Citizen, Mick..StLouis crumbling

i know Citizen went to school at Washington U, and Mick worked in St Louis. I lived in North County for 15 years

So we went day after Christmas to be with my family. On Friday went into the city for lunch at Hudocks (spelling) for fried chicken. It's in Soulard area. After lunch my cousin drives thru north St Louis ten, Jennings. So much decay, buildings falling down, 2 and 3 story row houses crumbling and falling down. Area around former McBride Catholic HS was a disaster. Whole thing made me sick to see. I guess most major cities are like this, I just don't go in those areas.

3 blocks away is Washington U, Beautiful Forest Park and million dollar homes behind gates. The contrast was amazing

Leave downtown St Louis and go north in the county into Jennings, Gerguson, Hazelwoods, Spanish Lake and parts of Florissant and it's a dump. All democrat rules and they keep electing them.

I was born not far from there. Have lots of family there. It’s happened over the last 20 Years. Sad to see.

Way back in the late '70's & early '80's my Dad was a cancer patient at Barnes Hospital, which IIRC is affiliated with Washington University.
We would make the drive from Louisville to St. Louis, make his appoinents, then drive down Kings Highway to the Hill, which is a good sized Italian-American community there. We would always stop in Viviano's grocery store, then go around the corner to Rigazzi's for some of their famous veal parmesan with ziti.
Back then St. Louis was a fairly vibrant town with lots to do, and nice people. The last time I was there was in 1987, when I rotated back to the world from overseas.
I always liked St. Louis.

Hate to hear this Skip. I haven’t been there in 12 years. My father-in-law attended McBride. The school had a national reputation. But seriously, North St. Louis has been in decline for over 40 years. Every Christmas we would go to Crown Candy Co., a candy store and soda fountain. They had old German Kris Kringle mold for their great chocolate. Central West End along with the Hill were still doing well last Iheard. I have been looking forward to returning to Adrianna’s on the Hill when I go back for the SEC tournament.

Alas, St. Louis has become East St. Louis. So very sad.

Haven't been there in a long time, but honestly some of those areas you mentioned were starting to suffer when I was in school there in the late 80s. I lived in University City for part of the time, right on the cusp of some rougher areas, and if you headed over into other parts of U City or West End parts of it looked like some kind of distopian movie set.

But I have heard more and more of the city is impacted that way. The Hill was still pretty vibrant when I was there, and yes Barnes is the jewel in Wash U's crown. The Central West End was being rebuilt and gentrified when i was there, lived there some too and that was good.

But St Louis was always weird to me for the contrast of the place. You'd have 2-3 blocks or really nice mansions, then 2-3 blocks of slums, all right there. I drove through a very nice little area just north of main campus to get to my apartment complex, which looked like it was about to be knocked down.

The good news is it can't be as bad as East St. LOuis. I was OK to move around St. Louis for the most part, but I wouldn't have stopped in East St. Louis no matter what.

But I am sorry to hear the city is suffering. I have a warm place in my heart for it, the good and the bad. Keep hoping to make a road trip and spend a few days or a week just revisiting the old haunts, finding out what's going on.

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Originally Posted by MickintheHam

Hate to hear this Skip. I haven’t been there in 12 years. My father-in-law attended McBride. The school had a national reputation. But seriously, North St. Louis has been in decline for over 40 years. Every Christmas we would go to Crown Candy Co., a candy store and soda fountain. They had old German Kris Kringle mold for their great chocolate. Central West End along with the Hill were still doing well last Iheard. I have been looking forward to returning to Adrianna’s on the Hill when I go back for the SEC tournament.

Alas, St. Louis has become East St. Louis. So very sad.

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Hope the CWE has continued to come back, I liked my time there. Also fond memories of Blueberry Hill (even though it's fairly touristy), llewelyns over in CWE, and yes The Hill and even downtown though I didn't get there very often.

I would like some Ted Drewe's. I don't like sweets a lot but I would go down there on a warm afternoon w my best friend and get a concrete and sit on the car and just take some time. He's a square guy, this bunch would like him.

But you could see the issues there even then. Not the only big city with these problems, but one of the few I really care about.

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Originally Posted by MickintheHam

Every Christmas we would go to Crown Candy Co., a candy store and soda fountain.

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Love Crown Candy!


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I was born in Jennings, back when it was a neat little town instead of a dump. Great memories, then to Florrisant when I was 8 and it was so small

Crown Candy, tried to find it cuz got turned around. ,

The part that is fallen down is old but at one time a great place

South and west county are still fine. The downtown is great, vibrant but they have the Hill, the Arch, Forest Park, Barnes, Washington U, of course the Cardinals, and lots of money but like citizen said, 2 blocks away is death

But it is also a hidden jewel in many ways and lots for kids to do. My two granddaughters love to go there in the summer.

But it did make me sick to see a city I grew up in lose its way in my old area

East St. Louis...isn't that where the Griswolds' car broke down?

Don't know about the Griswold's but we ran out of gas in East Saint Louis in 1988 or 19898 during a softball tournament.
Had gone to Sauget (?) Illinois.
All I can say is it was a "different" experience all the way around...

I remember traveling through East St. Louis as a boy headed to visit Busch, Gateway Arch, see the Cardinals play, etc. Even being young and stupid, it was scary.

I had a friend when I was in the Army who was from East St. Louis, Illinois.
He always told me that if I ever passed through there not to stop, for any reason.
He always said it was one notch up from being like Beirut. And said it could turn into Beirut at any time. And that it was already the modern definition of urban decay.

If East St Louis isn't one of the worst areas in this country I'd hate to see the others. If you break down there I'd just take my chances swimming the river to the other side. lol

OK, maybe not that bad, but very bad.

Funny thing is it was a huge focus of the first wave of the war on poverty in the 60s, and was held up as a model of what that program could do. The problem is they spent all that money on everything but attracting jobs and improving education, so as soon as the money dried up it collapsed again.