CATS: the night Puerto Portals brings a legend back to life

If you have been in Mallorca long enough, you have probably heard someone mention CATS.

No, it has nothing to do with the musical. And no, cats were never really part of the story either.

This CATS belongs to Mallorca.

Back in the 1990s, Puerto Portals was already one of the island’s most fashionable meeting points. The marina, its restaurants and terraces attracted an international crowd, but there was another side to Portals then too: nightlife.

Bars, music, late nights and places to dance were all part of the scene. And among them was CATS.

The original club occupied the area where Cappuccino and Tahini are today. It was more than just a dance floor: there was also a terrace, billiard tables, table football and all those spaces in between where, inevitably, half the night happened.

Glamorous, fun and very much a place to see and be seen, CATS became part of the social landscape of 1990s Mallorca.

Ask a Mallorcan of a certain generation about CATS and there is a good chance they will have a story to tell. Probably more than one.

Puerto Portals has evolved since then.

The marina remains one of Mallorca’s great social meeting points, but its nightlife has changed. The clubs and late-night venues of those years have largely given way to restaurants, terraces and a different rhythm after dark.

Except, once a year, CATS gets another night out.

The annual CATS party is a tribute to the original club and the era around it. And it goes beyond the name and the music: little details from the old CATS are brought back too, from the billiard tables and table football to the atmosphere of those nights when nobody seemed particularly interested in going me early.

This year, once again, it happened.

For a few hours, Puerto Portals felt like a meeting between two Mallorcas: the island many of us remember and the cosmopolitan Mallorca we live in today.

Perhaps that is why CATS still means something.

It is not simply nostalgia. It is a small piece of Mallorca’s social history that, once a year, gets another night out.

And that is part of what we mean when we talk about Living Mallorca.

Because knowing Mallorca is not only about knowing its beaches, mountains, villages or beautiful homes. It is knowing the stories behind the places. Why certain names still make people smile. What used to be where. And which traditions are worth keeping in the calendar.

So, if you were at CATS this year, you already know.

And if you missed it, make a note for next year. It usually finds its way back onto the Puerto Portals calendar around this time.

Some Mallorca stories are best experienced in person.

Living Mallorca, by MallorcaSite.

Photocredit Jaime Verd & Puerto Portals