Ode to St. Louis

As we were driving in St. Louis while I was home, H declared that there was nothing that he would miss about St. Louis. We have had some rough circumstances here at times. However, I can’t say the same. I was feeling a little strange leaving because even though I have been living out of the country for seven months now I still have a home base here, so it hasn’t felt real, more like a long business trip. Now the change is really happening. So Saturday I got a later start than expected due to jet lag, but got H and A out for a walk along the Mississippi and past Busch Stadium.

Some of my favorite places and memories of St. Louis

The Tivoli Theatre – Having travelled all over the U.S. I find that St. Louis has one of the best selections of movies at any given time, especially for its size. At the Tivoli we saw movies as varied as the documentary League of Ordinary Gentlemen to the Bollywood Bride and Prejudice, but my favorite moment was in 2003 when A & I went with our friend R to see the 50th anniversary edition of Singing in the Rain, still A’s favorite movie. It was February and a Friday night when we left the theatre and there was a beautiful blanket of snow on an unusually peaceful Delmar Boulevard. It looked like a movie set.

St. Louis Art Museum – We used to go to the Art Museum on Friday nights, their late nights. Walking through the rooms being the only ones there felt like it was our own special place.

Soulard Market – One of the oldest establishments in St. Louis was an early favorite. A loved the mini donuts on a Saturday morning. I loved that there was a bar in the middle. I never bought a drink there, but having moved from the Bible Belt, I liked having the option of buying a vodka tonic while I shopped for produce.

Forest Park –Forest Park is actually larger than Central Park in NYC. In our naivety, A, me, my buddy M, and our friend H headed out from his apartment on one corner of Forest Park to go to the zoo at the opposite corner only to arrive half hour after they closed. We nicknamed this walk the trail of tears.

Creve Coeur Park – My buddy K and I would meet and walk these trails around the lake especially right after she moved to St. Louis and we were both missing Alabama.

Blueberry Hill – Good burgers and bad service is what you get here. You never know when your food would show up but whoever brought it would have interesting hair, tattoos, or piercings, or all of the above.

Trivia Nights – Loved being part of a team for these charitable evenings. We had lots of fun and lots of snacks!

The music venues – As diverse as The Creepy Crawl, Pop’s, Scottrade Center, Mississippi Nights, and in-stores at Vintage Vinyl, I heard a lot of great music in St. Louis with a lot of great people.

The Pageant – This music venue gets a special mention. I absolutely love this place and have some very special memories of shows here.

Of course the people make the place and I have met some great ones whether they were native St. Louisans or they had moved to St. Louis as I had. I had a lot of laughs – thanks to you.