WASHINGTON, D.C. — Marilyn Monroe is hiding on Colorado Avenue.
Her iconic image is on the bottom of a swimming pool somewhere on the street. It’s one of the attributes of the Washington, D.C., avenue named for the Centennial State.
Like every state in the union, Colorado has a street in the nation’s capitol. The man who designed the city, Frenchman Pierre L’Enfant, started the tradition. The earliest states won the most prominent sites, with Pennsylvania Avenue running in front of the White House. Massachusetts and Connecticut avenues traverse miles of the city, intersecting in a hub of shopping, restaurants and real estate.
Colorado Avenue landed outside the main city center a century later. But it might be better off.
The street spans a picturesque section of northeast Washington — fitting given that its namesake is known for its physical beauty. One end of the avenue abuts Rock Creek Park, a beautiful, tree-filled oasis.
A Franciscan monastery, three embassies and an amphitheater that hosts free performances of Shakespeare’s plays call Colorado Avenue home.
“I always wanted to live in Colorado, actually, so I always said living on Colorado Avenue was the closest I could come,” said Bob Hundley, 64, who moved to the street in 1969.
Shelia and Walter Roberts moved here from Longmont 22 years ago. While on a house hunting trip, they saw a home for sale on Colorado Avenue.
“I just thought, hey, this must be a high power telling us we need to live here,” Shelia Roberts said. “It’s just a wonderful location.”
The road’s origins
The first mention of Colorado Avenue is on a map from 1896. The avenue was in a different place — a long, wide road stretching to the city’s northeastern border. Sometime over the next 11 years, Colorado was out, and the street became Kansas Avenue.
But Colorado Avenue appears in its current location on a 1907 map. It started at the site of a lumber mill owned by a family thought to be among the earliest settlers in the district.
The neighborhood became one of the first suburbs. A 1910 census shows there were 67 African-American and 392 white residents. The top occupations included carpenter, printer, police officer, soldier and government worker.
Today there are still government workers, along with teachers, accountants, members of the clergy, a real-estate agent who is also a lawyer, an interior designer and retired people who have lived in their houses for 50 years or more.
At one point, John Thompson Jr., now former coach of George town University’s basketball team, lived on the street.
Which brings us back to Marilyn Monroe.
Thompson lived in the house on Colorado Avenue where Monroe’s image graces the pool. She arrived before the coach.
Before Thompson moved in, two hairstylists owned the house. They also owned a salon that featured Monroe’s face on the side of the building.
In 1977, the hairstylists had Monroe’s image placed on the pool bottom, where it remains.
The current homeowner, Carlos Garcia, likes life on Colorado Avenue. He shares a link to the Centennial state: “I’ve got an uncle who lives in Denver.”
Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com
