Last night’s Mediabistro cocktail party for media professionals at Leftbank in Adams Morgan juxtaposed creative professionals with evidence of the city’s aging infrastructure.

As attendees to the event sipped $12 rail drinks, just a few feet away a WASA crew worked to repair a broken water main under generator-powered floodlights. The jarring vibrations of a jackhammer mounted on a backhoe tearing up the street could be clearly felt through the minimalist restaurant’s cement floors.

When we arrived around 7 p.m., the water pipe break had created a stream of water coursing down 18th Street, causing crews to shut off the water to LeftBank and other businesses on the west side of the street. The lack of water didn’t slow down the party, although at one point a nervous Leftbank employee prevented re-entry into the RSVP-only function as two Department of Health officials surveyed the scene.

As we left the event, organizers were attempting to move the crowd, mostly oblivious to the activities outside, across the street to Madam’s Organ.