Midtown Neighborhood

The Midtown neighborhood serves as St. Louis' geographic center.  It is bound by Chouteau to the south, Delmar and Olive (via Compton) to the north, Jefferson to the east and Vandeventer to the west:

Midtown took a loss of 8% of its residents from 1990 to 2000.  In 2000, 4,408 people were counted 65% white, 27% black, a whopping 5% Asian (one of the largest I've seen so far) and 3% Hispanic/Latino.  There were 1,532 housing units, with an 81% occupancy rate:  1% owned, 99% rented. 

As you can probably conclude from the above number, the residential base of this neighborhood is largely made up of the student population at St. Louis University.  There are some homes on Westminster Place in the northwestern corner of Midtown, but I wouldn't be surprised if these were owned or affiliated with the university as well:

 

The southern part of the neighborhood is largely railroad tracks and former industrial sites.  Some light industry still exists including Andy's Seasoning, Villa Lighting and many other service related companies.  Here are some shots of Midtown south of I-64:

 

 

The Coronado is one of my favorite Midtown structures:

 

There aren't that many single family homes here.  The original street grid you see north of Olive has some, what appears to be, public housing or otherwise non-descript suburban apartment complexes.  Who thinks this is okay to drop down in the middle of a city?

There are more residential options developing in Midtown in 2010 then there were in 2000, as evidenced in the G.W. Lofts on Washington and other apartments above businesses that are springing up all over Locust and Olive.

The Midtown stretch of Locust and Olive has been branded "the Midtown Alley" between Jefferson and Grand.  This is a very exciting area with a lot of potential to connect Downtown with Grand Center.  Lindell already serves as a nice link between Grand Center and the Central West End.

Formerly St. Louis' "automotive row", Locust was where St. Louisians built and bought cars from the 1800's throught the second world war.  There is a great story by Patrick Murphy that channel 9 aired back in 2005.  This area is being converted to retail, residential and entertainment.  The buildings are amazing and I hope to see this area continue to flourish.  There a many places along the Midtown Alley that you should visit.  The Good Pie is home to some of the best Neopolitan style pizzas in town.  The ingredients are fresh and the pizzas are fired at 850 degrees in a hand built oak wood burning oven.I know the ingredients are fresh because we were walking into the Good Pie one evening and we passed the rear of the building where there were fresh herbs and veggies growing in raised beds just outside the restaurant.  Doesn't get much more fresh than that.  Other places you need to check out are the U deli, home of one of my favorite sandwiches (salmon pesto club on ciabata) in town, Pappy's Smokehouse which is only rivaled by Shaved Duck when it comes to southern style smoked meats and sides, and there is also the Buffalo Brewing Company microbrewery and pub.  These 4 businesses are all concentrated along the 3100 block of Olive:

The Fountain on Locust is one of our favorite places to take the family for ice cream.  They have a great building and offer some of the tastiest ice cream in town; it will remind you of an old fashioned ice cram parlor complete with a bar.  The menu includes a world's smallest sundae and ice cream cone, very popular with the little ones.  There are many other businesses within the Midtown Alley:  Arch Taekwondo, the EXO nightclub, a women's clothing store, Fubar, etc.  This is one of the most exciting areas in town.  I hope to see much more residential available above the businesses and around the Locust/Olive alley.  If a business district is successful, it will need foot traffic from locals as well as students and visitors.

The Midtown Alley is well on it's way, but I'd say the majority of the buildings are still looking for new uses:

Don't you love these art deco 1930's police stations that are sprinkled throughout the city?  There is one on Hampton just south of I-44 and this one is on Samuel Shepard Dr. in Midtown:

The Scott Joplin house exists within Midtown:

Joplin only lived in St. Louis for about 7 years, but this is where he created some of his best works.  One could argue that his days in St. Louis were not amongst his personal best due to the loss of his baby daughter, a divorce and the death of his second wife in 1904 only 10 weeks after their wedding.  He came to STL in 1900 and left for New York in 1907.  Source

There are many, many opportunities for infill in and around the north east portion of Midtown.  Empty lots surround the aging beauties:

 

I've yet find a St. Louis neighborhood without an eye catching church:

 

Random interesting buildings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Armory that sits just south of I-64 used to be a federal building and then became an indoor sports complex in the 1980's, now it's abandoned:

But the real story of Midtown is centered around it's largest entity:  St. Louis University.  This private college was founded in 1818 and has built or assumed some of the most beautiful buildings in the entire city:

 If the Bilikens move to the Missouri Valley Conference, I will be in line for men's basketball season tickets at the Cheifitz Arena:

 Midtown is also home to Harris Stowe State University:

If you haven't gone bowling or checked out a film at the Moolah, you're missing out:

Another fantastic sign of renewal is along Forest Park Blvd.  where the Aquinas institute of theology, Six Row Brewing, the Library Annex and others are doing business:

 

I gotta put in a plug for the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store on Forest Park that is a place to donate unused or lightly used building materials.  You can find some real relics in this place.

You also can't overlook some of the larger employers in the city have set up shop in Midtown including AT&T and Wells Fargo Advisors:

Midtown is an essential neighborhood that is on the rise.  It will be the proud link between Downtown West and the Central West End in years to come.  As with most St. Louis neighborhoods, the generations from the 1960's to the 1990's neglected and abandoned her; now with the onset of investment in the 21st century, I think we'll see Midtown once again as a destination spot and a healthy neighborhood...and another reason to make you believe that St. Louis is the coolest and most active city to live in!

Some other miscellaneous points of interest within Midtown: