Penny reads frequently from her books in DC, so has almost certainly been in the bar. Here's the snippet of description (some of which is accurate, and some not).
It took Jean-Guy a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim bar in the basement of the storied Hay-Adams hotel. At least, he suspected there were stories, though he himself didn't know any.
The Hay-Adams had a front-row view of the White House. It was, in theatrical and professional-wrestling terms, in the "spit zone."*
The bar itself was windowless. Perhaps, Jean-Guy thought, because the men and women who frequented it would rather forget about the building looming right there. Or maybe there was a more practical reason. It was private. No one could see out, but neither could anyone see in.**
There was a reason it was called Off the Record. He could see by the photos on the walls that this subterranean haunt was a discreet meeting place for Washington's political class.***
It was where apparent adversaries downed stiff drinks and shared bowls of peanuts and information.
Where journalists met contacts.
Where intelligence agents met informants.
They sat in the blood red chairs, surrounded by burgundy walls, and whispered their confidences.
"I'll have a Shirley Temple, please."
The waiter, who'd clearly heard and seen it all, merely asked if
Beauvoir wanted one maraschino cherry or two.
"Two please."
The waiter brought it, placing the perspiring glass on the face of the President of the United States. Beauvoir picked up the coasters strewn on the wooden table and saw that each had a caricature of a famous politician. Most American, but some foreign. None, that he could see, Canadian.**** Since Canada, as far as America's political elite knew, did not really exist. And if it did, it was merely an inconvenient extension of their nation. A sort of annoying younger sibling that sometimes tried to assert itself but could always be put in its place.
*Actually, Lafayette Park, which is a square city block, is between the bar and the White House.
**The bar does have some small windows, but it's mostly set below-ground so it would be a view of sidewalk-level ankles.
***There are no photos on the wall. The decoration is all political caricatures or cartoons, many of which date back to the 1980s. See our other posts about the bar.
*****I think there was a Pierre Trudeau one, but I don't own it.
