The Delmar Loop is the part of St. Louis that most reliably stays up late. A few blocks of Delmar Boulevard hold a club that books national acts, a hotel themed around outer space, a bar with a world-class pile of rock-and-roll memorabilia, and a sidewalk full of brass stars honoring the people St. Louis sent out into the world. It also isn't entirely in St. Louis, which is worth knowing before you go.
A street that straddles the line
The Loop gets its name from a streetcar turnaround that once sat in the area, and Delmar Boulevard got its own name by splicing together Delaware and Maryland, the home states of two early landowners on opposite sides of the road. Today the district runs across the boundary between the City of St. Louis and University City: the city limit crosses Delmar just west of Skinker Boulevard, and the stretch beyond it is University City's. On foot the line is invisible. The Pageant (6161 Delmar) and the Moonrise Hotel (6177 Delmar) are on the St. Louis side; the Tivoli and Blueberry Hill (6504 Delmar) are farther west, in University City.
In 2007 the American Planning Association named the Delmar Loop one of the 10 Great Streets in America, a recognition that tracks with how the street works: walkable, dense with places to eat and hear music, and busy at hours when most of the city has gone quiet.
Blueberry Hill and the Duck Room
Joe Edwards opened Blueberry Hill on September 8, 1972, back when much of the Loop had fallen quiet, and the place has anchored the district ever since. It's a restaurant, a bar, and a music club at once, with nearly 100 display cases of pop-culture artifacts — comic books, toys, lunch boxes, records, jukeboxes — including what the club describes as the largest public collection of Chuck Berry memorabilia in the world. Its Seeburg jukebox, running since 1972, has been ranked among the country's best by Billboard and Esquire.
Downstairs, the Duck Room opened in 1997 as a 340-capacity music venue, built by lowering the basement floor five feet to get proper ceiling height. Chuck Berry himself played 209 consecutive monthly concerts there, the sort of residency that explains why people plan a St. Louis trip around a single room.
The Walk of Fame
Edwards also founded the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1989. Brass stars and bronze plaques are set into the sidewalk along roughly two-thirds of a mile of Delmar — more than 150 of them as of 2019. Honorees were born in the St. Louis area or spent formative years there, and the list runs from Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, and Tina Turner to actor John Goodman, bridge-builder James Eads, and sex researchers Masters and Johnson. It's a self-guided tour that happens to be the sidewalk you're already walking to dinner.
Shows, a marquee, and a hotel with a theme
The Pageant, at 6161 Delmar, opened on October 19, 2000, and is one of the city's main stops for mid-size touring acts; its capacity flexes from about 750 to 2,300 depending on the show. It's named for a long-gone Pageant movie theater that stood three blocks away. Next door, the Moonrise Hotel leans fully into its cosmic theme — its tagline is “Sleep with the stars” — with a rooftop garden bar, the Twilight Room lounge, and themed suites honoring St. Louis icons.
The Tivoli Theatre, which opened in 1924, still wears one of the Loop's most photographed marquees. Edwards reopened it on May 19, 1995, after a renovation costing more than $2 million, and it ran as an independent cinema until 2021. It has since changed hands, so check what's playing before planning an evening around it.
Nearby stays
No Airbnb in the Loop yet
VisitingSTL doesn't feature a stay on Delmar yet. The Central West End and Forest Park–area homes are the closest of the three — Forest Park's western edge runs along Skinker Boulevard, and the Loop begins a short way beyond it. A concert night here fits easily into a stay on that side of town.
See Places to Stay →Quick answers
Is the Delmar Loop in St. Louis?
Partly. The Loop straddles the line between the City of St. Louis and University City: the Pageant and the Moonrise Hotel are on the St. Louis side, while Blueberry Hill and the Tivoli sit farther west in University City.
What is the St. Louis Walk of Fame?
A string of brass stars and plaques set into the sidewalk along Delmar Boulevard, founded in 1989 by Joe Edwards. It honors people from the St. Louis area who made a mark on American culture — Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, and Tina Turner among them.
What is Blueberry Hill?
A restaurant, bar, and live-music club at 6504 Delmar that opened in 1972. It holds nearly 100 cases of pop-culture memorabilia and the Duck Room, a 340-capacity music room that opened in 1997.
Where does the name “Delmar Loop” come from?
From a streetcar turnaround — a “loop” — that once sat in the area. Delmar Boulevard was originally Morgan Street and was renamed by combining the names of Delaware and Maryland.
The Loop works best as an evening: dinner, a show, and a slow walk back along the brass stars with the marquees lit.
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