The Grove

Yesterday, after getting detoured and momentarily lost around Compton and Market, I made a wrong turn trying to enter westbound highway 40, and ended up near the upcoming "RBar" in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Nowadays, the name "Forest Park Southeast" is quickly giving way to "The Grove".

How this name change occured will go down as one of the little differences in the renaissance of the neighborhood located roughly between Vandeventer, Kingshighway, and Highway 40.

Grove. It might have started with the Manchester strip that runs east and west, connecting the north and south sides of the neighborhood. Grove. It's root may come from "Adams Grove", one of the four individual neighborhoods that were grouped together under the name "Forest Park Southeast".

Grove. Add a letter and it spells "groove", fitting for the area's new status as a hip STL night spot.

Years ago, when the ground work was being laid to convert vacant Washington Avenue warehouses into loft apartments and condominiums, realtor Sarah Bakewell was a leader on the Housing Committee of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership.

So maybe it's a sign of more good things to come that today along Manchester in the Grove, in a newly renovated historic commercial building, there is a brand new Bakewell real estate office.