Moving from Los Angeles to St.Peters/O'Fallon- Help!! (St. Louis: mortgage, houses)

[STL4eva]

AshleyBeth,

I'll chime in as an STL native that moved to Phoenix in 2004. Phoenix has essentially become a suburb of Los Angeles anyway, so I think we have a common bond.

If you choose St. Peters or O'Fallon, you will be living in one of the safest and most family-friendly communities in the STL Metro Area. You will be amazed at how much housing you get for the dollar. The schools are top-notch in that area of St. Charles County. In addition, the allergy issue is overrated, and the air quality is actually pretty decent. I never had any issues growing up in St. Charles as an active track and football partcipant. Some of the best medical professionals in the world practice here, so your health will not be an issue.

Given that, and coming from L.A.:

1) Say goodbye to a majority of sunny days. Whereas L.A. gets 300 days of sun per year, STL gets about 80. Grey is the M.O,. especially in winter.
2) Drivers in STL are not aggressive - they are slow, ignorant and confused. Road rage is virtually nonexistant, but you'll laugh at how the folks drive in STL. Don't expect to see much turn signal usage. Do expect many lit cigarette butts to be flicked out the windows of vehicles around you. Do expect folks driving 40 MPH in the hammer lane. And if you're out and about on Sunday when church gets out, don't expect to drive anywhere in a hurry. I-270 is the worst, it's the STL equivalent of the 405 Freeway.
3) Speaking of church, if you're not in a local parish, you had better hook up post haste, because STL judges on the extremely relevant factors of where you went to high school and what parish you are in. Just tell them you went to Chaminade and you personally know Biondi and you'll be OK.
4) You will NEVER get used to the humidity. I know people that have lived in STL for 50 years that are still not used to it. Just take plenty of water with you (pretend you're in Death Valley LOL) and you'll be OK.
5) Sports - on a scale from 1-10, Baseball 9, Hockey 7, Football 2. You'll get to see the 49ers once a year, and getting Rams tickets for cheap is not a problem. Demand is very low. If you're active, the best running/cycling trails are in Creve Coeur Park, Katy Trail, Forest Park and Grant's Trail. Avoid the Riverfront Trail downtown unless you like the essence of dead rotting fish.
5) Finally - the one health issue - if you folks are non-smokers, brace yourselves - STL is the most smoker-friendly city in the U.S. At least 1 out of every 3 people in STL smokes cigarettes. You can find a list of smoke-free establishments at Smoke-Free St. Louis City

Good luck on your move and future endeavors.

[aragx6]

Actually St. Louis has 101 clear days per year on average; LA has 146. So you oversold LA and undersold St. Louis a bit there.

National - Average Cloudy, Partly Cloudy, Clear Days

[ehubb53]

AshleyBeth,
I have spent half of my life in L.A. the other half here in St. Louis.( I live in St. Charles right now, Next to St. Peters. So you may indeed be in a culture shock and other shock except for the cost of living compared to LA. Yes, it is very humid in the summer, yes it is very cold in the winter, Spring and fall ane pretty nice though. Lot's of storms. No beaches or mountains. A big culture shock for me is that it just seems to be white and black people around with a few sprinkles of other races. The air quality is definatley better, but there are other allergy problems you may face. Thats why on the news they give you the mold and pollen counts( dont ever remember having those in LA).
Driving in this town is a breeze compared to LA. You can almost time exactly when there is and isn't going to be traffic.

There are a few interesting places to visit, (for me anyway) once you have seen them there isnt much to go back and see again. But you will have to decide that for you and your family.

If you have any other questions let me know I will try to be helpful.

[ehubb53]

"Oh and it's crazy humid here pretty much from June through Sept. It's tough, but you do get used to it."

Not me

[STL4eva]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Actually St. Louis has 101 clear days per year on average; LA has 146. So you oversold LA and undersold St. Louis a bit there.

Originally Posted by aragx6

National - Average Cloudy, Partly Cloudy, Clear Days

Oh excuse me, I was off by 21 days. Thanks for clarifying that. The weather in STL is still among the crappiest in the country. Growing up there, I always got a kick out of the fat whales sauntering into the garage - the HOTTEST area of the house - and sitting in lawn chairs smoking and drinking pathetic American lager (i.e. Busch, Budweiser), and complaining about the heat!

[Smtchll]

Originally Posted by STL4eva

AshleyBeth,

3) Speaking of church, if you're not in a local parish, you had better hook up post haste, because STL judges on the extremely relevant factors of where you went to high school and what parish you are in.

Just wondering, do people care about what parish you attend, or what parish you live within the boundaries of? I never really understood this.

[STL4eva]

Originally Posted by Smtchll

Just wondering, do people care about what parish you attend, or what parish you live within the boundaries of? I never really understood this.

Intelligent, open-minded and progressive-thinking people shouldn't care, no.

[Smtchll]

Originally Posted by STL4eva

Intelligent, open-minded and progressive-thinking people shouldn't care, no.

Well I was wondering if the parish question was just a geographic reference or actually had to do with where people attend church. Like, are people judging others based on what parish boundaries they live in, or what parish they attend on sundays? Just wondering because judging people based on where they go to church seems like something more typical of the Bible Belt than St. Louis.

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Originally Posted by Smtchll

Well I was wondering if the parish question was just a geographic reference or actually had to do with where people attend church. Like, are people judging others based on what parish boundaries they live in, or what parish they attend on sundays? Just wondering because judging people based on where they go to church seems like something more typical of the Bible Belt than St. Louis.

Much like the high school question, its a geographical and/or socio-economic question rather than religious in st. louis. though, i live in the heart of catholic south st. louis city and nobody seems to care about this.

[aragx6]

The Catholic thing was a much bigger deal 20 years ago plus, and as CoffeeBeer said, it's a lot more about tradition, family ties and socioeconomics than it is about religion.