STL native on why it's great

NUgraduate
Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:59:22 +0000

Since you started this thread… I will add to it. I lived in Frontenac for three years - from 2000 to 2003. I wish we could have stayed in St. Louis; it was one of my favorite places to live - tied with Chicago, believe it or not! St. Louis is “easier” than Chicago, but still has plenty to do. There’s rarely any traffic, at least not what I define as traffic having lived on the North Shore of Chicago. Though weekends don’t provide a choice of dozens of theatrical events, there are always many things to choose from. Wash U. students are near The Pageant in the Loop. I saw Dan Fogelberg there in 2002. Do any of you remember him? There are some more recent bands as well. There is an outdoor bandshell venue. I saw Jessica Simpson, Nelly (St. Louis native) Beyonce & group, etc… for some TRL thing. I took my kids to that one. I am a parent, so I also saw there: James Taylor, Blue Man Group, and I’m sure more - but those are the ones that come to mind. Broadway touring groups are often downtown; I saw many current shows there. As for restuarants, agreed with the previous poster about the neighborhoods she mentioned. We eat out a lot, so I have been to all the places she mentioned, and there are many more she didn’t. She didn’t get to “The Hill” for instance… this is an area of Italian restaurants, GOOD Italian restaurants. St. Louis, we were told, invented fried ravioli. For what it’s worth - they’re good, but the better invention is Ted Drewe’s. Ted Drewe’s is an “ice cream” place in the middle of nowhere which is CROWDED from dusk to midnight. You can’t imagine the number of people who are there, whenever you might visit. People hang out and eat their ice cream, all sorts of people. One night we saw a limo carrying about a dozen 16-year-old girls in dresses and an Elvis impersonator. The 16 year-olds got ice cream, the Elvis impersonator performed, parents took pictures and the hundred other folks milling around enjoyed the show. As per Frontenac, if you like upscale shopping (and I do like upscale shopping) - the mall there is anchored by Saks on one end and Nieman Marcus on the other. Since you will be on college budgets, this is irrelevant to you for most of the year, BUT… if you go to the last call sale at Needless Markup, you’ll be shocked at the deals you can find. As to reality, you may end up going to that mall because the movie theatre there on the second floor is where the art films are shown. Well, that’s a long enough post for now… But, I do like St. Louis, and would have been happy to live there forever.