Joe Edwards is a St. Louis, Missouri and University City, Missouri, businessman, developer, community figure, and civic leader notable for his contributions to the Delmar Loop area that connects the two cities. Joe Edwards' creative vision, risk-taking, and leadership have helped transform the Delmar Loop into one of the most vibrant restaurant, shopping, arts & entertainment districts in the United States, leading it to be designated "One of the 10 Great Streets in America" by the American Planning Association. His nationally renowned Blueberry Hill restaurant and music club was the first of a new era of unique owner-operated businesses in the area. His subsequent attractions include the restored 1924 Tivoli Theatre movie theater, The Pageant concert nightclub, Pin-Up Bowl martini lounge and bowling alley, Flamingo Bowl bowling alley and lounge located in downtown St. Louis, the luxury boutique Moonrise Hotel, its 8th floor Rooftop Terrace Bar, and the casual fine-dining Eclipse Restaurant.
He is the founder of the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame and is currently spearheading an effort to bring a fixed-track vintage trolley system to The Loop, linking it to Metrolink and Forest Park attractions, a project that received a $24.9 million dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration. Joe Edwards also has renovated numerous historic buildings (including creating the Flamingo Bowl on Washington Avenue) and encouraged one-of-a-kind specialty shops, restaurants, and cultural institutions to make The Loop their home.
Edwards has had a long friendship with rock legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Berry who performs once a month in the Duck Room of Blueberry Hill.
In 2003, Edwards received the prestigious St. Louis Award. In 2004, Edwards received an honorary doctorate of laws from Washington University in St. Louis followed by an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Saint Louis University in 2005, and an honorary doctorate of humanitarian letters from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2006.
Famous quotes containing the words joe and/or edwards:
“This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than apes. True that we were stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all, that God Himself hated us and ordained us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Look, there’s nothing wrong with people being happy, but there’s more to life than turning on and screwing to Ravel’s Bolero.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)