STL vs Cincinnati (St. Louis, Washington, Union: Valentine's day, crime rate, house)

[Lewis123]

For people who have lived or spent time in Cincinnati, how would you compare the two cities? Here are my opinions.

Crime: better or worse? Both seem higher than average but depends on the part of town.
Schools: Same?
Things to do and see:
Cultural events ?
Weather: stl is much more variable and gets more humid
Shopping: hard to tell.
Restaurants - STL has better variety
History - STL seems to have much more interesting history
Neighborhoods: It seems like St. Louis has many more tightly knit communities and the downtown in STL is nicer and has more things to attract people downtown.
The suburbs seem about the same once you get outside the loop.
People: Are Cincinnatians more conservative and are they more or less friendly on average?
Parks / Recreation: STL blows Cincinnati away on this one. I've never seen so many parks and community pools in my life.

[AJohnston_STL]

I can only answer for St Louis;

Things to do and see: The Arch is the obvious (you can go up in it, in case you didn't know), St. Louis Art Museum, Forest Park, love the Bellefontaine Cemetery, STL Science Center, the zoo, dining and shopping on The Loop, Laclede's Landing for night life (I hear it's touristy, but wife and I have a good time when we go down there), Washington Avenue downtown for night life...for the kids; city museum, Magic House (never been there but going in April for a company event, can't wait!), Lumiere Place casino/restaurants/bars. In the suburbs there are 3 or 4 other casinos

For events that wouldn't quite fall under "cultural;" The Great Forest Park Balloon Race, Taste of St Louis (downtown taste festival of downtown restaurants), Taste of Soulard (Mardi Gras event), Rib Fest (don't know much about that one), Celebrate St Louis 4th of July celebration, Macy's Christmas celebration downtown (window unveling, parade with Santa Claus), Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (never been)

Cultural events Cinco De Mayo, St. Patty's Day celebrations in Dogtown, Mardi Gras (2nd largest in the nation behind NO), and I'm sure several others.


I'm sure I'm missing a lot on all 3 of my lists.

[zach_33]

Originally Posted by Lewis123

For people who have lived or spent time in Cincinnati, how would you compare the two cities? Here are my opinions.

Crime: better or worse? Both seem higher than average but depends on the part of town.
Schools: Same?
Things to do and see:
Cultural events ?
Weather: stl is much more variable and gets more humid
Shopping: hard to tell.
Restaurants - STL has better variety
History - STL seems to have much more interesting history
Neighborhoods: It seems like St. Louis has many more tightly knit communities and the downtown in STL is nicer and has more things to attract people downtown.
The suburbs seem about the same once you get outside the loop.
People: Are Cincinnatians more conservative and are they more or less friendly on average?
Parks / Recreation: STL blows Cincinnati away on this one. I've never seen so many parks and community pools in my life.

I have spent many years in both towns.

Crime - comparable I would say, but St. Louis seems like it might have somewhat higher crime than Cincy, because I don't remember Cincy being compared to Detroit and Camden on crime rankings all the time.

Schools - yes, same. City schools are by and large way below average, plenty of good suburban options.

Things to do and see - St. Louis has a slight edge I would say, the arch, forest park, museums, city museum. Cincy has some good stuff, like Music Hall, the aquarium in Newport, Union Station, but the zoo there is way pricey, and the museums aren't free.

Weather - cincy is not quite as hot/humid, so it wins in this category I would contend.

Shopping - tie

Restaurants - Yes, I think St. Louis has an advantage here.

History - I don't know you can say one has more interesting history than the other. St. Louis was arguably a more infuential commerce town in its hey day, but Cincy was no slouch either. Both cities contribute greatly to the history books.

Neighborhoods - I believe Cincinnati residents have a better defined self-identity when it comes to their neighborhoods. Perhaps it has something to do with the geography, it not being a grid or a hub and spoke city plan. St. Louis has its enclaves, but a large number of folks here say they are from "North St. Louis" or "South City". Both downtowns have their issues, but I sort of prefer the way cincy's downtown is contiguous with Over The Rhine-- St. Louis' downtown is physically and or psychologically separated from all adjacent residential neighborhoods. The suburbs are remarkably similar in both towns.

People - both cities are highly democratic by vote count, but Hamilton County residents makes St. Louis County residents seem liberal. The conservative viewpoints in suburban Cincinnati are large and in charge. St. Louis suburbs are moderate by comparions, though still fairly conservative I would contend. Friendliness levels seem about the same (everywhere I have been for that matter).

Parks - Cincy has some nice ones (Ault, French, Alms, Eden) but I think St. Louis wins here. Forest Park makes it tough to beat.

There seems to be a lot of crossover between STL and Cincy. Both nice old river cities, settled by European immigrants (St. Louis largely French I think, Cincy all German), plenty of nice brick homes, lots of Catholics, inner-cities suffering from neglect and disinvestment, suburbs sprawlings. The similarities to me seem very strong.

[zach_33]

and as I sat in my dining room here in the STL typing that note, I was enjoying some Graeter's ice cream my wife was kind enough to have air shipped in dry ice from Cincinnati for me for Valentine's Day. pure coincidence.

[Lewis123]

Thanks Zach! Good analysis. I will say I miss Cincinnati's pizza and ice cream. I just can't seem to stomach the provel cheese pizza here.

[jlawrence01]

In general, I would agree with Zach's analysis for the most part.

I would say that there are more German immigrants in St. Louis although its original inhabitants were French.

I think that there is less widespread deterioration in neighborhoods in Cincinnati than in St. Louis. However, the Cincinnati leaders seem to have little hesitation to tear down historical buildings (Remember the Albee?).

Even though I am a Cincinnati native, bad neighborhoods in Cincinnati seem to be worse than their counterparts in St. Louis although the overall city's crime rate is less.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Through the 90s it seems like St. Louis leaders had no qualms about tearing down landmarks for parking (i.e. Century Building, Ambassador Building). If those two had hung on for 6 or 7 more years (which isn't a lot when a building is 100 + years old anything), they may have been saved with the Downtown revitalization. So many buildings have been saved since 2000, some still are in limbo (Arcade-Wright, Metropolitan building, some smaller buildings Downtown).

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by zach_33

Weather - cincy is not quite as hot/humid, so it wins in this category I would contend.

It's barely better. Cincinnati still has pretty bad summers.

[CateHM]

I've lived in both cities and largely agree with Zach. However, I find the shopping better in St. Louis, especially if you want high-end goods. Cincinnati has some lovely boutiques, but nothing there compares to Frontenac Plaza. Of course, who has the money these days anyway?

[kickazzz2000]

One HUGE difference:

Northern KY Waterfront >>>>>>>>>>> Ellinois