A half-block north of Crown Candy Kitchen, along a row of historic brick buildings, stands a yellow storefront: Urban Studio Café (which at press time was set to reopen as La Mancha Coffeehouse). Twenty-five-year-old Claire Wolff—who helped open the arts-inspired cafe in 2009, while still a graduate student at Washington University—just moved from University City to a nearby carriage house in Old North a week earlier.
When she first got involved in the neighborhood, “It was abandoned building after abandoned building,” she recalls. “Around the same time, they started the farmer’s market on the 14th Street Mall—literally, the seeds of change were growing.”
She nods south to Crown Square, where the one-time abandoned pedestrian mall has changed dramatically in the course of several years. In 2006, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group launched a $35 million renovation of 27 buildings along the mall into 80 nearby mixed-income units and 34,000 square feet of retail space. Last July, the nonprofit celebrated Crown Square’s completion.
Today, the revived business district includes Therapy Boutique, Head Hunters Barber & Beauty Salon, Poor Souls Society Art Gallery, and the law office of Norah Ryan. Last summer, Old North Grocery Co-op opened in a one-time horseradish-bottle factory a block east, filling a vital need for a community that was once considered an urban food desert.
“Because we have a grocery store and café, the community is becoming sustainable, which is really appealing,” says Wolff. “Now, every single building is beautiful and the apartments are fantastic, and people are excited and moving in. The transformation within the time period that I’ve been here is remarkable.”
Yet the revived square is only part of Old North’s story; locals are also transforming the community through the arts. A program through St. Louis ArtWorks, where Wolff is currently employed, encourages local teens to interview longtime residents. Acclaimed Chicago artist Theaster Gates, who participated in the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts’ “Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark” exhibit last year, has launched the Rebuild Foundation—a nonprofit that draws creative types to a residency in nearby Hyde Park, in an effort to help revive the community. Another “Matta-Clark” participant, Boots Contemporary Art Space founder Juan William Chávez, is readying an art-focused concern on St. Louis Avenue. And Old North Gallery hosts monthly films in partnership with Cinema St. Louis, as well as MothUp St. Louis storytelling events.
“Part of the goal is to raise the quality of life for the people who are already here, and not just bring in new people,” explains Wolff. Though the neighborhood’s doing that, too: New tenants are slated to move in, and the latest census data showed Old North’s population grew 28 percent in the last 10 years. There’s still work to do, but Wolff remains optimistic.
“When I talk about Old North now, people will say things like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard there’s a lot going on there,’” she says. “People are starting
to hear about it—the buzz is there.”
