by Jim Calder

The Pageant is owned by Joe Edwards, who many credit with starting the revitalization efforts in the Loop district.

The area derives its name from the streetcar turnarounds or loops, which in true retro fashion are making their way back to the streets.

“Originally it served as a turnaround for streetcars coming from and going to downtown St. Louis,” according to Larry Lieberman, a member of city council for 29 years. “Many businesses were present, and they flourished. After the streetcars left in the 1960s, the businesses died, and the street became empty,” Lieberman says.

Entrepreneur and business owner Joe Edwards opened his first restaurant, Blueberry Hill, in 1972. At that time the area was in need of much improvement.

“When Blueberry Hill opened, I realized we had to work on the area for the business to succeed,” he says. He started with the basic things, organizing city officials and police officers and making sure little details like public trash cans were on the streets.

here are several staples in place that hold this arts community together. “The Craft Alliance has been a cultural anchor of the University City Loop since 1969, long before redevelopment efforts created the artistically vibrant cultural area that it is today,” Craft Alliance development manager Jessica Arnold says.

Inside the Millstone Gallery.

According to Arnold, the Craft Alliance is the only arts organization in St. Louis that specializes in multiple craft media and has facilities and programming to assist artists in all stages of creation.

“The programs at Craft Alliance are dedicated to instructing, exhibiting and encouraging artists and the community,” Arnold says.

The Regional Arts Commission (RAC) has given more than $54 million in 4,500 grants to art organizations of all disciplines, shapes and sizes, over the last 20 years.

The district has a vibrant art, craft and music scene, as well as restaurants such as Blueberry Hill.

“Providing access to the arts is a responsibility we take seriously at the RAC,” says Jill A. McGuire, executive director. “We have been able to provide long-term stabilizing support to established organizations while also funding special projects, new ideas and groups.”

They are the area’s largest organization to fund the arts, and do much more than distribute grants. “We are a robust resource for the arts, providing a variety of services, which in turn augments every grant we make,” McGuire says.

Opening night of “Abstract Painting: Six Points of View,” at the Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission.

They also claim to have the most comprehensive online cultural calendar and arts directory in the area, located at www.art-stl.com.

The Loop is also resident to the not-for-profit Center for Creative Arts (COCA), which has been providing meaningful arts experiences to residents for nearly two decades. “The Loop attracts people interested in art and culture and is a wonderful setting for COCA, which serves people of all ages interested in a variety of artistic disciplines,” says marketing director Nancy Goldstein.

The organization serves 50,000 people in a wide variety of educational programs in the popular COCA Family Theatre Series, in the Millstone Gallery and through Urban Arts. With a budget of $4.3 million, COCA has achieved considerable recognition among national foundations, Goldstein says.

“University City has always been a Mecca for arts and crafts; for the creators as well as the providers and the purchasers,” Lieberman says. “U. City has been home for musicians, medical professionals, university academics, etc., people who are most interested in art.”

The Pin-up Bowl.

“It is really something positive to see the area come back, evolving in a long-term way and not just a flash in the pan. It took a long time to get to this point and I am real proud of the result,” Edwards says.

Edwards not only owns Blueberry Hill Restaurant but also The Pageant Concert Nightclub, Tivoli Theatre and Pin-Up Bowl, while he also leases several other properties.

The Tivoli Theatre.

Eleanor Ruder is owner of the Componere Gallery located in the heart of The Loop, which features fine art ceramics, blown and slumped glass, found object sculpture and more. “I regularly have 1st Friday Openings, participate in any Loop activity that comes my way and for the past 20 years I plan a once a year ‘Loop in Motion Art Walk,’ to kick off our October Loop in Motion Arts Festival,” Ruder says.

The Loop is also the home of the St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA). “VLAA provides free legal and accounting assistance to income-eligible individual artists and emerging arts organizations,” executive director Sue Greenberg says. “VLAA also provides information about arts law and business matters through educational programming, operates a mediation service, and supports the broader role of the arts in the community.”

Edwards, Lieberman and others formed the U. City Trolley organization, which has been working toward bringing back the tourist trolley operating system to The Loop. They’re currently waiting on federal funding and expect the trolleys to be back up and running within the next three years.

“The Trolleys will attract a lot of development, the 2.2 mile route is exciting and vibrant and will be here to stay,” Edwards says.

Jim Calder is the associate editor of The Crafts Report.

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