STL native on why it's great

For_Shaganov
Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:19:13 +0000

Since most people seem to be under the impression that St. Louis is the worst thing about Wash U, I’m going to try and put that to rest, having spent the first 18 years of my life in St. Louis before going off to the Northeast for college.
You need a car to really be able to enjoy STL to the fullest. I only used to MetroLink once to get to Soulard for Mardi Gras once last year, and I obviously have never used the WUSTL bus, but most of the great places in St. Louis are little out of the way neighborhoods that are rich with history and personality and I’m pretty sure MetroLink/WUSTL bus doesn’t stop at. But if you don’t have a car, you most likely will know someone who does, so most of this should still apply.
Great things/places about STL–

1. As for what’s right next to you. Forest Park on sunny days is endless. The zoo is free, is actually totally fun and huge, with great graphic design (which my aunt helped do) at the Living World and peacocks wandering around in warm months. My friends and I used to spend hours laying out on Art Hill on blankets playing the guitar, sunbathing, occasionally smoking out, haha. It overlooks a huge, rectangular fountain that is breathtakinly beautiful at night. At the top of the hill is the majestic/free Art Musuem, which has tons of the old masters along with a phenomenal modern/post 1900 collection (Beckman, Chuck Close, Elsworth Kelly, etc) I used to go for really long runs around forest park, and if you play golf, you don’t have to belong to a club or anything to play on the links there. The Muny is great in summer nights, but I guess it’ll be closed by the time you get there. My parents used to take me to the science center a lot until i turned out to be more of a history/english person, but they have some really phenomenal/trippy exhibits in there. There’s also a history museum and tennis courts in Fo Po.
I lived pretty close to the loop for most of my life, and used to walk down there with my friends when i was about 12. It’s great for dinner outside and people watching, and this summer I saw Chuck Berry (STL native as well!) at Blueberry Hill in the Duck Room. Blueberry Hill has great old pinball machienes, darts, cheap beer and good American food. Fitz’s has the most amazing grilled portabello mushroom sandwitch in the world and has been serving me alcahol since i was 15, for those of you that care. Ziezo is the best boutique in the area-- it’s a little funky, but not overly so, and carries brands that most of the rest of STL doesn’t, like Anna Sui and Fornarina. Bubble Tea is good, Craft Alliance has really fun glassblowing classes, Saleems for good Lebanese food and bellydancers, Pheonix Rising for eclectic gifts and jewelry, Vintage Vynil for a huge selection of old records and used and new CDs (got my turntable and first record there- Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde… holla) My friends uncle restored the Tivoli a few years ago and now it’s a 40s style fancy movie theatre with red velvet curtains, gold moldings on the ceiling that shows indie/indepedent movies and a midnight movie on friday and saturday nights.

2. The Central West End is my favorite part of St. Louis. It’s old and it’s graceful and it’s classy. I was born in the CWE and my grandparents lived here in a brownstone right off Euclid by McPhereson until a few years ago. Even just walking on Lenox, Pershing and Hortense is calming and otherwordly. You will feel like you’re in Europe… the houses are BEAUTIFUL old stone townhomes and mansions, the sidewalks are crooked, the trees are old and knotted, the streetlamps are wrought iron…sigh, i miss it just writing about it. The restaurants down here are awsome. Duffs is my favorite (semi) casual restaurant in STL. It has stained glass windows and mahogany booths and tables, white Christmas lights strung up on the patio year round and also serves without carding. My friends and I would meet here all the time after our various jobs ended over the summer and sit out on the patio and just relax for a couple hours over a long dinner. John Kerry ate here after the presidential debate at WUSTL, and since he’s been my hero since I was like 12, my friends and I tried to eat there too, along with about 800 other people. I’m not sure how everyone found out he was eating there, I found out because I worked for Kerry-Edwards office in STL, but the point is, John Kerry chose to eat there, so it has to be good. Zoes is across the street with good Asian and sake bombing, Left Bank Books is a great bookstore across from that. David Sedaris read there this summer! Mezzanine is my favorite store in STL, and it’s two doors down from Left Bank (fabulous, fabulous seleciton of little known designers and Tocca, Nanette Lepore, etc). Subzero is a sushi/vodka bar where the bar is made of ice on Euclid, Alice’s is the most amazing vintage store with everything from 20s flapper dresses to Pucci shift dresses from the 60s. My mom got her wedding dress here. There are some really great furniture/random knicknacks from around the world stores here, my grandmother used to own one called Santiago that closed a long time ago, but the spirit of hers is still there in a lot of other stores. A lot of people like Coffee Cartel, I personally don’t, but there are pool tables, if that’s your thing. Across Lindell is a really authentic French restaurant called Chez Leon. Leon is awsome, and if you know Frech, his face will light up when you walk in and speak it to him (he always hosts) Next to Chez Leon is a very trendy/hip restaurant with amazing food called Moxy. I hostessed there this summer, and I’ve seriously never tasted better food in my entire life. The owner/chefs name is Eric Brenner, and he’s really chill.

Ok, I doubt CC will let me post more, and I realize thus far I’ve only really posted about neighborhoods most people know, but I’ll post more about lesser known areas/places like downtown, Soulard, Kirkwood, Demun (fairly well known?) Ladue (the neighborhood my high school was in) and Frontenac later if people want!
But seriously, don’t not go to Wash U because of St. Louis, St. Louis was a great place to grow up and I was still having fun when I left at age 18! Have fun everyone who decides to go!!