1600 Block of Newton Street NW, October 31

Page three photos are also in a big picture gallery.

Bonus, Halloween gallery.

Mount Pleasant, October 31

A full gallery.

Mount Pleasant Street NW, July 10

Heavily armed Metropolitan Police Department officers surrounded a building near Mt. Pleasant and Irving streets NW Tuesday afternoon, responding to what officials said was a "possible barricade situation." A man was reportedly barricaded in his apartment with a screwdriver or screwdrivers.

Washington City Paper contributor Stefanie Gans was nearby and took pictures of the standoff. View a slideshow of the scene here.

UPDATE: The man is reportedly dead, after witnesses heard two gunshots.

3300 Block of Brown Street NW, May 23

Page Three Photos are now in a weekly updated gallery.

Brown Street NW, May 23

16th Street NW, May 5, 1991

More photos

As Washington City Paper wrote in its May 10 issue that year, the scars of the violence were quickly cleaned up: "With the exception of the shattered bus shelters along 16th Street NW, daily downtown commuters through the area saw no signs that major disturbances had rocked the community for two straight nights. The grimmest reminders of the violence—Church's Fried Chicken and the 7-Eleven on Mount Pleasant Street, architecturally the most obnoxious structures on the street—were quickly being restored to operating order."

According to WAMU's Emily Friedman: "While the riots didn't single-handedly level the playing field for Latinos, they did permanently change the conversation."

City Paper, at the time, noted the disconnections between local Latinos and the D.C. government:

The riots, however, demonstrated the acute lack of leadership within the city's Hispanic community. No one leader could speak with any authority to the group seeking confrontations with the police. The factionalized community can barely set aside its own cultural and geographic differences long enough each year to put on the annual Hispanic festival. ... At one point Monday night, local and national Hispanic leaders, unable to get demonstrators to put down their rocks and bottles and follow them, decided to talk among themselves at the El Tamuzul Restaurant on 18th Street NW. During the session, they drew up a list of demands, and a meeting with Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon was at the top of their list. That demand was fulfilled within a half hour because Dixon had been circulating through the area all evening, looking for community leaders to confer with. 

Relations, fortunately, have improved considerably since then.

Mount Pleasant, January 18

What do we have here? Is it possible it is responsible for this from a few years ago?

Mount Pleasant, Winter 2010 and 2008

96 Pigeons, Mount Pleasant, December 17

Mount Pleasant Street NW, May 31

Mount Pleasant, May 24

The Issue: The saga between neighborhood residents and the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) battles on. Mount Pleasant Public Library in Ward 1, set to close on Saturday for renovation and expansion, is the latest in the spotlight of the library wars. For the past two years, DCPL and the community have been discussing the renovation of the historic Italian Renaissance-style building, says George Williams, public information officer for DCPL. Plans include expanding the library to the property line and building a new accessibility ramp that winds around the side of the building toward a rear entrance. During construction, residents will have access to an interim library at 3164 Mount Pleasant St. NW, which opens April 26. The new library is expected to open fall 2011. What could be wrong with a facelift?

Stop!: Neighborhood residents argue the problem isn’t the renovation but the lack of community input into DCPL’s plans. The last community meeting was June 2009. Many residents expressed concern over the height and placement of the accessibility ramp, and the fire hazard the expansion may pose to neighboring apartments. DCPL has failed to address these issues, says local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) commissioner, Chris Otten. He says the expansion—“which nobody has asked for, by the way"—would "block emergency access points” because it places the renovated library 15 feet from the closest buildings. DCPL responds to questions with “no, that’s not possible or we’ll look into it,” leaving resident questions unanswered, Otten says.

For the Love of Books: “We believe that the community wants and deserves a new and renovated library,” Williams says. Mount Pleasant Public Library is the only one in Ward 1. The community needs this expansion, he says. The proposed accessibility ramp will be 120 feet long, with a 7-foot incline versus the current 3-foot incline; it was approved by the D.C. Office of Disability Rights, he adds. He says the community has had a chance to engage in discussion over the library's design. “Glad renovations are finally moving forward, though the amount of neighborhood bickering over it has been ridiculous,” writes DCist commenter CrookedRiverwoman.

What’s Next: Community residents are planning a rally/flash-mob outside and a "SaveDaLibrary Danceathon" inside the library on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Talks of a sit-in are in the works, Otten says.

Rendering courtesy of DCPL

Now that Washington City Paper's resident media critic has departed, someone here's gotta cap on the InTowner. Hope this fills the void.

Witness the featured story from the InTowner's March issue, penned by Anthony L. Harvey. It's a nice piece of neighborhood journalism, albeit written in the 'Towner's impossibly verbose house style, about how Mount Pleasant residents are protesting the liquor license for stalwart Salvadoran/Tex-Mex eatery Haydee's.

The article's headline refers to Haydee's as a "Highly Regarded Mt. Pleasant Supper Club Restaurant." Webster's New World dictionary defines a supper club as "an intimate, expensive nightclub."

Now Haydee's might have live music on occasion, but the home of the $10.95 Fiesta Platter, beloved and highly regarded as it may be, is no supper club.