A note on the Block Party, by Darrow Montgomery, as told to Mitch Ryals:

Sights and scenes are changing so quickly in D.C.—on Georgia Avenue NW, 14th Street NW, and elsewhere. Part of my goal with these mini-essays is to document the old stuff before it’s gone.

The twist on this episode featuring the McMillan Reservoir is that things are a already disappearing or are being repurposed. The iconic silos are still there, but they give me the creeps. They remind me of old crematoria.

But there’s something sort of macabre in the newness, too. Fencing around the site shields what’s inside from prying eyes. And the netting is dotted with advertisements of shiny happy people that belie the history of the place.

In 2000, Robin Bingham wrote a feature story for City Paper about finding Marvin Minter’s body in a hovel in one of the squat towers at the McMillan site. I think about that story every time I pass by.

Photographed April 16 on the block bounded by North Capitol, First, and Channing streets NW and Michigan Avenue NW.