Was Epstein gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell really hiding out at In-N-Out?

If someone's trying to hide, as the press reports have had it about Jeffrey Epstein's gal pal and reported fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, an In-N-Out Burger near Hollywood is a pretty weird place to do it.

But here we are, according to the New York Post:

The Post found the socialite hiding in plain sight in the least likely place imaginable — a fast-food joint in Los Angeles.

Maxwell, 57, the alleged madam to the multimillionaire pedophile, was scarfing down a burger, fries and shake al fresco at an In-N-Out Burger on Monday while reading "The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives," a nonfiction best seller by journalist Ted Gup.

Sitting alone with a pet pooch, she was surprised to be found and told an onlooker, "Well, I guess this is the last time I'll be eating here!"

Having lived in Los Angeles for 14 years, um, that's a little rich.

Here is the Post's tweet:

Here's where she was, according to Google maps:

What do we see? The famed Cahuenga pass of Hollywood nights fame.  Universal Studios.  Mulholland Drive.  Some pretty famous landmarks, and none of this too far from the famous white-lettered Hollywood hillside sign.

In-N-Outs are pretty well a defining feature of the Los Angeles culture.  There aren't that many of them, but the ones that are there are famous for the long lines of customer cars snaking out of them at the drive-thrus.  But this wasn't just any In-N-Out; this particular In-N-Out, reportedly on Cahuenga Boulevard, could be called a celebrity-spotters' In-N-Out, not very different from the Beverly Wilshire "Pretty Woman" Hotel, Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, Shutters in Santa Monica, or the Starbucks on Doheny & Robertson.  In-N-Outs, whether in Universal City, on Sunset Boulevard, or Culver City, are famous paparazzi hangouts, because celebrities turn up at those places — Tom Hanks showed up at an In-N-Out in Fontana, for example, so for tourists, they're a place you go if you've got to see such people.  The Cahuenga one, right on the tourist route to Universal Studios, would have a particularly large number of celebrity-obsessed tourists.  The Post's characterization of this place as "the least likely imaginable" raises some eyebrows.

Here's the flavor of what these places are like, according to the Los Angeles Times:

Our tour guide — the exuberant Kristyn Mendieta — begins pointing out the sights: the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Academy Awards were held in 1929; Hollywood High School, which boasts a celebrity mural on its eastern facade; the In-N-Out Burger on Sunset Boulevard, where the stars go to feed post-Oscars.

"Remember, you've been working out," quips Mendieta. "You've been drinking lemon water. You haven't eaten solid food in weeks. It is time for a Double-Double and some fries." She also helpfully notes that this was the site of Paris Hilton's infamous DUI arrest in 2006.

Here are more celebrities chowing down on In-N-Out, some eating catered In-N-Out, LAX In-N-Out, Culver City In-N-Out, or Sunset Boulevard In-N-Out instead of the In-N-Out Maxwell was at, though a few look as though they could be there, too.

Here's a would-be paparazzi lamenting the celebrity drought as a result of word getting out about how famous this whole thing is and Oscar-night catering:

"I could get a double-double. Who knows what could happen!" Brie Larson said that about three hours before she gave her Best Actress acceptance speech. I didn't watch her say it because I was already in an Uber en route to the In-N-Out on Sunset, about a quarter mile away from where the Academy Awards were being held at the Dolby Theatre.

The plan was simple: Grab a burger (chopped chilies, whole grilled), pop a squat at a table, then wait for five hours as In-N-Out-obsessed stars poured in to get their post-Oscars Animal Style fix. Katy Perry smuggled In-N-Out into the Golden Globes, Adele went there after the Grammys, and now Brie-freaking-Larson name drops them before the Oscars? It was totally fool-proof — until everything got derailed by Vanity Fair. Damn you, VF, damn you and your unrivaled afterparty elegance.

This tells you how obvious this Ghislaine stunt seems to be.

The Post doesn't say how it so very accidentally spotted the woman, which could mean it was tipped off by anyone, including maybe someone on Maxwell's public relations team, and was playing along.  Notice that Ghislaine Maxwell didn't turn away from the camera, as someone trying to hide might have done.

The case strengthens with the fact that the Post said the woman was reading a book on CIA agents, quite possibly promoting the rumors that Epstein was a CIA agent or informant, something that could be be grounds for getting all attention to the pervert and his issues and investigations dismissed.

I don't believe for one minute this woman was hiding -- actually, it sounds like she wanted to be found, and what she really wanted was to set up a 'narrative.'

Los Angeles has more than three million people with countless upper class neighborhoods, and endless exclusive suburbs, any of which would have been easy for someone like Ghislaine Maxwell to hide in if that was what she really wanted to do. She goes to a celebrity In-N-Out on Cahuenga, sits in a public place outdoors where cameras can spot her, lets a pap take her pic, reads a book on CIA operatives (instead of fiddles with her cell phone like most people do), and then claims she was surprised to have been spotted and didn't want to be?

Oh, give us a break.

Image credit: Twitter screen shot

Update: This post has been corrected.

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