What's cool to do in St. Louis?

February 19, 2005 10:00 PM

A friend of mine here in Seattle is going to be traveling to St. Louis on business in a couple of weeks and would like recommendations for cool stuff to do there for a couple of days. He's a 30-something urban hipster-geek with the usual tastes that entails. He specifically asks if there's good live jazz.
posted by matildaben to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

The Delmar loop is the Washington U area, filled with lots of good little clubs and restaurants (especially Saleem's, which has a neon sign in the window proclaiming "where garlic is king" and is it ever). The neighborhood also contains the St. Louis Art Museum, which I think is very fine.

Here's an upcoming jazz calendar from the local alternative weekly. I hope something there coincides with his visit.

Personally, I like the Arch. It's really very beautiful up close. And it's fun to go to the top with all the German tourists.
posted by melissa may at 10:29 PM on February 19, 2005

I can't stress the coolness of the City Museum enough. Seriously, tell your friend that he MUST check out the City Museum. Don't let the term "museum" scare him off. It's one of the coolest places I've ever been to, no joke.

Tell him to go at night, though. It's open to 1 AM, and there are two bars in the museum. There aren't many kids around, and it turns into a more adult atmosphere.

He will not be dissapointed, mark my words.
posted by nitsuj at 10:40 PM on February 19, 2005

More on the City Museum, from Wired.

Imagine what could happen if you free a museum's staff from endless legal red tape, stuffy attitudes about what is and isn't art, and fear of what visitors might do when confronted by dark chasms, scary slides or a puking pig.

Imagine instead a museum staff comprising engineer-artists, free to create whatever they want, be spontaneous, take risks and play. And imagine a museum that figures people won't mind getting really dirty or rather wet during their visits, and you have St. Louis' City Museum.

City Museum dares visitors to test their limits, to take a chance and climb five stories through a giant steel slinky suspended in midair, or eschew the stairs in favor of sliding several stories down a chute instead. Screams of fear are heard here almost as often as shrieks of delight.

Check out the article.
posted by nitsuj at 10:42 PM on February 19, 2005

damn, nitsuj, now I want to plan a trip to St. Louis just so I can go. That looks awesome.
posted by Vidiot at 11:31 PM on February 19, 2005

Definitely not hipster, but he should get a car and go out to Cahokia Mounds anyway. It is a powerful place.
posted by LarryC at 7:24 AM on February 20, 2005

I've been to the City Museum three or four times and can attest to its being totally awesome. Consider it a 'must-see'. Also the arch is fun to go up, and the Budweiser brewery is nice to visit.
posted by jacobm at 8:12 AM on February 20, 2005

Ted Drewe's for amazing frozen custard (there's one on Grand, and one on Chippewa); Rigazzi's on The Hill; Forest Park; Crown Candy for homemade candy and authentic 50s ice cream parlour experience; Cherokee Street for antiques and junque; Soulard Farmer's Market... ...just drive around South St. Louis and look at the fabulous brick buildings and the neon signs! The great thing about St. Louis is that nobody gives it a second thought -- very little gentrification, thrift stores are still cheap, lots of authentic St. Louis-specific experiences. If the weather didn't suck, I'd live there in a minute.
posted by user92371 at 8:51 AM on February 20, 2005

If you are going to try for the City Museum, call ahead and check the schedule. I was there over winter break this year and they were on a shortened winter schedule (ie not open 'til 1am and always full of little kids). I went and had a good time anyway.

Also: Llywelyn's, Rossino's, Dressel's, Duff's, Blueberry Hill. And it's not the Delmar loop, it's the U-City Loop.
posted by mexican at 7:17 PM on February 20, 2005

U-City Loop!
posted by mexican at 7:19 PM on February 20, 2005

Also forgot Jazz at the Bistro
posted by mexican at 7:20 PM on February 20, 2005