Image via Wikipedia

The Bevo Neighborhood is named after the building of the same name. The Dutch inspired wind mill, located at the intersection of Morganford and Gravois, was built in 1916 by the Busch family. It was built at a location half way between the downtown brewery and the family estate at Grant’s Farm. It served as a rest point for the family back when the journey was made by horse and buggy and took most of the day. It is a popular restaurant to this day.

The Bevo Neighborhood in South St. Louis is bounded by Holly Hills, Carondelet Park, Christy and Christy Park on the south; on the west by South Kingshighway; on the north by Chippewa, and on the east by the railroad tracks.

Bevo was also the name of Anheuser-Busch’s Bevo beverage, a non-alcoholic brew.

The neighborhood is now largely occupied by recent immigrants to St. Louis, notably Bosnians and Croatians.

The Bevo neighborhood is tidy and well maintained. The homes here are built in a Dutch style, with a mix of brick and framed bungalows.

Residents of this neighborhood are minutes from the Hampton Village Shopping Center and less than fifteen minutes from Downtown St. Louis. The area is home to several long-standing businesses which draw customers from the entire city. Here you can find everything from coffee houses and bakeries, to florists and antique shops.

Related articles

• Only good surpises in this restaurant (goodbyehouston.wordpress.com)
• St. Louis Staycation: Spring Break Edition (examiner.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Baden is a far north St. Louis community that dates back to the 1800s. It was settled largely by German immigrants, but currently has a mostly African-American population. Baden become part of St. Louis officially in 1876.

The neighborhood bounded by Calvary Avenue on the South, the Wabash-Norfolk-Western Railroad on the Southwest and Hall Street on the East. It is near the Mississippi River.

Baden contains Calvary Cemetery, a large Catholic cemetery established in 1854. When Calvary and neighboring Bellefontaine cemeteries were created the area was rural and far from the St. Louis city limits. It is the second oldest cemetery of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and is the final resting place for many famous people—including Antoine Soulard, Auguste Chouteau, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin, and General William Tecumseh Sherman.

The Holy Cross Catholic Church is another historical point of interest in Baden. The church was founded in 1864 by a mixed Irish-German congregation and the church itself was finished in 1904.

The residential portions of the neighborhood have German styled brick cottages and bungalows on small tidy lots. The neighborhood suffered a period of decline after long time residents moved out to the farther suburbs and were replaced with a less affluent population. The neighborhood is on the rebound and is on its way to becoming a thriving community again.

One promising sign of Baden’s revival is the YOURS Market, which opened in December 2010 and became the first grocery store to come back to the area. The small market has fruit and vegetables from local farms—and there are plans to grow their own produce in a garden on the store property. The market is run by a community based non-profit group.

Image via Wikipedia

The Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood boasts tree lined streets and beautiful brick homes in the western end of St. Louis. It is located between Forest Park and the University City Loop. The neighborhood began in 1908, spurred on by the development around Forest Park created by the 1904 World’s Fair.

Its boundaries are marked by the city limits to the west, Delmar Boulevard on the north, DeBaliviere Avenue on the east, and Lindell Boulevard on the south. It is within walking distance of Forest Park, Washington University and The Loop.

St. Louis designated the neighborhood as a Local Historic District in 1978, and the private Parkview subdivision is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Homes here range from historical to new construction, from large family homes to apartment buildings. Many families have remained anchored in the community, with second and third generations returning to the place they call home.

The Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council was established in 1966 by neighborhood churches, groups and  Washington University. It has been cited as the main reason for the neighborhood’s lasting stability.

You’ll find plenty to do in this neighborhood, as The Loop entertainment district drifts from University City through Skinker-DeBaliviere to Forest Park. Here you’ll find the Pageant and the Pin-Up Bowl. One day soon the area will see the return of street cars: a trolley line is planned to connect Forest Park to The Loop.

Related articles

• 2011 St. Louis visitor’s guide has a family friendly theme. (examiner.com)
• The Stars Shine Bright on the St. Louis Walk of Fame (directoryofstlouis.com)
• 10 Random Facts About St. Louis (trifter.com)
• Jeff’s Guide to the Central West End St. Louis, Missouri (apartmenttherapy.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The central business district of St. Louis is located Downtown. It’s also where the city’s best tourist, entertainment and sports venues are located, including the grand daddy of all St. Louis tourist attraction: the Gateway Arch.

Downtown is bound by the Mississippi River, Cole Street, Chouteau Avenue and Jefferson Avenue.

Downtown St. Louis is also the location of the city’s historical roots. The city was founded by Pierre Laclede as a trading center—and the popular Laclede’s Landing entertainment district was named after him.

The Downtown riverfront was once a bustling steamboat dock, where goods traveled the “river roads” to make their way across the country. Of course, steamboats were replaced by railroads, trucks and air transport. The warehouse district that riverboat commerce brought—then abandoned–was demolished to make way for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (a.k.a. the Gateway Arch) in 1939. 486 building and 39 city blocks were cleared to make way for the park.

Some would say Downtown is a mere shadow of it’s former self. Over the years the city has lost business headquarters, industry and residents to St. Louis County and beyond. But there’s a recovery happening—slowly but surely—and you can see progress in many bright pockets of the city.

• Trailnet is bringing a Downtown Bicycle Station, to help commuters bike to work, safely store their bike and grab a shower.
• Washington Aveune is THE place to party in St. Louis.
• Lofts have been popping up all over the Downtown neighbor, starting around Washingtown Ave.
• The Gateway Arch grounds are getting a much needed facelift that should boost tourism and pull Downtown together.
• Ballpark Village, the planned shopping and dining district wrapped around the new Busch Stadium is finally getting off the ground.

Related articles

• 2011 St. Louis visitor’s guide has a family friendly theme. (examiner.com)
• Proposal unveiled for revamped Gateway Arch park (reuters.com)
• St. Louis Gateway Arch is rusting (gadling.com)
• Online coupons for St. Louis Moms: Kid friendly attractions (examiner.com)
• 10 Random Facts About St. Louis (trifter.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Compton Heights is a tiny South St. Louis neighborhood located on South Grand not far from Tower Grove Park. The neighborhood is home to Reservoir Park and the Compton Hill Water Tower.

Compton Heights was established in 1889 and is a National Historic District.

The neighborhood is bound by Highway 44, South Grand, Nebraska and Shenandoah. It was one of the earliest planned residential developments of the 19^th century and was laid out not on a grid, but with curving streets. Longfellow and Hawthorn are two main residential streets that cut through the center of the neighborhood in a diagonal bend.

Something that set Compton Heights apart from other subdivisions of its time were the deed restrictions that called for each lot to only have one private residence–no apartments or flats. Residents even banded together around 1921 to form a protective neighborhood association to prevent a boarding house from establishing itself on Milton Boulevard.

The neighborhood is primary residential and still has a strong neighborhood association that holds events for its residents, such as parades, house tours and park days for neighborhood children.

Compton Heights promotes itself as a diverse and vibrant neighborhood in the heart of the city, only minutes away from downtown St. Louis, Clayton and the Grand Arts District. Residents can easily access shopping, either nearby along South Grand or a quick hop on the highway to the Galleria. It’s proximity to the highway also makes it easy to get to Cardinals, Blues and Rams games in downtown St. Louis.

Compton Hill Reservoir Park in the neighborhood has not only Victorian charm, but walking and bike trails, a playground and picnic areas. Residents are also just blocks away from Tower Grove Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Related articles

• 2011 St. Louis visitor’s guide has a family friendly theme. (examiner.com)
• St. Louis is for Vampires (directoryofstlouis.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The Hill is one of St. Louis’ best known neighborhoods, where you can find tidy brick houses, spotless tree lined streets–and many fantastic Italian restaurants. The area was settled by Italian immigrants in the 19^th century and to this day The Hill still has a large Italian-American community.

The Hill gets its name from being on top of  “St. Louis Hill,” the highest point in the city, located at Arsenal and Sublette Avenue. The neighborhood is bound by Manchester Ave., Columbia Ave., Southwest Ave., South Kingshighway Blvd., and Hampton Ave.

The Hill is a destination for Italian restaurants like Rigazzi’s, Cunetto’s House of Pasta, Bartolino’s, Amighetti’s and Mama Campisi, just to name a few. Visitors can also find Italian bakeries, grocery stores, coffee shops and Gelato Di Riso, an authentic Italian gelato shop that feature’s a velvety Italian take on ice cream.

We can also thank The Hill for one of St. Louis’ most famous dishes: toasted ravioli!

Bocce is a popular past time on The Hill. The Italian ball game started out in St. Louis as a outdoor pub game, but was brought indoors by the Italia America Bocce Club on Marconi Ave. The club serves as a popular gathering spot for St. Louis’ Italian descendants scattered across the city and county area.

The neighborhood’s most famous export might just be Yogi Berra, the legendary New York Yankee’s catcher and Hall of Famer. Yogi is of course famous for his bizarre quotes, which have become known as “Yogi-isms.” You can check a few of them out on The Hill’s website.

Yogi’s wife Carmen: “Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?” Yogi: “Surprise me.”

Related articles

• The Stars Shine Bright on the St. Louis Walk of Fame (directoryofstlouis.com)
• St. Louis joins other cities with indoor smoking ban (reuters.com)
• There’s a St. Louis App for that! (directoryofstlouis.com)

Southhampton is a thriving South St. Louis neighborhood bound by Chippewa, Hampton, Rhodes, Gravois, Kingshighway and Christy. Locals like to call their neighborhood SoHa, and can even fly the SoHa flag–sold by the Southampton Neighborhood Association.

The area was originally settled by St. Louis German immigrants, with the first homes built around 1905. Many homes in the area are smaller brick bungalows in the “arts and crafts” style, which were very popular in the 1930’s. Southampton is currently popular with young families and city employees who are required to live within the St. Louis city limits.

The Southampton Neighborhood is a peaceful, charming neighborhood of tree-lined streets. Housing styles include “Neo-Tudor, Brick, Arts & Crafts homes and “Four Square” two story homes featuring gabled roofs, and friendly plant-filled porches, art glass and hard-wood floors. ~Southampton Neighborhood Association website

Points of interest in Southhampton:

Southwest City Dog Park in : A fenced park for dog owners to allow their pets to play off-leash. Sponsored by the Southampton Neighborhood Association and run by volunteers.  Membership fees run from $20 for SNA members, $35 for St. Louis residents and $50 for non-city residents.

Home Eco: St. Louis’ first environmentally friendly home product store, opened in 2005. Here you can find everything from energy saving light bulbs to chemical free insulation for green do-it-your projects.

Hampton Village: a fully occupied shopping mall with  Johnny Brock’s, JC Penny’s, Schnuck’s and several other shops.

Macklind Business District: the shops and resturants along Macklind Ave. joined forces to help increase business. The area has plenty to offer shoppers—bars, a coffee shop, mechanics, Big River Running, dentists and what not can all be found within easy walking distance.

Related articles

• There’s a St. Louis App for that! (directoryofstlouis.com)
• Online coupons for St. Louis Moms: Kid friendly attractions (examiner.com)

Soulard Market building (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Soulard, located just south of downtown, is one of St. Louis’ favorite historic neighborhoods, full of places to dine, party and shop.

Soulard takes it’s name from Antoine Soulard, a Frenchman who surveyed colonial St. Louis for the King of Spain. He was given a large tract of land in 1790 as his payment. His widow turned over two blocks of land for the city to use as Souland Market, which has been in continuous operation since 1779!

Soulard Market, located at 730 Carrol Street, is open year round from Wednesday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, and 7am to 5pm on Saturday. Saturday is the biggest day for the market with the most vendors open. Here you can find fresh veggies, meat, bakery goods, flowers and other goodies. Click here for more on shopping at the market.

Click here for a list of bars and restaurants in Soulard. You can find everything from bars with seven nights of live blues music, steak, seafood and great local pizza.

Soulard is also the location of many local celebrations, most notably one of the country’s biggest Mardi Gras street party outside of the French Quarter.

One of the city’s few dog parks, the Frenchtown Dog Park was built in Soulard in 2004. If you’re interested in a “dog gone” good time, check out the Frenchtown Dog Park’s Second Annual Pup Crawl on September 25^th from noon to 3pm. You’ll need your dog and some sturdy walking shoes as you visit several dog friendly establishments around the Soulard area. The event is $30, or $20 if you pre-register via email to frenchtown­citizencanine@gmail.com. Click here for membership info.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sappington Farmer’s Market is the place for budget friendly fruits and veggies (examiner.com)
• 36 Hours in St. Louis (travel.nytimes.com)
• 10 things to do in St. Louis: how to enjoy the city like a local (gadling.com)
• Ten places to party for Mardi Gras (timeoutny.com)
• St. Louis T-shirts for hot retro moms…and their babies (examiner.com)
• St. Louis joins other cities with indoor smoking ban (reuters.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Carondelet is a south St. Louis neighborhood that borders the Mississippi River. Long ago was an independent city, but it was annexed by the city of St. Louis in 1870. The neighborhood was originally settled by French immigrants, and later by Germans.

It is bound by Eichelberger on the Northeast, River Des Peres on the Southwest, the Mississippi River on the Southeast and by Grand and I-55 on the Northwest.

It is the location of some of the oldest home in St. Louis, with houses dating back to 1880. Though the first settlers were working class folk, the town became a popular location for “country homes” belonging to wealthy St. Louisians five miles to the north.

The neighborhood still contains a mix of industry and residential homes. Homes in the neighborhood are mostly brick and range from single story cottages to apartments.

Back 1840 the town of Carondelet had strong ties to the “lead belt” in the Missouri boot heel region. Lead was shipped from southeast Missouri via the Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and was processed by companies like the Hertz Metal Company, a lead smelter. You can read a more detailed account of industry in Carondelet here at the union worker’s website of Local 81C.

During the Civil War the town produced lead shot for weapons and had a shipyard that manufactured 32 ironclad gunships for the Union Army.

Carondelet has two National Historic Districts: the Carondelet/East of Broadway District and the Central Carondelet Historic District. It is also home to Carondelet Park, which was established in 1875 and is the third largest park in St. Louis.

Related articles

• South Carondelet St. Louis Development, The Temtor, Welcomes Perennial Artisian Ales (prweb.com)
• 2011 St. Louis visitor’s guide has a family friendly theme. (examiner.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The Central West End is a well-known and often visited neighborhood in St. Louis near Forest Park. The area has a busy shopping district, many popular restaurants, sidewalk cafes, coffee shops, antique shops, book stores and boutiques. It is one of the few neighborhoods in St. Louis where you can leave your car behind to really stroll and window shop.

It is also home to the “New” Cathedral—the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Construction on the cathedral began in 1907 and continued for the next 80 years. The Cathedral Basilica, at 4431 Lindell Blvd., is the spiritual center of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, and home of amazing mosaics which decorates much of the building. Guided tours are offered Monday through Friday, $2 for adults and $1 for children. Click here for RSVP information.

The CWE is bound by Union Blvd., Delmar Blvd., Vandeventer Ave., Hwy 40 and Forest Park.

Most of the restaurants in the CWE are found along Euclid Ave. from Delmar Blvd. to Forest Park. The commercial district has a charming old town feel with turn of the 19^th century lampposts and cobblestone streets. Many elegant homes in this area are in the National Register of Historical Places, and date back to the 1890s.

Tennessee Williams, St. Louis’ famous playwright, grew up in the Central West End. Writers T.S. Eliot, Williams S. Burroughs and Sally Benson all once called the CWE home. The Central West End Association is currently working on creating a “writer’s corner” with busts of its famous writers placed at the intersection of Euclid and McPherson avenues. A bust of T.S. Eliot and Tennessee Williams are already in place.

The renovated Chase Park Plaza is in the CWE at Kingshighway and Lindell. The complex is a hotel, upscale private residences, banquet facility and movie theater.

This neighborhood is also home to two of St. Louis’ world renown and top ranking hospitals: Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Related articles

• Jeff’s Guide to the Central West End St. Louis, Missouri (apartmenttherapy.com)
• The Stars Shine Bright on the St. Louis Walk of Fame (directoryofstlouis.com)
• 2011 St. Louis visitor’s guide has a family friendly theme. (examiner.com)
• 10 Random Facts About St. Louis (trifter.com)