Credit: Courtesy Acro-Cats
“It was opening night” in L.A., Gentile said. “We try so hard and this is the thanks we get.”
Welcome to Los Angeles.
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