young guy, new job in olivette - nice place to live w/ short commute? (St. Louis: apartments)

[okayem]

Got myself a job in Olivette but know nothing about St. Louis and the surrounding areas. I'm a young-ish, single guy looking for a nice, low crime place to live (rental) with good pubs and restaurants w/in walking distance.

Is Olivette cool for singles to live? If not, I would like a short commute to Olivette. I can do distance calcs on google maps, but am jaded from driving in SoCal where a 10 mile commute can take 40-50 minutes. What direction is considered opposite traffic flow during rush hours?

Initial searches point me to Central West End, but more suggestions to broaden my search would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[flynavyj]

Welcome to the Lou! Truth be told, you'll be hard pressed to find a 40 minute commute inside of St. Louis unless you're going from the boonies to the city at rush hour, at any other time of day that drive could probably happen in 30 minutes. Reverse commutes would be living in the city and working in the county, essentially going West in the morning and going back East in the evening.

Olivette is fine and dandy, but it's not a place i'd be picking if i was a young single male. For you, i'd be checking places closer to the city center. The Central West End is a great choice, and would probably get you one of the quickest commute times. Other areas that would work and give you a short commute would be University City by the loop, or even Clayton.

The CWE will be your best bet though for pubs within a stones throw, clubs, and a vibrant young community. The close proximity to Washington University and St. Louis university makes it a hangout spot for college students, and adults alike and it's one of the "hip" places to be in town.

A little further into the city you'd find the Washington Ave, and Soulard areas appealing as well, both have great nightlife scenes. Washington Ave is more a loft district with a bunch of former warehouses that have recently been converted. Soulard is basically made up of a mixture of row houses and single family homes, and is home to numerous bars. Many of the homes have been converted into apartments, which helps bring rental costs down a little.

Crime isn't going to be a major problem in any of these areas. Property crime in soulard seems to be a bit of an issue because off street parking can come at a premium. Many of the lofts on Washington Ave offer parking garages with rental which should keep people out of your stuff, but in past months there had been some violent instances in some of the clubs. But it's probably better to just practice some head-smarts than rely solely on location to provide safety, none of the areas are that bad...and the CWE is probably the best. Good luck

[moorlander]

cwe, downtown, the loop/skinker-debaliver, or soulard. All within ~15-20 min reverse commute. All young, active, walkable places to live with some wicked cool architecture.

[Smtchll]

Clayton is less than 10 minutes away, very safe & clean. It has a walkable downtown that looks like something out of a much larger city. You should definitely look into it. The areas around Washington University are nice too.

[stlcitygirl]

The Loop, Central West End, Downtown, Soulard