Most people know Polish Hill as a short cut with a dramatic church dome. It's almost never in the news because crime is low, almost half the population is over 65 and, other than in two bars, there's no place left to spend your money. It's not even as Polish as it once was.

But Polish Hill's role as conduit between Liberty Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard may be gaining some luster. With the city riding a wave of investment, the tide may be coming back in for the little neighbor of the Strip, North Oakland, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and the Upper Hill.

Contractors are tossing debris into Dumpsters from two buildings on Brereton Street. They're gutting them for redevelopment by returnees to the neighborhood, Tai + Lee Architects and the Jubilee Pantry. Two residents, -- a 20-something newcomer and a 45-year-old native -- are separately scouting for locations for coffee shops and a restaurant. Residents say they're seeing a lot of new, young faces.

Into this mix came Terry Doloughty as the energetic new leader of the Polish Hill Civic Association. The longtime guardian of the community garden on Wiggins Street, he became the first non-Polish president in June, succeeding 12-year veteran Sharon Wolkiewicz.

"We've always been the quiet little neighborhood that never bothered anyone," said Mr. Doloughty, 41, an employee at Equiparts, a household maintenance parts company in Sharpsburg. "But now we want to make ourselves heard."

He has pumped up communication by adding pages to the newsletter, the Polish Hill Voice, and e-mailing alerts about everything from housing opportunities to reports of vandalism. He is consulting with professional advocates of other neighborhoods and has hatched several fund-raising ideas. One is to sell mimosa seedlings he is growing in coffee cans, harvested from a neighborhood tree.

The steep-angled neighborhood consists of two-story worker houses and apartment buildings that used to be rooming houses for mill workers. Many are sided, some are in shambles. Like in many areas of the city, Polish Hill could use a good scrubbing, and its sidewalks are worn down and weedy, but it offers lots of delights, both rustic and urban.

On Flavian Street, Ken Brush, a retired carpenter, can be found in his workshop with a sweeping view of the Strip and North Side. Thousands of sunflowers grow in the adjacent field. "They come up every year," he said. "I didn't plant them."

A country-looking cat wanders out from the foliage and stops to lick its paw.

"It's quiet here," said the Polish Hill native. "It's like living out in the country."

Just three blocks away, buildings line Brereton in rows, with the European touch of arched passageways leading to back yards. Nearly every intersection offers a breathtaking view of the dome of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. On some streets, building after building sits in stair-step fashion, some with upstairs porches and flights of outdoor stairs.

"We still have a lot of the old ways," said Mr. Doloughty. "But we're seeing new people, and we need to be our own scout to get more of them to buy homes and start businesses."

The return of two longtime denizens is a boost, he said.

Sister Liguori Rossner, executive director of the Jubilee Pantry, has bought the building her organization rented for 15 years, a three-story with double storefronts. The pantry had been distributing on the sidewalk after losing its lease. The pantry would use one storefront.

"There's a woman who wants to put a coffee shop and deli" in the other half, she said. "We're now in a capital campaign to raise money for renovations."

When architects Stephen Lee and Yoko Tai re-roof and rebuild the former VFW lodge across the street, "sometime next year," said Mr. Lee, they will be moving their firm back after five years in the Strip. They had left for more space, which they will now have, just a few doors down from where they live.

Mr. Lee's firm has built several homes in the neighborhood and is building three now on Herron Avenue. He said he is working with deans at Carnegie Mellon University, where he teaches, and consulting with the Lawrenceville Corp., to help artists buy affordable properties.

"In the 30-plus years I have been here," he said, "I am more optimistic about the future than I ever have been."

Although irresponsible landlords and irresponsible tenants are a big headache for the neighborhood, there's good news on the home front.

Edward Three Birds, a native of Monroe County, W.Va., restores old homes and has a friend here who told him about a $40,000 house available on Melwood Street. He bought it last November and has since bought the one beside it. They belonged to elderly people whose families sold them.

"The first week I was here, people threw a 'welcome to the neighborhood' party," he said. "They brought me food, and when I'm out of town, they mow my lawn for me. These are not people who have nothing else to do. They're really loving."

When Sarah Miller, 23, bought her house on Melwood for $24,000 almost two years ago, she said, "there were tons of properties for sale, and all of them have been bought" by owner-occupiers, most of them young.

A mosaic artist, Ms. Miller is now looking for a property in which to open a coffee shop.

So is Stephanie Tecza, 45, a native of the neighborhood.

"I'm a little cautious about it, because you don't know if people would really come," said Ms. Tecza, an employment specialist for people with disabilities. "But we need a gathering place."

She said she was encouraged to see new faces at a recent civic association meeting.

The association exists on the rent of two upstairs tenants and about $22,000 in state community development block grants. It has a part-time staffer on Sundays and on Monday nights.

Mr. Doloughty has consulted with Neighbors in the Strip and Lawrenceville United, both of which have paid staff, on aspects of community improvement.

"We don't have anywhere near the chance of getting what they get," he said of community development nonprofits in general, "but what we have is love of neighborhood. If I put a notice on the door that we're having a Sunday clean-up, a dozen people will turn out with their own gloves, bags and rakes."