• The Washington Post, Thursday, April 3, 2008 11:30 AM

The Mayflower Hotel--where then-New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's purported assignation with a call girl supposedly took place--has been awash with tourists, gawkers and assorted voyeurs. The center of the storm has been the hotel's tiny gift shop, stocked with merchandise bearing the Mayflower logo and the catchphrase coined by Harry S. Truman: "Washington's Second Best Address."

Sales have increased sharply since the Spitzer scandal, says resident manager Joseph Cardone. There has been a rush on the Mayflower's luxuriously soft white terry-cloth bathrobes, which cost $69.99. Mayflower mints are also popular, with one person snatching up two cases. The coffee mugs sold out after another shopper bought several dozen.

Other people have been less scrupulous. A few weeks ago, the sign for Room 871 was stolen from the hotel. The numbers have been replaced.

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