At Forest Hills Connection, 2019 was a year of discovery, surprise and delight. Actually, that’s been true every year this publication has been around (a 2018 favorite was learning Lady Bird Johnson was a Murch parent). We get to discover new things about this corner of the District and the people who live and work here. We are often surprised by what we find. And we delight in sharing it with you.
Elvis and Marilyn were here
Marilyn Monroe held an impromptu news conference in front of 3625 Appleton Street. (Evening Star, May 23, 1957. Reprinted with permission of the DC Public Library, Star Collection. © Washington Post)
In May 1957, Marilyn Monroe was in Washington with then-husband Arthur Miller to support him during his trial on contempt of Congress charges. But she didn’t want anyone to know she was here. Joseph Rauh, a prominent civil rights attorney who lived at 3625 Appleton Street NW (and has a UDC Law lecture named for him), offered a sofa bed in his family’s den.
Once more, for emphasis: Marilyn Monroe slept on a sofa bed. In a den.
She didn’t stay under the radar for long. For the rest of the story, read Ann Kessler’s February piece on Monroe and Elvis Presley’s visits to Forest Hills.
More history: Connecticut and Albemarle were a 1950s shopping destination; the lost Rose Hill quarry.
The street is icy, but it hasn’t rained or snowed!
Forest Hills could have just as easily been called Forest Springs. Marlene Berlin explained in January that in addition to the freeze-thaw cycle that causes icing on streets and sidewalks after winter snow and rain, we also have underground springs that bubble up and cause problems for pedestrians and motorists in cold weather.
More nature: We’re on a major bird migration “flyway;” and where all that springtime pollen came from, and why there was so much of it.
People helping people and helping nature
In 2019 we learned about the cutting edge biomedical engineering research at UDC aimed at bettering the lives of stroke survivors. We got a guided tour of a long-buried stream’s recovery. And we learned about Rock Creek Conservancy’s effort to restore a portion of Melvin C Hazen West to a more natural state… an effort that will continue in 2020 with the aid of volunteers and donors.
Fascinating people, professions and pastimes
Meet our resident upholstery wiz, the retired foreign service officer who literally wrote the book on Old Shanghai architecture, the backyard beekeepers and so many more neighbors with incredible skills and knowledge to share.
With discoveries like these throughout our year, we are looking forward to 2020 and learning more about our neighbors and our neighborhood.
Leave a Reply