Before radio and television, much of the social life on The Hill happened outside the home: in church, in taverns, and in clubs where men met to talk and play games. One of them was the Big Club, an Italian men’s social club at the corner of Shaw and Marconi. Nearly a century after its members bought their building, the Big Club name is back in use on Shaw Avenue.
A neighborhood that lived close to home
The City of St. Louis’s history of The Hill describes the neighborhood, in the era of Italian immigration, as largely self-contained: people could work, shop, socialize, worship and go to school without leaving it. Hill 2000’s history makes a similar point, noting that taverns stood on most corners and that, before radio and television, they were where residents traded news, made connections and relaxed. By the 1920s, Hill 2000 says, The Hill was firmly established as the city’s Italian American community.
Cards, bocce and a building of their own
The Big Club grew out of that world. The city calls it once popular, a place where Italian men gathered to drink beer and play cards and bocce, a game the city likens to lawn bowling. In 1929 the members bought the building at the southwest corner of Shaw and Marconi, giving the club a home of its own.
Over time the club’s role widened. According to the city, it tried to adapt as the neighborhood changed by becoming a community center for the whole neighborhood, but it did not survive in that role either. In 1994 the members sold the building to a photographer, who, as of the city’s 2019 update to its page, was using it as a studio.
The habits the Big Club stood for did not disappear. A 2003 Associated Press feature on The Hill described older men gathering to play cards and bocce at the Italia-America Bocce Club, which it called a center of neighborhood life.
Big Club Hall in 2026
In 2026, the name returned to public life. A City of St. Louis Excise Division notice shows that Big Club Hall LLC, at 5200 Shaw Ave. in the Hill, sought a standard full-drink and Sunday liquor license at a hearing on May 14, 2026, with Anthony Caradonna listed as managing officer. The application received tentative initial approval, pending items on the city’s needs list.
That fall, the hall gained a bar. Ladue News and St. Louis Public Radio each included Big Club Bar in their roundups of September 2026 openings, both published October 1, 2026. Ladue News listed it as located inside Big Club Hall, 5200 Shaw Ave., on The Hill.
Many details of the club’s early decades, including who founded it, how many members it had and exactly when it began, were not available in the sources reviewed for this article.
While you are on Shaw, the neighborhood’s red, white and green fire hydrants are another small sign of its Italian identity; read why they are painted that way.
For more on the neighborhood’s past, see our History of The Hill timeline.
Sources: City of St. Louis, The Hill Neighborhood Overview, City of St. Louis Excise Division hearing notice, Ladue News, St. Louis Public Radio, Hill 2000, History of The Hill, Southeast Missourian / AP
