My wife and I are yet another step closer to getting out of NYC........ St Louis is on our list to visit to see if we'd like to move there, the Fantastic thing about the HAMB is ya can ask other gear heads what they think. and if im really reaching here just delete my post and yell at me FRITZ
stay out of east st. louis. There are some great properties for sale, my girlfriend's family is from around there. kind of a neat town. Not as cool as Kansas city though.
There is another farm place for sale out here. A 2 story farm house with several acres and buildings for around $160,000 Minutes away from the interstate and about 20 miles (20 miles = 20 minutes around here) from Champaign, which has the University of Illinois and most of the so called "city things" (like Starbucks and the mall) your bride would desire. Lots of jobs up there too. Contact monsterflake. He can give you the skinny on St. Louis.
depends on what u want to know... we have one of the best zoo's in the country & its FREE. lots of museums some are free other charge a small fee. if ya like art there are a few art galleries & ya can't forget the Saint Louis Art Museum, it's always been one of my son's favorite places to hang out since he was a young child. then we have The City Museum which offers art from recycled materials, artists at work, circus shows, caves to explore & in general is a really cool place for the adults & kids to go to. we also have The Museum of Transportation where that have a few cars along w/lots of Railroad Equipment thats on display. if ya like to gamble there are several casino's to go to in the area. here's a list of St. Louis Attractions - Museums & here's more attraction info The Official Travel Portal of St. Louis, Missouri and we cant forget the Anheuser-Busch Tours hope this helps ya out a little.......joe
well what im looking for is whats a nice area,....places to stay away from,....quality of life stuff!!!!!!!!!! let me be blunt. we are tired of driving 1 hour and 45 min's to go 30 miles one way to work and living where no one soeaks english, and cant be botherd to lern it, we want that norman rockwell america, im sure i'll get pounded, but i know most folks want the same thing. FRITZ
Gotcha covered. Just west of St. Louis is St. Charles, St. Peters, Wentzville. I grew up in that area from mid 60's to '79. Graduated hs in '77. Great place to grow kids, some small town feel, big town goodies. Play tourist in St, Louis, but ya don't wanna live there. And DO heed the info about East St. Louis. West of the Missouri River is good. Tons of rods and cars in that region. Great area for that. Good Luck.
My daughter lives there, we go often. There are lots or rod shops , chopper shops and cruise nights Big Dog street rods Doug Jenkins Custon-Hotrods Route 66 Rods&parts Southside City Speed Shop Wise Speed Shop Probably more i havent been to. They live off Hampton road (The Hill) all these are nearby.
When I was on the road, I saw more old cars between St Lewis and KC, than any other place in the US. A lot of cool places to shop also.
OK, now i gotta ask, why is east St Louis so bad??????? and the only think i know about KC is its alway on COPS, "bad boys, bad boys, what cha gonna do....." FRITZ
Dude, I AM Norman Fucking Rockwell. Ha Ha Ha The place I speak of is about 5 miles from Ivesdale, the cultural mecca of Champaign county. Population 450. 2 Bars, a post office, a meat locker, and of course the grain elevator where you can come and bitch for 4 hours a day with all the other farmers in your new Cadillac about how there ain't no money in farming. It doesn't get more Norman Rockwell than that. My brother lived on the west side of St. Louis for a while. Right down the road from Monsanto. It was a decent hood I suppose.
I'm from the St. Louis area on the Ill side. It has a lot of things going on. I'll say it has a lot of bad parts of town but also a lot of nice residental area. KC is 4/5 hours west , so take a short trip west. East St. Louis used to be a nice area. Watch Family Vacation. I live in KC but I still enjoy STL. $0.02
shit Fritz there's bad places all over the place BUT u can tell where most of them are as soon as u get there. some say north st louis is real bad, others will say south st louis, it really just depends on the neighborhood. there are some really nice communities on both sides of the st louis metro area, BUT then they even have thier bad spots too. as for E. St Louis, most of the city u dont want to hang out in during the day, driving through it is normally safe durning the day. but at nite well lets i have black friends who won't drive in parts of that town at nite. personally i have never had a problem while i was down there, but then i was only at a business picking up parts or something, or using the metro link trains. there are areas outside the st louis metro area where u can spend up to a 1/2 million $$$$ or more on a house if ya got that kinda $$$$ or u could spend under $100,000 for several acres with in 50 miles of st louis or even less on a simple house in one of the local communities. where ever u decide to look make sure u ask about all those stupid laws that may get a car person in trouble. there are a few areas that wont allow u to park an RV, trailor or even a work truck on ur property, heaven forbid u park it in ur yard or leave car parts outside where someone an see them. there are gated communities who wont even allow u to change ur oil in the driveway, but then IF u lived there u got enuff $$$$$$ to pay someone to do it. i've lived in the St Louis metro area for over 45yrs & i can honestly say that its not really a bad place to live. just like any other large community we have our good things & some bad things about us BUT all in all it is a good place to live. plus we have LOTTTTS of car shows, swap meets & cruz's throughout the metro east area . at times u have to choose between several different shows,swap meets or cruz's to go to on one given day.....joe
st louis gets a bad rap as far as being dangeous. East st louis is so run down its more of a ghost town then anything else. north city has some bad nieghborhoods but so does everywhere. my favriote junkyard, motercycle junkyared and welding/ funnycar builder are all in noth city. i'd try to to move in to maplewood if i were trying to move to st louis. Part of it is still in the city its close to hyways 40 and 44. its central and close to forestpark and the loop and still only 8 mins from downtown. And has nice house with garages and good sized yards and decent schools. COLE
I second the stay out of east St. Louis, I am surprised that Missouri has not offered to give that area to Illinois to be separated by the river. You will know you are in a bad area when you miss the desired exit and end up taking the scenic route back across the river. I know this from experience. I did this with my then eight month pregnant wife on a 110 degree day. We ended up on a bridge going back west that was one bridge north of I believe I-70 that should have been condemned. I drove as fast as I could so if I got to a hole (that I was sure was going to be there) I would have enough momentum to get to the other side. Other than that it had some cool stuff to see in the city as far as we could see from just spending a day just passing through and goofing off.
You'll recall the movie "Vacation" where Clark W. Griswold is lost in East St. Louis and asks for directions. The guy giving directions, after collecting $20 from Mr. Griswold, tells him to go up the street and ask his cousin because, "Man, you don't even wanna know from me. This ain't even my neighborhood. I'm from the south side of Chicago, here on vacation."
Fritz moving to my area? wow, wouldnt that be the coolest! Well, yeah, stay away from east st. louis, its actually in illinios. And stay away from washington park. I don't know a whole lot about St.Louis but on this side of the river a few real nice average towns are Bethalto, Edwardsville, and Troy. TooMany2Count can probably tell you alot more about the Illinios side too. I have lived in Bethalto all of my 18 years and so far it seems the quality of living is rather descent. I would say its about a 15 minute drive to get to downtown. The only time I go there though is for a concert, cardinal game, or to go to the hill which is the italian part of st.louis. Unless you work at a car manufactuerer and get laid off. I feel sorry for all those people. There are tons of old cars around this area. I often see cars driving down the street I haven't seen before. Car guys around here are all pretty nice too. If you and your wife move what are you going to do about finding jobs? Nick
We live in Columbia, MO. Its about 2 hrs from St. Louis and 2 hrs from KC. We have 3 colleges, Mizzou, Stephens, and Columbia College. I belive we were just rated one of the top 10 cities to raise a family... but dont hold me to that exact thing. I can PM you some sites to check out about Columbia if your interested. Its not big city for sure, but its not small town either. Columbia is growing and growing! There are plenty of car people around as well. - Just my .02 cents
I wanna say "THANKS" to all who have replied to this post. Im glad to hear the "car thing" is alive and well in MO, its sure as shit dead here, I have a few (and i mean few) big money customers here but im willing to let them go, Id just like to build my ed roth fiberglass projects in peace, so yah i need to be able to grind raw glass out in front of the garage without a hassel, gated hoods aint for us either, we'd like 2 to 10 acers so i dont have neighbers to complaine, and can have 2 big shops for my junk. we'd spend up to 250K on the right thing. anothr thing is I have been ridding bikes for about 20 years now and I just wont do it aroundhere, its to damn crowded, shit i cant even get a high school kid to help me with body work, thats how dead the car scean is here. I can bable for hours but keep the info coming my wife will dig readding it as much as I have, again Thanks FRITZ
Sounds like you'll fit in fine there. The city is segregated pretty bad. I spent a summer working there a few years back and hated it. I vowed never to return. The humidity is second only to Houston. There seemed to be a good car culture there, but I prefer city streets, and everywhere you go you need to get on a huge highway. Sorry if I insult anyone from there, but I'm sure you wouldn't like my city either. Different cultures is all. East St. Louis is the only place I had fun. Good nudie bars, and some giant bar that stays open late full of young girls.
What Plowboy said. Coming from NY you will have - what's the opposite of sticker shock? - sticker delight when you look at real estate. For the same money you're probably now paying in Lawn Guyland, you can easily get 2x or 2.5x the house in metro StL... 5x, if you move out in the boonies. Down side is that wages/salaries are somewhat lower, but it's more than compensated by lower cost of living and friendlier people. You might get a little ribbing for your accent tho.
Hey Repoman, I hear ya, LOL I go to Harlem for Jamacian food and bedsti for ribs, so i dont think it would be that bad, but like everyone has said, every city has a good and bad. FRITZ
Not to highjack this thread to bad but I was born and raised in O'Fallon, back in the "Missouri Saints" days if anyone remembers them? Any way I havent been back close to 25yrs so is Chuck-a-burger still around? Or Blueberry hill down in U-city? I know the Fox theater is gone. Man there was a lot of good crusin spots then. And yes the Zoo is still the best thing goin. Enough of my rambling.
You might also consider places like Omaha, Des Moines, Colorado Springs, Madison WI... no big league baseball teams, but car-friendly cities with low cost, low crime, with a reasonable amount of fun stuff to do.
Chuck-a-burger is still there. Ive never been but I think they have a cruise once a month. Blueberry hill is still there and Chuck Berry does his monthly thing. Nick
Chuck-a-Burger still has cruise nights in the summer. Once or twice a month. Standing room only, and get there early. I was at one a couple years ago.
well just outside st louis metro area on either side of the river u could do everything u wanted to do and most likely would get lot more then u think for that price. my brother got 7 areas w/a modular home on it w/a 2 car garage and paid about $90,000 for it just outside of Hillsboro,Mo which is about 30 or so miles south of St Louis city.
We lived there '92-'94 while my wife was in school at Barnes Hospital. We lived on Laclede between Euclid and Kingshighway; known as the Central West End, lots of good bars, eaterys, antique and art galleries, Bissingers Candy. We loved St. Louis. Great restaurants at very reasonable prices. Housing in that area is high, but just minutes away is Dogtown (see the movie White Palace) and South St. Louis, and "The Hill". University City is close (dirty nasty jail, but a nice town), where Blueberry Hill is, and The Tivoli Theatre. Seemed like zoning is kind of weird in St. Louis, you'd see industrial and service places where you'd think they couldn't be. Lots of auto related businesses. St. Louis Plating used to be great for chrome (I haven't been there in a long while.) I got my suspension parts powder coated at a little jobber that did the work for the Ford plant. I got new leaf springs made at a shop between my apt. and downtown. Used to be a guy ther that shaved whitewalls, went around to dealers or came to your house. Soulard has Mardi Gras each year and there is a big "farmers market" in Soulard, sort of like the one in New Orleans. Forest Park is beautiful, there is a huge Easter car show there, and on nice weekends the black guys have impromptu car shows, some cars are cool and some are....not, still though it's fun to cruise through and look, then stop at the Zoo for beer...uh, refreshments. Chuck-A-Burger is kool http://www.chuckaburger.com/ Laclede's Landing on the river front used to be pretty neat, with it's bars, nightclubs and restaurants. East St. Louis, Illinois sort of looks like Iraq after the Marines got there, and at night the "insurgents" come out. Well I could go on, and on, and on.
Something else to throw in the pot: If you're looking to do your own thang and still be close to People Who Spend Money, you might want to check out the Lake of the Ozarks area...lot's of space for a shop (see Camdenton) with lot's of non-sticking-my-nose-in-yer-business attitude, but close to where St. Louis and KC folk come to spend, spend, spend. Riding in the Ozarks is something to behold... Lake life, Moose's Lodge, and then there's Party Cove...let's see, it's the one at 14 Mile, right?, or is it at 17 Mile, or Big Dick's, or...
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