Go beyond Charleston's King Street to explore the working-class neighborhood redefining southern cool

New Yorkers aren't afraid of a little schmutz. When Queens-born Chef Shuai Wang and his wife Corrie went hunting for a spot to open their new Charleston restaurant, they wanted a place that was both affordable and authentically homegrown—a tall order in a city where home prices frequently soar past $2 million and two-bedroom apartments cost $4,000 to rent a month.
The couple found their answer in Park Circle, a 110-year-old historic garden neighborhood in a fast-changing, working-class community called North Charleston with a gritty heritage standing in stark contrast to the genteel, steeple-stippled skyline, expensive boutiques, and luxury hotels further south. For Wang, who starred in the most recent season of Bravo's Top Chef, that difference felt right.
"Park Circle is Charleston's Williamsburg," he says, drawing parallels to Brooklyn's once-scruffy creative enclave.
The couple opened Jackrabbit Filly on Spruill Avenue five years ago (recently relocating it to nearby East Montague Avenue). They weren't alone. Only a 16-minute Uber ride from downtown Charleston's Marion Square, Park Circle has quietly become the Holy City's vibrant magnet, drawing residents priced out of living "below the neck"—the stretch of peninsula wedged between the Ashley and Cooper rivers and separating North Charleston from the bourgeois world of the historic city.
No such airs are on display in Jackrabbit Filly, the 1970s wood-paneled walls furnished with quixotic thrift-store finds contrast with intricate wood screens imported from China. There's a clatter of plates and the hum of conversation coming from the 44 tables, all booked. The air is filled with aromas of soy vinegar and chili oil, and there is anticipation for dishes such as glass noodles and the Japanese fried chicken known as karaage, so popular devotees drive from miles around to enjoy the food and atmosphere. That's no surprise to Pearce Fleming, whose airy microbrewery Commonhouse Aleworks sits around the corner.
"Park Circle's a place that fosters community," he says. 'It's what we try to do at our brewery. We exist to bring people together to celebrate over a pint of social lubricant."
To encourage that conviviality, Fleming, whose brews include IPAs 'Navy Town' and 'Park Circle' named for his neighborhood, helped establish one of the community's biggest festivals. In 2010, Park Circle was the first to celebrate Pride in Charleston, which it continues to do to this day with more than 40 participating organizations. Now, other annual events like the musically minded Riverfront Revival and Rockabillaque, featuring rockabilly music, classic cars, and barbecue, draw thousands of people.
Music is center stage throughout the year at other venues including Holy City Brewing and the Firefly Distillery, famous for its sweet tea vodka. Visitors can sample the lemony-flavored drink, and its bourbons and whiskeys, in its tasting room. Outside, Firefly's five-acre music space regularly hosts bands. Past performers included Chappell Roan and Willie Nelson.
While a Roan concert wasn't what its founders could ever imagine, Park Circle is finally fulfilling its original intention in some ways. The neighborhood began as a genteel gamble in the 1910s when city businessmen envisioned a streetcar suburb that would lure young professionals and their families north of Charleston's traditional boundaries. "They couldn't kick start interest in moving there," says Brittany Lavelle Tulla, an architectural historian at BVL Historic Preservation Research. "It couldn't just get off its feet."
Instead, the US Navy took center stage. Its base, the Naval Complex, employed 25,000 workers at its World War II peak. Workers performed a variety of duties from disassembling Nazi U-boats to maintaining Cold War fleets. Their communities—which would incorporate as the city of North Charleston in 1972—earned a brawling, blue-collar reputation immortalized in Pat Conroy's novel "The Lords of Discipline."
(Related: Charleston's newest museum reckons with the city's role in the slave trade.)
Yet Park Circle's original garden city design endured. The central circular park, that gave the neighborhood its name, still anchored streets that radiated outward like spokes. When the base closed in 1996, that historic blueprint, combined with the bungalows, worker cottages, and mid-century buildings left behind, created perfect conditions for renewal. Young entrepreneurs and artists soon discovered East Montague Avenue's wide, herringbone-bricked sidewalks—perfect for outdoor cafes, kids, and dogs—and a new chapter began.
The avenue's shops reflect the neighborhood's eclectic spirit. Neighborly modern furniture shares space with local artisans' work. Odd Duck Market sells food and coffee, while Black Octopus Mercantile transformed surf wear into streetwear. The shop is a cheery place, probably due to the ebullience of owner Missy Johnson, who designs most of the merchandise herself. Some of it is regularly featured on the hit teen drama The Outer Banks.
'I love being in Park Circle,' she says. 'We may be off the beaten track but we're quite the gem of the realm sitting between the pine trees and the river.'
The river that Johnson is referring to is Cooper River, where the old naval facilities are also undergoing a metamorphosis.The 140-acre Riverfront Park now occupies part of the former base, including grounds initially landscaped in 1896 by the famed Olmsted Brothers firm for a project predating the naval yards. Walking paths crisscross beneath century-old live oaks, leading to a 1,200-foot boardwalk jutting into the water.
The former base commander's Colonial Revival mansion and its columned porches, or 'piazzas' in local parlance, is now an event space overlooking the river where anglers cast for red drum, spotted sea trout, and flounder. The graceful Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge and its two 55-foot-tall steel arches connect the park to the River District North development, an ambitious plan where 70 acres of former naval land will become a mixed-used village with housing, offices, and retail spaces.
While the River District North promises a glossy future, Park Circle's past isn't forgotten. Kelsey Bacon, a floral designer at Roadside Blooms, bridges both. Her great 'grand mamie' Virginia Kirkland toiled in the naval factories during WWII. Bacon thinks she would have been amazed to see the transformations that have turned the community into the one now on travelers' itineraries.
'It's a melting pot of different lives and different people, says Bacon. 'As long as I'm in Charleston I'll be in Park Circle.'
(Related: Discover the best of Charleston with these top 10 things to do.)
Where to eat: The tide-to-table Walrus Raw Bar inside Holy City Brewing offers the chance to slurp local oysters and quaff an array of artisanal beers. On East Montague, Southern Roots Smokehouse features brisket, chicken wings, and traditional barbecue sides. Across the street, EVO Pizza offers wood-fired pies like pistachio pesto or the pork trifecta with a farmer's salad.
Where to stay: Airbnbs on offer in the neighborhood. Something new in North Charleston: The Starlight Motor Inn, an authentic 1961 motel with strong mid-century modern design vibes and live music in its upstairs bar The Burgundy Lounge (Rates from $100). Downtown, The Ryder, which opened in 2021, offers a contemporary vibe different than many of the traditional hotels (Rates from $203)
What to do: New last year, The Park Circle Playground is the country's largest inclusive playground designed to allow full accessibility to children with autism, sensory issues, or in wheelchairs full accessibility. For playful adults, retro Pinky and Clyde's Arcade Bar on East Montague lets patrons play vintage video games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. On Spruill Avenue, the Station offers shoppers vintage housewares and clothing as well as new art and fashions curated by a changing mix of some 30 artists, designers, and thrifters.
(Related: 10 of the best hotels in Charleston, from historic landmarks to hipster hotspots.)
Andrew Nelson is the author of National Geographic's recently published travel book Here Not There. Follow him on Instagram.

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