Photo credit: Joy Asico
According to some dictionaries, watergate is defined as the gate of a town or castle opening on to a lake, river, or sea. We define it as an incident that occured during the 1972 US presidential campaign and a series of scandals that followed during the Nixon administration; or as The Free Dictionary puts it: “When a group of agents employed by the re-election organization of President Richard Nixon were caught breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building, Washington, DC. The consequent political scandal was exacerbated by attempts to conceal the fact that senior White House officials had approved the burglary and eventually forced the resignation of President Nixon.” No matter the variances of definition, Watergate will forever symbolize both luxury and political scandal.
Bob Woodward shown here with Watergate dweller Wyatt Dickerson
For years, the adjacent Watergate Hotel was the watering hole of the rich and famous, heads of state, visiting dignitaries, and most notably the Watergate buglers. We’re not sure how it fell into disarray and shut down almost a decade ago …… but the legend is back after years of collecting dust and memories. Hollywood on the Potomac attended a Washington Post panel event in 2012 with all of the Watergate players in tow, including Woodward and Bernstein, the then cub reporters who broke the story as well as Editor Ben Bradlee who approved the courageous journalistic move.
Carl Bernstein and Myra MacPherson
Imagine the conversations that occurred between its famous residents where Chef Jean-Louis Palladin’s hotel restaurant reigned supreme: Alfred S. Bloomingdale, Anna Chennault, Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Plácido Domingo, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alan Greenspan, Monica Lewinsky, Clare Boothe Luce, Robert McNamara, John and Martha Mitchell, John Warner and Elizabeth Taylor, and Nixon secretary Rose Mary Woods. If you’re too young to remember or not a history buff, we suggest a course on Watergate #101.
The hotel with a storied past is due to open early next year. In honor of their new chef, Nancy Conrad hosted a welcome party for Michael Santoro at her apartment in The Watergate South (think widow of Pete Conrad, Apollo 12 mission astronaut who became the third man to walk on the Moon). “It was such a delight to introduce my friend Chef Santoro to my friends in DC,” Conrad told Hollywood on the Potomac. “We are all anxiously awaiting the opening of restaurant in The Watergate Hotel. The Watergate Hotel is the renaissance of the Watergate complex. All of us who are so lucky to live in this magnificent complex are thrilled to be part of this great event.”
Chef Santoro and Nancy Conrad
Long time resident Tandy Dickerson weighed in: “Deja vu for the old guard of the seventies when The Watergate Hotel was IT for food and location. Chef Santoro’s restaurant will delight all and the hotel will be gloriously reborn as a comeback icon.”
Tandy Dickerson (right)
“As Watergate residents, we and hostess Nancy Conrad applaud as gastronomy on the Potomac sets sail at the new Watergate Hotel restaurant captained by Michael Santoro.” Dr Steven Guttenberg and Diana Winters
“The official video teaser:
