<p>Years ago I worked nights in St. Louis. I bummed around during the day and visited the parks, the museums, the brewery (great tour), the local towns like Kimmswick and St. Charles, and the Mastodon site (links below). Ate at many wonderful restaurants that had affordable lunch menus. Agree that Forest Park is a real gem. We’ve taken the kids to the zoo, the Science Center, Grant’s Farm, Six Flags… If you’re only in St. Louis for a couple of years and busy with school, you will have to make a point of seeing all of the sights, IMO.</p>
<p>If you drive, try to add in a stop in Springfield, IL to see the Lincoln museum. It’s an easy in/out with on-site cafe. His hat is on display there.</p>
<p>Regarding housing, from the SLU student I know: “A lot of SLU students live off Hampton in apartment buildings - [Hampton</a> Gardens](<a href=“http://www.hamptongardensapts.com%5DHampton”>http://www.hamptongardensapts.com). Also, check Georgetown apartments. Other individuals with more money live in the West End or by SLU (its a lot of money and not necessarily a lot of room). Personally in Maplewood you get the most bang for your buck and it’s safe. Lots of four family flats. I would stay away from apartments in Maplewood (older and not clean enough IMO).”</p>
<p>Tree, that is so so helpful! Thank you so much. </p>
<p>My boyfriend’s brother and his fiancee are moving here as well. She’s in TFA so I’m passing along this great information to them too. We all appreciate it!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get too worked up about crime rates. It doesn’t seem any different from any other major city - there are areas you stay out of and the rest is fine. There would be no need for you to be in the rough neighborhoods. </p>
<p>Clayton and the suburbs of West County have some big-time money and lovely old houses that are indistinguishable from the Main Line in Philadelphia or the North Shore of Chicago. There isn’t much in downtown St. Louis, however. I’d think of Clayton and the Central West End as my “base” for nighttime action.</p>
<p>And I think you’ll need to have a car. Their public transportation is not well developed. </p>
<p>The summers are pretty brutal in terms of humidity, though. Just be aware.</p>
<p>@Steve- I’ve heard about those in many anthro classes (we have mounds here in MI, too! unbeknownst to most) but I completely forgot they were around there. Thanks for the reminder!</p>
<p>@anxious- I’ve never heard of that site. Thanks!! </p>
<p>@annoying- HA! Complete accident. Don’t worry, I’m a Detroit fan through and through. </p>
<p>@PG- I’m not too worried about the crime rates. I’ve lived in so-called high crime areas before and I know that it’s often either A) way over exaggerated or B) confined to some pretty well-defined areas. </p>
<p>I’ll keep my car, I was just hoping to transition to more public transportation if it was available. I’ve always lived where public transportation is either non-existent or SUCKS. </p>
<p>Thanks for the heads-up about the humidity and heat.</p>
<p>Again, thanks so much everyone :). As always, CCers are wonderful!</p>
<p>I saw this thread briefly during a trip to a state where we had very little wifi. I wanted to bring it back to say that my daughter and her new husband are spending their very brief honeymoon in St. Louis. It’s a nice town.</p>
<p>Apparently many of the caves in Illinois are closed and have been for a couple of years. Something about some endangered bat or something… We have Illinois Caverns in our backyard and people used to flock to it, but I think it’s been closed since 2009 or 2010…</p>
<p>Do you know the 1944 MGM film “Meet Me in St. Louis” starring Judy Garland? It’s a musical set in St. Louis in 1904, at the time of the World’s Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition). It’s great fun, replete with period costumes, scenery, and social customs, and Judy is fantastic, debuting songs like “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which of course later became a seasonal standard. IMO the contemporary city of St. Louis doesn’t have half the charm of the film and its depiction of a bygone era (probably more charming on film than in the living at the time), but because for years the film has been one of my daughters’ favorites, I can’t help but have some of its charm influence my view of the actual city whenever I’m there. I highly recommend it for anyone thinking about relocating to St. Louis.</p>
<p>You’ll find a somewhat darker view in (St. Louis native) Tennessee Williams’ classic play “The Glass Menagerie,” also set in St. Louis, though as I recall the setting is somewhat more incidental to the plot in that work.</p>
<p>Can’t really think of any novels set in St. Louis, which is somewhat surprising given the city’s historic importance. Up until about 1880 it was bigger than Chicago, the largest U.S. city west of the Appalachians. In 1900 and 1910 it was the nation’s 4th-largest city (after New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia), and it stayed in the top 10 until 1960. Also until the 1950s it was one of only 5 U.S. cities (along with New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia) big enough to support two (or in NY’s case, 3) major league baseball teams–the Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns, now the Baltimore Orioles.</p>
<p>Speaks to a certain fading of its glory, I suppose, but it’s a city with a rich past.</p>
<p>I have to say that outside of Washington DC, St. Louis downtown has some of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in the US. Unfortunately it seems to be slowly dying–guessing because of the high crime???</p>