It was exhausting to see into the slim storefront workplace in Queens, although the entrance was product of glass. A indifferent blue cubicle wall, leaning in opposition to the backs of two pink chairs, hulked in entrance of the window and obstructed the view.

“It was clear earlier than,” mentioned J.W. Lee, the proprietor of the insurance coverage firm subsequent door, as he smoked a Newport Mild within the threshold of his workplace. “They don’t need individuals trying inside.”

The storefront within the Tudor Revival constructing within the Douglaston neighborhood of Queens has lived many lives: It was a flower store; the satellite tv for pc workplace of Mr. Santos’s predecessor, Thomas R. Suozzi, whose title nonetheless adorns the inexperienced awning; and even a therapeutic massage parlor that neighbors fearful offered extra than simply foot rubs.

Now it’s dwelling to maybe its most infamous tenant: Consultant George Santos.

Within the days since Mr. Santos opened his district workplace there, the comparatively quiet stretch of Northern Boulevard has drawn uncommon consideration, from information media and passers-by, maybe within the useless hopes of catching a glimpse of the Republican congressman who falsely claimed to be a champion volleyball participant, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, a Goldman Sachs undertaking supervisor and the kid of a Sept. 11 survivor.

At about 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, a middle-aged girl in denims with a brown satchel slung throughout her again unlocked the workplace door after which locked it behind her, curtly refusing entry to the 2 reporters ready outdoors.

“No,” she mentioned.

A handwritten notice on the door strengthened the aura of opacity, and maybe some measure of warning.

“No videotaping allowed,” it learn in a neat blue print. “No audio recording allowed. No weapons allowed.”

A balding man clutching an umbrella stopped to learn the signal, chuckled to himself after which moved alongside, however not earlier than shortly sizing up the scenario. “It’s ridiculous,” he mentioned.

One other passer-by, Invoice Graf, a 62-year-old artwork instructor on his strategy to work on the close by Nationwide Artwork League, famous that the media curiosity had been so intense that three of his college students had already been interviewed. (This, Mr. Graf, mentioned, was his first media interview.)

“Has he ever really been right here?” Mr. Graf questioned.

The reply was unclear. A spokeswoman for Mr. Santos didn’t reply to a request for remark.

On that individual Thursday, Mr. Santos was in Washington, in keeping with Mark Woolley, the congressman’s district director, who arrived in Douglaston shortly after his terse feminine colleague, and who gave The New York Occasions a tour of the modest workspace.

Mr. Woolley, 66, gave off the vibe of somebody with choices in life. A stocky man of medium construct, he wore a inexperienced sweater, a blue baseball hat, work boots and spherical, wire-rimmed glasses. He mentioned he spent eight years as district director for former Consultant Lee Zeldin, who gave up his seat in Congress to mount an almost profitable bid for governor of New York. He mentioned he had agreed to take the place after revelations about Mr. Santos emerged, and that he was going into it along with his “eyes large open,” as with every different job.

“You look perplexed,” Mr. Woolley mentioned to a Occasions reporter. “Why are you perplexed?”

“You must separate politics from authorities work, and you’ll,” he mentioned later. “As a result of that is authorities work. And it’s bought to get completed.”

That work contains serving to veterans entry advantages, and aiding constituents with immigration and Social Safety points. It’s work that Mr. Woolley appears to imagine in, even whether it is unclear if Mr. Santos’s workplace shall be liable for a lot of it.

With the northern half of Lengthy Island’s Nassau County falling into Mr. Santos’s district, County Govt Bruce Blakeman has mentioned he’ll direct all federal constituent calls to Anthony D’Esposito, one other Lengthy Island congressman.

“My workplace could have no interplay with George Santos or his employees till he resigns,” Mr. Blakeman, a Republican, mentioned this month.

But when constituents do come to Mr. Santos’s district workplace, employees shall be prepared. On Thursday, there have been 4 employees members there, together with Mr. Woolley. There was additionally a duplicate machine, a microwave, a espresso maker and intermittent pounding from the ground above, which was below development of some type.

At a desk whose occupant had but to reach, yellow sticky notes coated a monitor. One involved a union member searching for Mr. Santos’s attendance at an occasion. “It will imply quite a bit, I don’t care about his lies,” the notice quoted the union member as saying. “Everybody deserves a path to redemption.”

One other constituent had apparently referred to as in search of a faculty advice on behalf of his son. It was not clear how helpful that advice could be, given Mr. Santos’s popularity — one which Matthew Walters, a Republican and the proprietor of the close by Douglaston Delicatessen, likened to that of a “clown.”

David Chenkin, a 69-year-old retired paralegal carrying camouflage, was the one neighbor to cease by the workplace that Thursday morning, however he was unable to get in (the workplace employees had a behavior of locking the door behind them after they ventured outdoors). Mr. Chenkin voted for Mr. Santos and mentioned he simply wished to speak along with his employees.

“I might not have voted for him, had I identified,” Mr. Chenkin mentioned. “For my part, George Santos ought to keep the place he’s, he ought to do his job properly, and possibly he’ll earn my belief once more and I’d vote for him once more.”

The workplace abuts a stone wall supporting the berm of an outdated church cemetery. The Rev. Lindsay Lunnum, the rector of Zion Episcopal Church, is now Mr. Santos’s neighbor.

“The religion chief in me would say, ‘You inform the reality and the reality will set you free,’” Ms. Lunnum mentioned. “I hope as a human being that George Santos might be in a spot the place he can begin to inform the reality about who he’s, each as himself as a human, but additionally as an elected official.”

“After which as a citizen of this district,” she added, “I’ve zero confidence in his skill to control with out that honesty.”

Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.