Deep Throat

Hahahah, not sure why a historical reference to Watergate still cracks me up years after I heard it, but it sure does!! I recently saw this sign erected (haha, also funny...wow I'm like a middle school kid snickering in the corner) close to my gym on Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn. The sign is near the garage in which Mark “Deep Throat” Felt met up with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to discuss the Watergate scandal. This location helped unravel the political scandal that ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The sign says:
“Mark Felt, second in command at the FBI, met Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward here in this parking garage to discuss the Watergate scandal. Felt provided Woodward information that exposed the Nixon administration’s obstruction of the FBI’s Watergate investigation. He chose the garage as an anonymous secure location. They met at this garage six times between October 1972 and November 1973. The Watergate scandal resulted in President Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Woodward’s managing editor, Howard Simons, gave Felt the code name “Deep Throat.” Woodward’s promise not to reveal his source was kept until Felt announced his role as Deep Throat in 2005.”

Then there's the really really really ghetto sign that marks the actual spot in the garage the two met. I walked and walked and walked until I figured out I was on the B floor and had to go down to the D floor to get to 32D. It was really sketch and quiet in the garage in the middle of the day (much like it probably was at 2am when the pair would meet) and I finally found the marker. I don't know what I was looking for, but it definitely wasn't this:




Yes, that is a "temporary" piece of paper duck-taped to the wall. How very, very interesting. I love how the sign says "Fine for Removal or Defacement of Historical Marker" ... a piece of paper is a historical marker?!?!?! I love what this article says about the location:

Indeed, 32D occupies a dark corner in the lower level of the garage and is adjacent to an exit door that leads up a secluded stairwell and then onto the street, making it easy for Deep Throat to slip away safely after each rendezvous. No clandestine meetings ---that we know of--- happen there nowadays. Could the cigarette butts on the garage floor mean something more than just an innocent smoke?

So there you have it. Deep throat in all of its glory.