Best City Neighborhood

With many city neighborhoods on the comeback, St. Louis Hills is one that never went away. Residents in this tree-lined district in the southwest corner of the city call their one-of-a-kind gingerbread houses and 1930s art-deco architecture home. Its arches and turrets, stonework and stained glass draw gawkers from nearby Ted Drewes, who stroll the sidewalks with a chocolate frozen custard. Folks are so eager to get a gander inside these homes that last year's home tour, a relatively new event, sold out its first day. The neighborhood's centerpiece, Francis Park, is kept lively with annual and perennial planting. The park also has a staff of water gardeners who plant, and care for, its extended lily pond.