St. Louis City Hill Neighborhood

Posted by Gary Hoeferkamp on January 10, 2024

I happen to love walking St Louis neighborhoods, I get some steps in and see so much more than driving it, learn some history, even chat with a neighbor or two. I hunt for unique coffee shops and pastries too!

A couple weekends ago I was on the Hill in South City visiting Hall of Fame Place on the 5400 block of Elizabeth Ave. This famous street was featured nationally a few years ago when Yogi Berra died. He grew up across the street, and played ball with, Joe Garagiola. Jack Buck lived down the street a few years later, all 3 now Hall of Famers. I worked on the Hill many years ago on Shaw, and had the best meatball sandwiches at Rumbolo's, now Eovaldi's.

You are familiar with some, if not most of the Italian restaurants, but one of the hottest new eateries is Japanese at Marconi and Shaw, called Sado. Three blocks down Marconi is well-known St Ambrose, near Milo's - famous for bocci ball and the Drinking Wall. I had an awesome cannoli on Marconi at Cafe Dolce by DiGregorios market.

For many years, I did not see any changes in the housing. The Hill is filled with 80-100 year old "shotgun" homes, narrow floor plans one room wide, 3 or 4 rooms deep. You could shoot a gun front to back and not hit anything, is where the name comes from, as the doorways are wide and line up. I read that assisted with breezes, as these were built prior to A/C, and were popular in the south like New Orleans and Houston.

On my recent visit, however, I noticed whole blocks at the Kingshighway end transformed by McBride and Son homes, plus numerous, smaller infill developments and single teardowns. I even had a young, first time buyer couple from the County asking about buying on the Hill. This neighborhood has always been, and continues to be, a walkable, popular area due to the restaurants, bakeries and charm. I hope it stays that way even with the new construction.

Photos are from my walk. Note the unique 2 story shotgun home, and the unusual front walk-out basement. If you want to buy or sell a home or condo, on or near the Hill, contact me to get started!