(09-19-2017 11:15 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  It's plain and simple.. stay out of downtown st. Louis (Unless you're there for one of the few decent visitor attractions that happen down there).. otherwise, you go to Chesterfield, Troy, St. peters, etc.

Are you sure about downtown St. Louis? My wife is from there and used to work downtown for a law firm right next to the baseball stadium. [/quote]

FBO... there are a few decent areas, but they're as close as you can get to "tourist" daytime downtown. (Me, I'd rather go see the Rascals, than the Cardinals)

Stadium/Ballpark Village/America's Center
City Museum
Forest Park (zoo/science center)
The Arch

But anything else, 90% of the time, you can hit the suburbian type portions (Brentwood, Chesterfield, St. Peters, etc.) and you're going to be a lot safer, and find as much to do.

There are some exceptions of course..

But for instance, I have yet to go visit the Chess Hall of Fame (It's on my to-do list), simply because the neighborhoods you have to go through to get there are horrendous.

But Delmar Loop for instance, it's nice to look at, but during the post-happy hour hours.. I wouldn't be caught there unless my life depended on.

Soulard? I'll go during the day to hit the farmer's market or PiecesStL, but at night? No thanks.

(09-19-2017 11:02 AM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:50 AM)Fitbud Wrote:  I've never been to St. Louis so I don't know anything about it. Why is it a shithole?

It's plain and simple.. stay out of downtown st. Louis (Unless you're there for one of the few decent visitor attractions that happen down there).. otherwise, you go to Chesterfield, Troy, St. peters, etc.

As for why it's gotten so bad? basically East St. Louis used to be the hell-hole, and then people started moving west into downtown St. Louis... and you can see it creeping further west as time goes on (st. Ann's for instance)

St. Louis (and even more so E. St. Louis, who's stupidity has been encroaching on St. Louis) is basically the true sign of Urban blight, maybe except Forest Park (and possible Delmar Loop) area.

LOL...

Seriously laughing out loud!

We parked the car on N 7th and Chestnut, got out and walked around. We kept talking about how nice St. Louis' downtown is.

I guess since I live in Memphis you have to have some serious crime to scare me. St Louis crime must be like a walk in the park.


Seriously, though. We did notice quite a few homeless folks hanging out or sleeping on benches. But overall, the downtown area seemed really cool.

We stopped at S 4th and Gratiot to check out a parking facility that was covered in graffiti. Got out & walked around.

Maybe it was due to being a Sunday afternoon, maybe it was due to the protests (the size of the protest crowd was pretty lame at 6:45 pm), but we felt perfectly safe walking around.

(09-19-2017 11:02 AM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  It's plain and simple.. stay out of downtown st. Louis (Unless you're there for one of the few decent visitor attractions that happen down there).. otherwise, you go to Chesterfield, Troy, St. peters, etc.

We went to a dance supply store in Chesterfield, The Dance Bag on Olive by the Four Season Golf Club. Nice area.

While my wife and daughter were in the dance store I walked down to Dierberg's. I don't know if that place tends to be more expensive that most grocery stores or if it's reasonable, but let's just say the whole "cost of living" thing slapped me in the face.

Every item I looked at was at least $1 more than in Memphis.

Bunny Bread white wheat: $2.99 there, $1.84 Memphis
Marie Calendar frozen meal: $3.69 there, $1.98 Memphis

I wondered how much more a basket full of groceries would cost there than here.

Makes me appreciate our low cost of living.

Of course, the crime rate makes it harder to stay living.


Seriously, Memphis' violent crime isn't as bad as some make it out to be, but that's another thread.

Yep...just checked... St Louis is still a shiitehole..

(09-19-2017 11:56 AM)umbluegray Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 11:02 AM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  It's plain and simple.. stay out of downtown st. Louis (Unless you're there for one of the few decent visitor attractions that happen down there).. otherwise, you go to Chesterfield, Troy, St. peters, etc.

We went to a dance supply store in Chesterfield, The Dance Bag on Olive by the Four Season Golf Club. Nice area.

While my wife and daughter were in the dance store I walked down to Dierberg's. I don't know if that place tends to be more expensive that most grocery stores or if it's reasonable, but let's just say the whole "cost of living" thing slapped me in the face.

Every item I looked at was at least $1 more than in Memphis.

Bunny Bread white wheat: $2.99 there, $1.84 Memphis
Marie Calendar frozen meal: $3.69 there, $1.98 Memphis

I wondered how much more a basket full of groceries would cost there than here.

Makes me appreciate our low cost of living.

Of course, the crime rate makes it harder to stay living.

Seriously, Memphis' violent crime isn't as bad as some make it out to be, but that's another thread.

Yeah Dierbergs is definitely more costly option for groceries in the area, Schnucks is a lot cheaper (but not nearly as good of a chain imo) while Shop 'n Save is limited assortment like Aldi.

As someone who considers themselves a native of the area (lived there from four through high school), I like the area even though it has some serious problems. The political system has been hamstrung for over a century due to the city/county split, much of north city, north county, and a good chunk of the Metro East are pretty dumpy, and the economy has been pretty static for quite some time now. At the same time we have a great deal of cultural amenities for a city our size, a lot of history, some great people, and the cost of living isn't too bad. It's a great place to visit over a long weekend if you're smart about being in the city, as long as you don't stumble into East St. Louis or Fairgrounds Park by accident (like I did when I visited Memphis and wound up in Orange Mound) you should be in decent shape.