Sunday, March 4, 2007

Where: New York Avenue in Washington.

Why: The art of women, meals that sing and Capitol ruins.

How Far: 5.5 miles.

Often it's hard to say, "I {heart} New York Avenue." Commuters headed into the city from Maryland pass through a gantlet of auto repair shops and fast-food restaurants. If the grease doesn't provide enough danger, there's always the intersection at Bladensburg Road NE. The crossroad was the city's most crash-prone in a D.C. government study. But once you get past that tough New York reputation, culture and beauty await.

The street, which starts just outside the District at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and ends by 18th Street NW, is home to a museum dedicated to female artists. The National Museum of Women in the Arts features works by nearly 800 women, including Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo.

For another unique cultural experience, try live music with breakfast. Gospel choirs rouse diners at the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Sunday brunch. And saxophones jam at the flapjack jazz breakfast at United Cerebral Palsy of Washington and Northern Virginia.

New York Avenue even has its own version of Central Park. The 440-acre U.S. National Arboretum is an oasis of gardens and woods, where the rush of cars becomes a distant memory. D.C.'s Stonehenge -- 22 towering sandstone columns -- stands in a meadow in the center of the arboretum. The pillars are a testament to the city's early civilization, circa 1800. The National Capitol Columns were originally part of the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol but were removed when additions were constructed on the building in 1958. The columns sat in storage for three decades and were moved to the gardens in 1990.

Stone ruins have often been the last vestiges of long-gone societies, but New York Avenue doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

-- Phuong Ly