Answer: That number is listed for journalist Elsa Walsh and, somewhat more famously, Robert U. Woodward. You do know who that is, I trust. (No, don't call to ask him who was Deep Throat.)
How do I find that? The reverse directory from InfoSpace.com is a good one. You'll get similar results from others. (By the way, note that InfoSpace will search even if you just know the start of the number.)
Comment: The residential telephone listings on the Web usually do not come from up-to-the-minute directory assistance from the major phone companies. Instead, they come from printed directories that are scanned in by three vendors. So numbers are often wrong. But searching is convenient. The best thing is that they will show you the neighbors, others on the same street or in the same building. But Walsh and Woodward are listed in telephone directories only by their phone number, with no street adress, so the "find neighbors" option doesn't show up in this case.
How do I know this is right? You don't. But now that you know a name, you can double-check with directory assistance.
How do I attribute this? This fact probably wouldn't get reported, but if you had to attribute information from a reverse directory, you usually should make clear to the reader that the information is often out of date.
Go on to Question 3
A primer on Web searching is available at https://powerreporting.com/altavista.html.
You can reach Bill Dedman by e-mail at Bill@PowerReporting.com.
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