Alley
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The Alley is referenced as the origin of the inciting anecdote—where the President supposedly set his tie on fire while smoking. Though not the scene's physical setting, the Alley carries narrative weight as the birthplace of the 'game tie' myth and frames the ritual's authenticity.
Recalled as a shadowy, small-scale moment of private embarrassment turned lore—intimate and slightly seedy in memory.
Origin point for the talisman story; provides causal backstory that motivates Charlie's urgency.
Represents the messy, human moment that transforms an accident into superstitious lore—a past event turned into present-day emotional currency.
Path invoked in Bartlet's resignation ultimatum—striding with Chief Justice to hand power to Hoynes—weaponizing narrow constitutional gauntlet against forced bunker exile.
Politically blood-slicked tension
Symbolic defiance corridor
Fracture line of loyalty and succession
The Alley is the external vista glimpsed from Joe's small high window; C.J. uses it as light comic material while also conveying the basement's lowly perspective compared to the grandeur of the White House interiors.
Shadowed and removed from the main building's formality.
Scenic detail that underscores the basement's marginality.
Emphasizes how counsel's work is out-of-sight, below the polished surface of power.
Externally adjacent; not part of the office's interior domain.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
In an anxious hallway moment on Air Force One, Charlie corners Donna to argue for preserving President Bartlet's superstition: the story of a tie rescued after the President accidentally set …
In the Oval Office portico, President Bartlet receives urgent briefing from Leo, Fitzwallace, and advisors: FBI traces Bahji comms to Khaled Madani (aka Abdul Al-Yossi) in Bethesda, whose raided duplex …
New Associate Counsel Joe Quincy is installed in a grungy ‘steam pipe trunk distribution venue’ office and immediately oriented through teasing and ribbing. Blair Spoonhour frames the White House’s low …