Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire i hate st louis.!!!

but i'm going anyway...
granite city, that is.... got a late call for a job for a few days....

a major job going 41 miles from my house and i gotta travel 5 hours and stay in a stinking motel!!!

can't whine too much... not when so many are simply without work... but,

I HATE ST. LOUIS!!!!!

A corporate recruiting firm contacted the wife and asked her if she wanted to interview with a company down there a couple of months ago. She went down out of curiosity and interviewed. One day there was more than enough for her. They made her an offer, she declined.
I've never seen anything there that would make me want to live anywhere near it.

that bad?!

I was born and raised in Belleville, on the Illinois side. Commuted to St Louis U while they were building the Arch. Driving through East St Louis should have gotten me combat pay while I was in ROTC - I got shot at several times.

Left there in '69 and have only been back once to visit my Mother. I'll never go there voluntarily again, because it anything it's WORSE now.

johnw,

granite city is a little rough.

i hate it too, but it's where i live.

I have to drive through the place three or four times a year, and I refuse to stop until I get to St. Charles(heading west), if then. When going back through, heading east, I gas up in St. Charles and haul azz all the way to Evansville, IN. I no longer stop in Illinois for any reason except to piss. It's the only thing I'll leave in Illinois until I die. I can't stand the whole damned state.

Arizona is the state that I drive around now, due to the radar speed camera's and sheriff Joe. We still drive across MO to St Louis. The Zoo, Grant's Farm, and the Botanical Gardens are all outstanding. Wifey likes "The Hill". It is a nice little Italian community with restaurants and groceries, but it costs me big time to take her there. She fills a cooler with sausage and cheese.

Stay in your motel! Granite City and surrounds are fairly rough.

Lived in the Chesterfield area for 3 years..........been in worse, been in better, but it was tolerable.

MM

John, you're on the wrong side of the river for tolerable St. Louis.

I'll never forget being a kid in the mid-60's and crossing from Mo. in to IL. to visit relatives in Wood River (Belleville). We would hit this one area on the way to stop at Friedman Railroad Salvage to buy scratched and dented merchandise that had been damaged in shipping. Scary chit in that neighborhood.
The uncle and cousin that we visited worked for Olin and received discounts on most things Winchester so the trip always had a bit of a reward. FWIW, I'll also never forget the mid-60's Bonnevilles (one purple) that they drove. What a car!

You have to get west of 270, or preferably west of the Mo. River to get in to reasonably safe territory, even if it is still urban sprawl. It then becomes no different than any other big city....

Worth hitting, if you have time to kill:
Old Court House in the downtown area.
Cabelas - maybe...


The zoo, planetarium, etc....

I've lived in the St. Louis area for 20 years, and it's a great place, especially the West County area. Now the Illinois side, including East St. Louis, Granite City, and many of the towns around there, are an entirely different world. If they weren't near whitetail heaven, I would do my best to stay out of the Illinois side.

the hill is a great area. food is the best.

One of my nephews is a MO state trooper based out of there. For a rookie, he has lots of stories. I hope you don't get to meet him professionally. If you do get to meet him don't ask "are you old enough to be a trooper?", it makes him cranky. :0( and yes, he is old enough.

My mother, born and raised in Granite City, doesn't have anything bad to say about the place. Of course she hasn't been back since the mid fifties. Could be different now.

So what do you want to know about this area? I'm here in the middle of it. I've driven through G.C. and E.S.L. many times also been on the bike through there, too. Can't recall anyone shooting in my direction, but I don't loiter in the cesspool areas. It's kind of like any metropolitan area. You'll find pockets (ESL is a big pocket) of human misery and despair, but you can also get away from it in a few minutes of driving.

Don't get me wrong, if the job wasn't here I'd be somewhere out west where I could go all day without seeing someone else. But, the wife planted a seed here about 12 years ago with her business and now the kids and grandkids are nearby. Picking up and leaving isn't much of an option anymore. I've learned to adapt.

I've worked a few trade shows downtown St. Louis. Definitely not my favorite city, but I don't have too much against it either.

They have decent beer there :-)

That's funny. What would you expect to be doing to draw that attention?

We drive up to St. Louis once every 3 or 4 years to see a Cardinals game, go to the zoo and so forth. We always stay on the west side of town. I've always liked it up there, but then I don't live there.

I have to chip in with my two cents here. I have lived in the St. Louis suburbs for over 40 years and like it a lot. There are many things to be said for it, relatively low cost of living (compared to the coasts and many large cities elsewhere), some of the cheapest gasoline in the country, a fairly conservative political scene, lots of things to do, including several pro sports teams, etc. Granted, there are parts of downtown that I would not frequent, especially at night and there is a fair amount of crime there, but that can be said of pretty much any major city in this country. Speaking of Granite City, my late in-laws lived there and I used to hate going over there to visit them, that town leaves a lot to be desired.

Used to drive thru St.L on the way home from Texas all the time. I ALWAYS missed my exit/turn there for some reason.

They did have a good Bosnian radio station on the AM dial - middle of the night.