Shortly after Joseph Rodota’s book THE WATERGATE, Inside America’s Most Infamous Address was published in February, he received an email message from a reader who informed him that she and her husband had an unusual artifact from the Watergate Hotel, and asked if he’d like to see it.
It turned out to be the personal guest book of Gabor Olah de Garab, the general manager of the Watergate Hotel from 1967 to 1985.
A contractor who was working on a remodel of the interior lobby and front desk spotted the album in a dumpster with other debris. He received permission to rescue it and take it home. Over the past four decades, the owners have shared it only with friends and family.
Today, with the owners’ permission, Rodota released online an annotated version of the guest book, signed by more than 250 actors, singers, musicians, playwrights, journalists, diplomats, comedians – and a princess or two. The lead image of this blog post is a page signed by the cast of “All the President’s Men.”
Dolly Parton slept here. So did Tony Bennett, Shelley Winters, Ron Howard, Carrie Fisher, Luciano Pavarotti, Mark Hamill, Tony Orlando, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda and Arnold Schwarzenegger.