Tell me more about Saint Louis, MO

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Guys,

Tell me things about St. Louis, MO. I know they plan to get a Professional Football Team at some point and they have a world class arboretum, but please let me know more!!! Wife and I are looking to move to the area when it all works out for us!! Can't tell too much, but I'm VERY hopeful to be there before May!!

I'll be in St Louis Sunday night, no rental car this trip.

Anyhow, tell me your thoughts, places to live if you want to find land and commute to town. My Wife just has to be within (hopefully) 30 miles of the airport or less as she is a road warrior.

Best,

[gassy]

Yikes.

[Buckterrier]

They have an arch that's beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside.

[Scott R]

Spent a month there on business when I worked for IBM, they have a datacenter they share with Boeing there. Let me just say that if I ever go back to St. Louis it will be too soon. Was horrible, both in weather and scenery, seemed like everyone smokes, and they still allow it indoors, which is odd coming from Colorado.

[Rot 911]

Yes the midwest is flyover country. So you all just keep flying over and going back to those socialist states you live in. We don't want you.

[72doug2,2S]

I hear they're very friendly. : -)

[billwagnon]

For land and space, you might want to check out O'Fallon MO and points west, within 30 miles.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=38.629745,-90.819855&daddr=Lambert-St+Louis+International+Airport,+10701+Lambert+Inte rnational+Blvd,+Uninc+St+Louis+County,+MO&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=10&sll=38.725162,-90.596008&sspn=0.946018,0.623474&ie=UTF8&z=10

for more 'country', the Illinois side works too. The Great River Road up there is totally awesome.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=6887562673633945749,38.986810,-90.303120&saddr=38.978628,-90.295258&daddr=Lambert-St+Louis+International+Airport,+10701+Lambert+Inte rnational+Blvd,+Uninc+St+Louis+County,+MO&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=10&sll=38.758367,-90.307617&sspn=0.945579,0.623474&ie=UTF8&ll=38.760509,-90.420227&spn=0.94555,0.623474&z=10


I like St. Louis, and I'm not into sports (we do have the Rams, Cards, Blues hockey, no basketball)

Smoking is banned in restaurants etc in Illinois but not Missouri. Usually not a problem, unless you like going to clubs. I prefer no smoking.

In general Missouri's a conservative state. Illinois is more progressive. Higher taxes on gasoline in Illinois but for the most part I don't really notice a difference in Missouri vs downstate Illinois people.

St. Louis has a fair number of mountain bike trails, etc. Depends what you are into I guess.

I spent a week one winter in Dayton OH and didn't like it at all, but then again it wasn't "home".

[72doug2,2S]

Apparently you have to be gay to enjoy St. Louis, who knew? Oh well keep searching.

Visitors
Rainbow Resources
GLBT Travel to St. Louis

To quote St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, one element central to St. Louis’ renaissance is "our willingness to celebrate our diversity." Our revitalized downtown is an exciting addition to our destination’s numerous amenities, including myriad parks, neighborhoods, galleries, museums, music venues, sports facilities, universities, events and activities.

Our hotels, attractions and special events welcome gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender visitors. St. Louis truly is the complete getaway.

St. Louis is proud to be selected as one of the entries in the new book, 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live. Author Gregory A. Kompes conducted extensive research into 400 American cities for the project. "St. Louis has been chosen one of America’s gay-friendliest places to live," writes Kompes.

For more information about gay-friendly businesses, visit www.gaystlouis.com.

We could write a book about all the great things there are to do in St. Louis - in fact, we have! Order your copy of the Official St. Louis Visitors Guide online.

[billwagnon]

oh my goodness! un-American activities! there ought to be a law, and instead we are welcoming these "people".

hide the kids!

[gr8fl4porsche]

If your looking for land and don't mind a commute, St. Charles County is probably the place for you. The nicer neighborhoods are to the west and south of the airport.

We would love to have you. The people are friendly here, standard of living is affordable, the weather changes everyday and we love our Cardinals and Budweiser.

The Cards won the World Series in '06 and the Rams won and lost the Superbowl since they moved here from LA.

Yes, you can still smoke in St. Louis. Not everywhere, but definitely in bars.

There is some real nice mountain biking outside of town as mentioned earlier and if you like to camp and float down a lazy river in a canoe drinking beer, a dozen beautiful scenic rivers are only an hour or two away.

Good place to raise a family. The Lou is not the prettiest city due to many years of mismanagement and white flight, but we're trying to pull it together. Downtown is in the middle of a rebuilding phase.

The airport is right in the middle of town. 30 minutes from the airport gets you almost anywhere including the Illinois side of town.

If you have any questions, PM me and I'll send you my phone number.

[Dueller]

And let us not forget the nice little road course at Gateway

[mschuep]

I agree w/ Randy's comments. I lived in STL from when I was 9 until I went to college, and during the summer while home from college (1990-2004)

IMO, Great place to live and raise a family, and lots to do within about 30-45 minute drive into town, or away from town. There are a lot of different areas for nightlife, and pro sports if you are into that...or museums and parks and a FREE zoo that is one of the best in the country. I never noticed a whole lot of homo activity, but who knows that could be changing in some areas, not that there is anything wrong with that.

I lived out in west STL county (chesterfield), not quite as far as St. Charles, but pretty close. In that area there are nice houses to get with decent lots and common ground areas with a reasonable commute to the airport or city and minimal crime (contrary to popular belief.) If you're looking for more land than that, you can get a lot more bang for your buck when you get out toward St. Chuck and O'Fallon as others have said. Still no tolls around town and traffic is bearable (but I live in NJ so YMMV )

Good luck, feel free to PM.

[rick-l]

If you value your physical well being get out of St Louis. Stay out somewhere west, Westport, Clayton, Chesterfield etc.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Rick is referring to the City of St. Louis. I lived in South City for 15 years after college. Great time but had to leave when the kids came along.

The City proper is not a part of St. Louis County, 2 separate entities with 2 separate governments. This has been to the detriment of the city. The county has flourished while the city has struggled, nearly died and is starting to be reborn. Property values declined enough that the developers swept in and started the resurgence.

The City of St. Louis' population is down to 355,000 while the metro area has grown to approx 3 million. All the tax money left the city due to urban sprawl.

If someone tells you they live in St. Louis, they usually do not. Most live in St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Thanks all!! Please keep the info coming. We (read as The Wife) love horses and she has a couple we need to provide a home for. We would be looking for some space to enjoy the horses, raise some roses, sip tea in the garden, and drive that country mile.

[LakeCleElum]

If you want to see the real "St. Louis", ride the train from the airport into town!!!!! I did that one eve to take a gambling riverboat from E. St. Louis (ILL side of the river)....Well, when the boat return, I didn't know the train back to the airport area quit running well before the boat docked. Walking around E. St. Louis at Mid-Night is not recommended either.....Other than that, I spent a good week there at a convention that had free Bud. beer all week!!!

[gr8fl4porsche]

Check out a little town called Defiance, MO which is near Hwy 40 and 94. More like 45+ minutes from the airport but may have just what you are looking for. Hwy 94 is pure Porsche heaven. Hundreds of twists and turns from St. Louis to Jefferson City (The Capitol of MO). Lots of little wineries along the way as well.

[gr8fl4porsche]

The metrolink from the airport to downtown goes thru the near north side (the hood) before cutting thru downtown. They should have buried that portion of the tracks underground to hide the hood from visitors.

The trains have been expanded since Bob was in town. You can now take a much nicer ride to downtown thru Clayton ( the gov't /business center/ high rent district) but thru the hood is faster.

The gambling boats no longer float, they're not even boats anymore - big Vegas style hotel casinos now.

[hpservertech]

We are expecting to get a pro football team???? Could of sworn we had one that won the superbowl a few years ago. World series 2 years ago and the all star game next year. Hockey team sucks, but so does the football team.

What all do you want to know about the area?

[Joeaksa]

Lived for years in Kirkwood and had lots of friends in Normandy.

Go west and you will be happier... Nice place to live but hot and very humid. Frigging tornado's and ice storms, otherwise its a nice place.