Joe Edwards opened Pin-Up Bowl in 2003. He opened his first establishment back in 1972, and that was Blueberry Hill, which is now a nationally renowned restaurant and music club. Blueberry Hill was the first of a new era of unique owner-operated businesses in the Delmar Loop area. Joe’s subsequent attractions include the beautiful Tivoli Movie Theatre, the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame, The Pageant concert nightclub, the Pin-Up Bowl, the sensational Moonrise Hotel with the Eclipse Restaurant and Rooftop Terrace Bar, Peacock Loop Diner, Delmar Hall Concert Club, and Magic Mini Golf indoor miniature golf, shuffleboard, and Ferris wheel.
Joe also has renovated numerous historic buildings (including creating the Flamingo Bowl on Washington Avenue) and encouraged one-of-a-kind specialty shops and cultural institutions to make The Loop their home. Currently he is spearheading the Loop Trolley, a vintage fixed-track trolley system which will run from the Delmar Loop to Forest Park and back.
The American Planning Association designated the Delmar Loop “One of the 10 Great Streets in America.”
Download Hi-Res Photos of Joe and the Loop
JOE’S CHRONOLOGY
Born and raised in St. Louis. Eagle Scout.
Graduated from John Burroughs School and Duke University.
9-8-72 Opened Blueberry Hill, St. Louis landmark restaurant & music club filled with pop culture memorabilia (with Linda Edwards).
1980 Co-founded The Loop Special Business District.
1988 Founded the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame StLouisWalkofFame.org.
Stars honoring famous St. Louisans plus informative plaques summarizing their achievements and St. Louis connection make this unique walk enjoyable and educational. 150+ stars include John Goodman, Maya Angelou, Bob Costas, Miles Davis, Tennessee Williams, Chuck Berry, Stan Musial, Tina Turner, Charles Lindbergh, Ozzie Smith, T.S. Eliot, Yogi Berra, Betty Grable, Cedric The Entertainer, Brett Hull and Nelly.
Set in the sidewalks of the exciting restaurant, shopping, arts & entertainment district called The Loop, it’s open 24 hours and is free.
3-89 Joe and Blueberry Hill were featured in Archie comic book #204 Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals. In the six-page story Joe “actually” got to meet Archie and Jughead at Blueberry Hill. (Only in the parallel universe of a comic book could this event have happened. They rarely ever feature real people.)
11-8-92 Received the 1993 Elijah P. Lovejoy Award for distinguished commitment to human rights and justice in the St. Louis Community.
5-19-95 Restored and re-opened the Tivoli Theatre (built in 1924).
5-28-96 Selected to carry the Olympic Flame as a “Community Hero” torchbearer for the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.
11-26-97 Opened Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, a 240-capacity music room. The “Father of Rock & Roll,” Chuck Berry, performed 209 concerts at Blueberry Hill.
10-00 Built The Pageant Building, a 50,000 square foot multi-use building that includes a nationally known concert nightclub, two retail stores and 14,000 square feet office space at 6161 Delmar. It signaled the extension of The Loop into the City of St. Louis and the bridging of the artificial City/County border.
10-19-00 Grand opening of The Pageant, a state-of-the-art 33,000 square foot concert nightclub designed for live music productions and special events. This 2,000+ capacity venue features superb sightlines and acoustics plus a balcony (with Pat Hagin).
11-17-03 Received the St. Louis Award. The St. Louis Award was established in 1931 to honor “the resident of metropolitan St. Louis who has contributed the most outstanding service for its development or … shall have performed such services as to bring greatest honor to the community.”
12-12-03 Opened the Pin-Up Bowl, “The Original Bowling and Martini Lounge” at 6191 Delmar in The Loop. PinUpBowl.com
5-21-04 Received honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from Washington University at the Sesquicentennial (150th) Commencement.
1-8-05 Recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Community Service Award from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. State Celebration Commission of Missouri. (Dr. Bernice King, youngest daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. King gave keynote address at Harris–Stowe State College. Dr. Henry Givens, president, presided.)
5-14-05 Received honorary degree (Doctor of Fine Arts) from St. Louis University.
1-14-06 Originated the annual Loop Ice Carnival held every January.
5-13-06 Received honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) from University of Missouri–St. Louis.
10-2-07 The American Planning Association in Washington, DC designated the Delmar Loop as “One of 10 Great Streets in America.” APA Great Places exemplify exceptional character {of} communities of lasting value. Other streets honored include: North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL; Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL; 125th Street, Harlem, NY; South Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT; Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM; Bull Street, Savannah, GA; Main Street, Northampton, MA; Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA; and St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA.
12-13-07 Opened the Flamingo Bowl, 1117 Washington Ave. (downtown St. Louis)
4-17-09 Opened the Moonrise Hotel, an independent, 125-room boutique hotel in The Loop at 6177 Delmar. It includes the Eclipse Restaurant, and several meeting/event spaces, the Rooftop Terrace Bar and fascinating displays of lunar and space memorabilia.
6-14-09 Honored by the NAACP as one of the Most Inspiring St. Louisans-Individuals whose ideas, talents, power, and ability to change people’s lives for the better, has helped to shape and transform the St. Louis community.
6-27-10 Honored by NAACP as one of the 25 Most Inspiring St. Louisans at Freedom Fund Dinner.
7-29-11 Chuck Berry Statue (by sculptor Harry Weber) dedicated. ($100,000 project orchestrated by Joe Edwards and broadcaster Charlie Brennan)
12-12 St. Louis Magazine’s Power List: 100 People Shaping St. Louis Today. Referred to as “The Duke of Delmar.”
9-12-13 Received the lifetime achievement award from the Landmarks Association of St. Louis for his work in historic preservation and community revitalization.
10-10-14 Opened the Peacock Loop Diner, a one-of-a-kind 24-hour restaurant serving classic diner fare plus spiked milkshakes and vegetarian dishes. Located at 6261 Delmar in The Loop, along with the Moonrise Hotel, it makes The Loop a true 24/7 neighborhood.
The Peacock Diner’s décor is visually striking from the 11-foot wide neon sign, whose feathers fan in and out 200 times an hour, to the display cases of peacock memorabilia, old-time diner ephemera plus the rotating Carousel of Love booth for special occasions. The Peacock Diner might be the greenest and most sustainable diner in the United States – it received LEED Platinum certification.
2-19-15 First-place winner, for Peacock Loop Diner, of the 2015 Architect & Designer Award (St. Louis at Home) in Commercial Category: Restaurants. Juried by four nationally-known New York City designer/architects (designer Mario Buatta, architect Audrey Matlock, Domino creative director and editorial director Robert Leleux, and designer Marshall Watson)
3-12-15 Groundbreaking ceremony for $51 million Loop Trolley project – chair of the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District. He came up with the concept and started working on building a fixed-track, vintage trolley system in 1997.
The 2.2 mile route will run from the University City Library east on Delmar Boulevard to DeBaliviere Avenue and then south on DeBaliviere Avenue to the Missouri History Museum and back. It will connect with two Metrolink stations (Delmar Loop and Forest Park). The colorful, electric trolley cars will operate in the existing traffic lanes through The Loop and a single dedicated track along the rest of the route.
Ridership projections on the trolley are 350,000+ annually. It will connect The Loop and the 12 million visitors to Forest Park attractions. The system will be an economic stimulus for this designated redevelopment area. It will further stabilize the neighborhood and improve the quality of life for people that live and work in this exciting, diverse city area.
It can be a prototype for growth and stabilization in other neighborhoods in the region. Not only can the trolley be an attraction; it can be a source of pride for the metropolitan area. It will begin operating in Fall 2017.
4-21-15 Peacock Loop Diner’s neon sign voted best new sign in the world in 2015 international competition. (concept by Joe Edwards and designed by Hope Edwards along with Kiku Obata & Co.)
4-26-15 Named “Best Local Hero” by St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2015.
The Loop, where diversity is embraced, is possibly the most vibrant restaurant, shopping, arts & entertainment district in metropolitan St. Louis and the central Midwest.
9-30-16 Grand opening of Delmar Hall, an 800-capicity music venue (with Pat Hagin).
With Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room (340-capacity), Delmar Hall (800) and The Pageant (2000+), many people consider the Delmar Loop the “live music center of St. Louis.”
11-16 Named by St. Louis Magazine as one of “100 People Shaping the Region.”
8-1-17 Inducted into Ron Elz’s (Johnny Rabbitt) St. Louis’s Hall of Fame –inaugural class of 50, ranging from 1700s to present day –presentation held at the Missouri History Museum.
1-30-18 Joe rode on Loop Trolley #001 car with Loop Trolley, FTA and MoDOT teams.
11-7-18 Received St. Louis International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award
11-15-19 Dedication of Loop Trolley, a fixed-track heritage trolley system that connects the Delmar Loop and Forest Park. The ceremony is held at Delmar Hall (due to snow storm). Golden Spike symbolized bridging east/west and north/south.
The 2.2 mile route runs from the University City Library east on Delmar Boulevard to DeBaliviere Avenue and then south on DeBaliviere Avenue to the Missouri History Museum and back.It connects The Loop and the 12 million visitors to Forest Park attractions. It also connects with two Metrolink stations (Delmar Loop and Forest Park). The colorful, electric trolley cars operate in the existing traffic lanes through The Loop and a single dedicated track along the rest of the route.
The system is an economic stimulus for this designated redevelopment area. It will further stabilize the neighborhood and improve the quality of life for people that live and work in this exciting, diverse city area.
It can be a prototype for growth and stabilization in other neighborhoods in the region. Not only can the trolley be an attraction; it can be a source of pride for the metropolitan area.
11-16-18 The Loop Trolley started service
1-24-19 Elected Emeritus Director of The Loop Trolley Company
9-8-2022 Celebrated the 50th anniversary of St. Louis landmark restaurant and music club Blueberry Hill
8-31-23 His 27-foot tall animated neon sign and marquee for Magic Mini Golf won the juried Signs of the Times international sign award.
The colorful blinking sign features a retro-style man and woman swinging golf clubs. As the figures putt, the golf ball moves across the sign which rises over a custom-designed curved semicircular marquee.
Joe and his daughter Hope Edwards designed the instantly-iconic sign.
10-20-23 Opened Magic Mini Golf, which features 18 whimsical holes of indoor miniature golf, two full-sized shuffleboard courts, and a 5-car Ferris wheel.
11-21-23 Debuts the brand new coffee table book, St. Louis Walk of Fame: 250 Years of Great St. Louisans, which spotlights photos and concise, insightful biographies of 173 inductees as well as photos from induction ceremonies over the years, visual guides to the Delmar Loop, and interesting breakdowns of the inductees by field of achievement, year of election, birthday, and sidewalk location.
The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors great St. Louisans with brass stars and bronze biographies in the sidewalks of the Delmar Loop.
