Another one moving to St. Louis! (California, Benton: transplants, apartment, rental)

[EyesInTheSky]

Greetings St. Louis forum participants!

I'm moving to St. Louis next month for a new job and I've been lurking this forum to get a good idea of where to live.

If possible, I'd like to live close to work. In fact, if I can safely take public transportation or my bicycle to work, so much the better! I'll be working near the intersection of Arsenal Street and South Broadway, very close to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

My preferences are very simple: (1) I want to live in a safe neighborhood with a hopefully reduced chance of being a violent crime or burglary victim; (2) I want to be close to work (with close public transit even better); and (3) I have a slight preference for renting a house or something with similar privacy so I can have a little more independence from possible neighbor problems (such as me playing my stereo too loud or conversely being stuck with a neighbor that plays their stereo too loud, no place to park, etc.). I don't have kids and am not married, so concerns such as quality of schools and daycare are irrelevant to me. Although I probably can afford most any neighborhood in St. Louis, I tend to be frugal and live a simple life, so finding something on the modest end of the housing scale is fine by me.

My first preference is to live in the city, provided I can satisfy my concern about safety. I was born and raised in the south side of Chicago, so I'm no stranger to violent crime. I just hope to avoid it as much as possible and still live in the city. If St. Louis turns out to be as violent as some of the participants on this forum claim, I may have to re-think this and instead move to the suburbs; but for now I'm hoping to live in the city.

Reading the other posts, it appears the neighborhoods I should target are The Hill, CWE, Dogtown, St. Louis Hills, and perhaps the Lofts of downtown. Have I covered everything? It appears Soulard is an excellent location in terms of being near my workplace, but is crime a greater concern in Soulard than the other neighborhoods thus far mentioned? Any other neighborhoods I should check out? If I do decide I need to live in the suburbs, which ones are both the nicest and the closest to my place of work in terms of actual driving time (please recall I'll be working near the Busch Brewery).

I'd really appreciate any advice from you St. Louis veterans. In fact, if you can help me out with some solid advice I'd be glad to buy the pizza and beer after my move!

Thanks everybody!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I've never lived in St. Louis, but when talking about dangerous areas on this forum, Soulard usually doesn't come up (except during Mardi Gras). However, others could give you more info. Benton Park is in that area, too. But I don't live there, so my opinion's not worth much.

The Loft District is nice, too, though a little farther from your work. It seems like the Loft District is good for singles and young couples, at least that's the impression I get. I don't know much about Soulard.

There is no MetroLink in South City, just buses.

Hope that is helpful.

[Brickmama]

I used to live in Soulard and there is very little crime. I think it is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city and it is very close to your work. I know a lot of people that live there and love it.

The loft district would also be a good choice and is where I currently reside. Its very safe and convienant.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[anr_black]

City resident here, but I don't live in Soulard either! However, as a newbie, I'd go Soulard all the way. Close to work, with plenty of restaurants and bars in the 'hood, and lots of new transplants, mainly in their 20's and
30's. Many of our local establishments have bulletin boards inside where people advertise places for rent, and could be a good source for a roomate too, if you're looking for that. Good luck! Welcome to St. Louis!

[EyesInTheSky]

To Brickmama, anr_black, & STLCardsBlues1989:

Thank you very much for your helpful responses! These are exactly the kind of responses I was hoping to get, and I really appreciate all of them.

It does seem like I should focus my search on Soulard. I'm really hoping to rent a small house or something similar. I don't really like apartment-style living, but if I do go that route than the Loft District is quite intriguing as well. I only live about 2-1/2 hours drive from St. Louis, so I plan to make one or two trips to find a place to live before my actual move next month.

In my interview trips for the job I am taking, some of the folks recommended The Hill, and I actually had a chance to drive around that neighborhood and it looked like a place I could live as well, although I'd really prefer to have off-street parking, given how narrow the streets are in that neighborhood. Another thing that was mentioned to me at the interview was to avoid streets that are named after states or Indian tribes, and since those streets are very close to Soulard I was less certain about the safety of living in Soulard (although studying the map it looks like those street names are on the opposite side of the expressway, so perhaps that provides a decent buffer).

I haven't lived in the "big city" (Chicago) since I left for college some years ago, so I do have a bit of nervousness about going back. I'm really a city kid at heart, but to be honest my family and I were on the receiving end of a lot of violent crime in Chicago, which is why I probably seem so nervous about violent crime in St. Louis. One difference might be when I was a kid we lived "on the wrong side of the tracks," but now I can afford to live pretty much anywhere I want.

If anybody knows of a small rental house with parking in Soulard or The Hill (or other good neighborhoods), feel free to contact me with details. I hope to have a place picked out by about the end of March. Meanwhile, I would appreciate the thoughts and opinions of you and anybody else that wants to weigh in here on the forum.

Thanks again everybody!

[aragx6]

Eyes,
Chicago's south side is much like St. Louis' north side. Like Chicago, there are some very dangerous neighborhoods, but like Chicago crime is pretty localized. There are dangers with any city neighborhood, but vast swaths of St. Louis' south side are perfectly livable.

How much are you looking to spend?

[oscottscotto]

no brainer ... Soulard.

relatively safe ... good vibe ... literally a minute or two away from your workplace ... and a minute or two from downtown.

Downtown lofts would be a good second choice. Or first if you like lofts better.

[zach_33]

I agree. Soulard would be a very good fit for you. While I don't live in Soulard, I do work in Soulard. There are some isolated incidents in terms of crime, but it feels like one of the safest urban areas to me. You could also live in nearby Benton Park, which is basically the same as Soulard, just slightly less gentrified and on the other side of I-55. I would recommend staying north of the brewery-- things get a little dicier south of the brewery. I guess I would also prefer to be one block removed from Broadway (aka 7th) if I were going to be living in Soulard-- there is a lot of foot traffic on Broadway, mostly homeless folks getting to and from shelters and points in between. Another really cool area I would recommend you check out is Lafayette Square, just north and west of Soulard. Awesome victorian mansions overlooking the park, some good bars and restaurants.. its about a mile, maybe mile and a half away from arsenal and broadway. Also there is a pocket just east of Lafayette Square and north of Soulard called LaSalle Park, which is in and of itself a pretty cool area, albeit more residential. There are some projects between Lafayette Square and LaSalle Park, but they are newer, and I believe mixed with market rate housing... not at all like the projects on the south side of Chicago.

[Brickmama]

Just to clarify the comment the HR person made about state streets and streets named after indian tribes being bad is not very accurate. I know a handful of people that live on these streets which are very safe. Are there areas of crime where state streets are located? Yes. However these streets make up a large part of the south side in which the majority are safe. Neighborhoods such as Benton Park and McKinley Heights are almost totally made up of streets named after states however they are very safe areas. The state streets around Gravois Park are the ones that are rough and give these streets as a whole a bad name. The HR rep was probably repeating inaccurate info instead of actually researching the topic.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

My Dad grew up on California and used to shop on Cherokee.

I don't know much about the area now. Cherokee seems to have more Mexican restaurants.