Airport bathroom a tourist attraction

updated 1:18 a.m. ET Sept. 17, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - When tourists ask for the bathroom in the Minneapolis airport lately, it’s usually not because they have to go.

It’s because they want to see the stall made famous by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in a sex sting.

“It’s become a tourist attraction,” said Karen Evans, information specialist at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. “People are taking pictures.”

Craig was arrested June 11 by a Minneapolis airport police officer. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Craig has since said his guilty plea was a mistake. His request to withdraw the guilty plea will be heard Sept. 26, just four days before he has said he will step down from his Senate seat.

Just 15 minutes into her shift on Friday, Evans said she had been asked directions to the new tourist attraction four times. Other airport workers field the same question.

“It’s by the Lottery shop, right next to the shoeshine shop,” said newsstand worker Abdalla Said, adding he gets the question daily.

The Royal Zino Shoeshine shop owner’s grandson, Royal Zino, said it has been hectic.

“People have been going inside, taking pictures of the stall, taking pictures outside the bathroom door — man, it’s been crazy,” he said.

On their way to Guatemala, Jon and Sally Westby of Minneapolis made a visit.

“We had to just stop and check out the bathroom,” Sally said. “In fact, it’s Jon’s second time — he was here last week already.”

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