There was a big buzz in downtown Los Gatos Thursday morning when “cousins” of the town’s iconic cats, Leo and Leona, were installed at the Los Gatos Shopping Center.

The new cats are 8 feet tall and weigh approximately 6,500 pounds each. They were carved from Mexican cream white marble in Guadalajara, with Los Gatos sculptor Tony Lynott and his friend Curt Walton leading the team of stone carvers.

The center is one block in from the intersection of Highway 9 and N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for years,” shopping center owner Jim Zanardi said. “I’m really happy with them.”

Plans call for lighting to be installed so that the new cats can be seen at night, keeping watch over the shopping center.

The original Los Gatos cats were installed in 1922 near the entrance to the Cats Restaurant, just off Highway 17 on the outskirts of town.