St. Louis

[dusred]

So I'm visiting St. Louis right now. The condition of this city is absolutely saddening. It looks like everyone lost their 'give a damn' about 120 years ago. I visit Las Vegas and Phoenix quite often and have never really seen a city in decay.

What happened?

[AppleBonker]

It's St. Louis.

[Loki]

Try visiting Scranton. it's more of the same except for the corrupt politician's houses.

[Jesda]

You should text/call me. Lets go to the loop and get hammered, or lightly buzzed and stuffed with food.

314-482-2589. This class gets out at about 8:30 central.

St Louis is a lot better than it was a decade ago. The bulk of the decline began in the 60s and it continued to slide downhill into the end of the 20th century. Corrupt politicians, entitlement programs, race riots (several caused by angry union workers who didnt want to compete with new blacks from the south for jobs/wages... same thing happened in Detroit), and the general rust belt trend that had people moving west, settling down in Phoenix, LA, SF, Dallas, Houston, etc.

Casino revenue and the transition from manufacturing to healthcare, education, and financial services helped keep the city from sinking completely. AG Edwards is here as well as Energizer, Emerson Electric, Anheuser-Busch, Purina, and a few other anchors. Before Delaware became a major corporate hub, it was common to base a company's headquarters in St Louis since corporate taxes were cheap, infrastructure was sufficient, and the location was centralized with easy transportation. Now it lingers out on the river like Chicago's shadow.

I live way out in the exurbs so the reported happenings of St Louis City are like watching news from the middle east. Its kind of foreign to me. Everyone who gave a damn packed up and moved across town to live among other people who gave a damn.

I'm rambling. Lets eat.

[dusred]

We've got a vacation house about 1 mile from the Arch (which is one saving grace of the city) and I just at about 3 pieces of pizza. And I'm under 21 so I don't think any bars would let me in. . . on the other hand some of them don't care. But yeah, I'll take your number and maybe I'll call you later. I'm with family so I don't know if I can break away.

[Jesda]

USELESS

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Isn't dusred like 12? Ya'll could go to Chuck E' Cheese.

[Xdisaster240sX]

s***...you wanna see a city in decay come to Baltimore.

[Jesda]

I remember driving downtown at 4am every morning for work. Soon as I got off the ramp I got a huge whiff of sewage and homeless people. The smell was amplified by being in a convertible.

Union Station used to be a really nice mall, but now its a roach-infested s*** where downtown workers go for lunch. The Union Station parking lot doesn't even take cards, so when I handed them my card they'd just give up and tell me to go on ahead for free.

Everyone who isn't poor or an addict lives far south or far west or really far east of the city. Everyone who lives in St Louis doesn't live in "St Louis" since the city was broken up into several pieces over a century ago. St Louis City is a small geographical area while St Louis County makes up for the surrounding land with several small towns and cities scattered about. Its why the skyline in STL is so spread out. Clayton has a much nicer downtown than downtown St Louis and its almost as big.

A vacation home within a mile of the arch, quite honestly, sounds like a dump. Is it a fancy loft condo? I put up with downtown when I want to see a baseball game, show visitors around, or work at the warehouse. Its definitely not a place I'd otherwise choose to spend my time and money.

[dusred]

USELESS

[Bubba1]

So I'm visiting St. Louis right now. The condition of this city is absolutely saddening. It looks like everyone lost their 'give a damn' about 120 years ago. I visit Las Vegas and Phoenix quite often and have never really seen a city in decay.

What happened?

Could be that Jesda left the area for a few days and all hell broke loose while he was gone.

[dusred]

The neighborhood seems like kindof a dump but this particular house has been fully restored and is actually really nice. Judging from the neighbors you for sure want to 'hide yo wives hide yo husbands' at night. I for sure wouldn't want to live here. I'm quite sure I'm the only white teenager within a mile.

[Jesda]

If you feel suicidal, put on some really expensive basketball shoes and walk north or east.

[dusred]

LOL. . . .

Please tell me it's not THAT bad. . .

[Jesda]

I'm exaggerating a little bit. I dropped a friend off at the Greyhound station up north in the worst part of the ghetto. I was in my BMW, top down, naive idiot I was from the west side. I was running out of gas and had to pull in to the nearest station. I got 2 gallons and got the hell out of there. I didn't die, but I thought I might.

Truthfully, in even the worst large American cities, violent crime tends to be very specific, usually related to domestic disputes, drug deals, or gangs. But the possibility of being a victim of a carjacking or rape is certainly there. Don't piss anyone off or drive around in a fancy pants open-top car blasting Ace of Base.

One of my stepbrother's idiot white friends was in East St Louis (probably up to no good anyway) and asked some girl for directions. She got close enough to grab his cell phone sitting in the passenger seat and ran off.

But yeah, I'm way outside the city. I lock nothing. I say hello to my neighbors. Even the cops are super friendly. Its a fat WASP's wet dream out here.

[sx moneypit]

Check out the University City area and be sure to go to Blueberry Hill restaurant .Jesda lives in Chesterfield (my sister lives there too)it is nice.Oh,be sure to take a tour of the Budweiser brewery.

[flohtingPoint]

We've got a vacation house about 1 mile from the Arch

That could be really bad if it's north of the arch. Once you go past where the Rams play on Broadway, you're entering a warzone. One time, while getting onto the Eads, I spotted two guys throwing down at like 6am. Seriously, who rumbles at that hour?

[Encryptshun]

I love St. Louis. Great music scene, good food, good parks and open spaces... some of the places I used to like to go aren't really so tourist-friendly anymore, like Union Station (I used to love to hit The Fudgery whenever I was there), but as long as you don't do anything pants-on-head retarded you're fine. Lately when I've gone my trip has been around the Arch area or up in Creve Coeur, but I've spent a lot of time in Chesterfield, Manchester, Maplewood, Kirkwood and St. Chuck.

[dusred]

Luckily I wasn't gang raped in the a** last night. Now we're driving to Indy for a convention. I think I'll like it better there.

[Koshin]

Isn't dusred like 12? Ya'll could go to Chuck E' Cheese.

lmfao

[Jesda]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... delmar.jpg

Delmar Loop is one of the coolest streets in the country.

[Encryptshun]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... delmar.jpg

Delmar Loop is one of the coolest streets in the country.

Streetside Records! Wow, that brings back memories. My college gang was almost exclusively from the St. Louis area (I went to school in Kirksville), and that place was a Mecca for the alternative music scene in the early '90s. I visited the Columbia location, but spent most of my time in the C at Wiz records, owned by a friend of mine. I didn't read the article, but I thought the Streetside in Delmar closed like in 2007 or 2008?

[Jesda]

Yeah, I miss Streetside. Bought my first tape there in 1992 (Amy Grant). Now I spend all my money at Vintage Vinyl and The Record Exchange on Hampton.

[sup_mario]

Well, that is St. louis lol