Where to live for relocated family from Bay Area, CA?

[bissit]

I just moved here three weeks ago from the B.A. and I think I DM'd with the OP. But I want to put this on the board. I'm in TGS and I can see the Schnuk's on Grand from my backyard. I was warned that is was horrible. I must say that I feel totally comfortable and the people have been fabulous. This neighborhood is not any different than Telegraph in Berkeley or the Haight in SF. Don't look like a victim, don't seek out trouble. Ok, so my kids can't walk down the street alone but I wouldn't let my 11 y.o. do that in the whitest of white neighborhoods anywhere. To me, seeing black people in my neighborhood doesn't make it a ghetto. Some of the posts on here are absurd and racist/classist. I was mugged in Napa Valley (hometown) and in the BART in Berkeley at 10 pm another time. St. Louis is just another city.

[Brickmama]

I'm confused.

1. When did most transplants move to Chesterfield? Most I know of live in the city.
2. Since when was STL viewed as a small city? Compared to Tokyo its small but when looking at the whole picture its considered a big city.

[sixtwobaldguy]

St Louis to me is most accurately described as a fairly large city with a small town feel to it. Yes, it's small compared to the world's biggest cities, but it's one of the largest metro areas in the US. People are confused by the fact that St. Louis City isn't that large (but still reasonably large even by itself, I believe in the top 50 of the entire country).

[Eyeam]

The St. Louis metro area is listed as being the 14th to 19th largest (depending on what source you check) in the whole country at around 2.8 million people. The city itself however is pretty small - it's about 52nd in the whole country at ~350,000. It's just a matter of perspective, really. For someone like me who's lived in the Bay Area (San Jose, San Francisco) and has been to most of the other major cities in America, and cities around the world like Tokyo, St. Louis is a small city. To someone coming from a farming town in Southern Illinois or something similar, St. Louis probably feels big. Most people consider Oklahoma to be a boring place to live, and by comparison, Oklahoma City has 550,000 people, and even Tulsa has more than St. Louis (though not much more), but they both have smaller metro areas. I've taken some of my general college classes at SWIC in Belleville, IL, and most of the people I talk to in my classes come from towns over there with populations of between 3,000 and 10,000 people. For them (if they haven't traveled), St. Louis probably seems massive.

To me, having such a large metro area but such a small city core by comparison highlights problems with the city itself. St. Louis as a whole is perfectly fine - there's plenty of stuff going on, but the city itself needs to become more attractive and promote itself better to get people to spend more time in the city. Downtown is practically a ghost town if there's not a sporting event going on, even on weekends. I think it's closed down now, but the last time I went to Macy's downtown, there were literally like 3 other shoppers in that building when I was there. Most of the fun stuff to do in the area requires bypassing the city and going out further. I'd love to see the city itself become more 'happening' or whatever, without there needing to be a sports game to do so.

But again, like I said, it's all relative to what you're used to as to whether St. Louis is going to seem like a big or busy place.

[DeBaliviere]

The downtown Macy's is not closed.

[Eyeam]

Ah, my mistake, it was the one in Crestwood Mall that was to close down, not the one downtown.

Macy's, Inc. to Close 11 Stores | Top Stories | KMOV.com | St. Louis, MO

[zach_33]

Originally Posted by DeBaliviere

The downtown Macy's is not closed.

It's not closed but I am amazed it stays in business. I parked my car off a street down there once to check it out and look at some furniture. The absence of people and cars (to my recollection there was not one in sight) as I stepped out of my car on a bright Sunday afternoon was surreal. There were more employees in that store than there were customers.