East ST. LOUIS (Belle: murder rate, place, driving)

[Peeperpuppy]

Originally Posted by Xing

Oh please, East St. Louis is living off of urban legends and subconsciously racists perceptions and stereotypes from people who are always glad to tell you about how scary the place is. Most of those people are white, from the suburbs, and know nothing about the city, and/or will give you stories and experiences from the 70's and 80's, when the city was much more dangerous. It's largely abandoned now.

Any tough guy football player, too scared to go there, because he buys most of this garbage, is a ***** anyway. If you're not dealing drugs, a wife beater, or a jerk looking for trouble, then there are little chances anything will happen to you.

To begin with I just spent Friday & Saturday (yesterday) in East St. Louis (on the Missouri side). What's happened there is not urban legends. A few years ago my parents were in the back seat of the car, my husband was driving us around & showing us where he grew up. A car load of idiots pull up next to us & were waving their guns around. That wasn't urban legend. That was a fact. This has nothing to do with racist perceptions, it just is what it is.

I am doing research for a fictional book I'm writing. East St. Louis is a fascinating area to me & is likely where I'm going to wedge in a fictional part to the city. So we were cruising through there during the day, taking pictures so I can describe the area & capture the real feel of that part of the city. I have to give them credit as the area was cleaner than it was in the spring when we went through there. My husband took me to his old neighborhood. He was born & raised in E StL in the mid-50's. Back when they lived there, the neighborhood was rough. Gangs activity, drugs, alcohol, prostitutes. Where his house was wasn't so bad but over time it's gotten worse & worse. I've personally seen bottles, drug pheriphenalia, condoms & such littering the streets in front of that very nice home. Back then my husband was the 3rd white person in an all black school.

When we went through there over thanksgiving weekend, I didn't feel in danger. My husband knows where he's at & was feeling things out before he went deeper in. I have a lot of pictures. If you can look at the photographs & say this is all 'urban legend' then you're likely blind. When I say it's improved some in the last 3-5 years, I say that & tell you I would never go into this part of the city alone. I would never go there at night. And if I broke down in that neighborhood, I would try to make my car look empty while I waited for the cops to arrive & my car is never unarmed. Dangerous area to be in a jam. It's a shame. We looked at a couple of furniture sales places. One of the shop keepers told my husband to be careful, be sure to be out before dark. They talked a bit & he found out where my husband grew up & seemed to be more at ease.

This is NOT an area of St. Louis to play around in alone. Especially at night.

[JaySTLouis]

I don't think she was necessarily trying to say that it was the safest city in America. We are just here to let people know that there are people here who aren't all about shoot em up bang bang and just completely negative perceptions of "everyone" that lives here. I grew up on a very safe street that's located in East St. Louis *gasp*. Sure there is crime here, we never argued otherwise. We just have a different viewpoint because we were raised here as opposed to just passing through or just looking at pictures. I'm just not the type of person to just go around and talk about how scary and dangerous some place is for the hell of it. Over time things get better. STL city has had a bad rep over the last few decades but through the people who live there those perceptions are starting to shed. The same can be said for ESTL. It starts with the people who live here day in and day who work hard to make this city something other than the punchline in a joke. There is slow progress in this city and in the future I believe things will start to change. Sorry for the rant but the whole ESTL is bad let's make jokes about it talk is really lame now. It's been done already.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Peeperpuppy

To begin with I just spent Friday & Saturday (yesterday) in East St. Louis (on the Missouri side).

.....

This is NOT an area of St. Louis to play around in alone. Especially at night.

There is no Missouri side of East St. Louis. None at all. East St. Louis is entirely in Illinois.

[LifeIsGoody]

Originally Posted by Xing

Oh please, East St. Louis is living off of urban legends and subconsciously racists perceptions and stereotypes from people who are always glad to tell you about how scary the place is. Most of those people are white, from the suburbs, and know nothing about the city, and/or will give you stories and experiences from the 70's and 80's, when the city was much more dangerous. It's largely abandoned now.

Any tough guy football player, too scared to go there, because he buys most of this garbage, is a ***** anyway. If you're not dealing drugs, a wife beater, or a jerk looking for trouble, then there are little chances anything will happen to you.

I couldn't have said it better you are 100% right Xing. Adding to this conversation most of you guys are racist pricks yes I said it!!!!!.Go hide under your blanket and point fingers. Your guys are making it seem like if you go to E. St. Louis you might get attack by Freddy are Jason. Well wake up people if your not a loser which most of you are or a sh''t starter know one will bother you. If you go over thinking your G.I Jane or Jo most likely you will find trouble. I am not from St.Louis nor am I from E. St.Louis we just happen to pass through there last week. Yes it was run down but as you move east toward the mall it wasn't a bad area.The restaurants was nice and to say the least I had a good time there. If you don't bother anyone no one will bother you point blank!!!!!!. P.s. by the way the highway was easy to find the person that said they had a hard time finding it was the person that probably went directly to the strip clubs.

[djkkt6]

Hahaha, we're racist pricks because we realize that East St. Louis is a cesspool? That's one of the most absurd things I've ever heard.

[Peeperpuppy]

Originally Posted by TGS

There is no Missouri side of East St. Louis. None at all. East St. Louis is entirely in Illinois.

Interesting... I've been married to the man for 16 years. I've been to East St. Louis... in Illinois but he grew up in St. Louis on the east side of the city & I've never heard anyone else respond as you have. Within St. Louis, Missouri... they refer to the east & west side & diferentiate between Mo or IL.

Interesting..

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Peeperpuppy

Interesting... I've been married to the man for 16 years. I've been to East St. Louis... in Illinois but he grew up in St. Louis on the east side of the city & I've never heard anyone else respond as you have. Within St. Louis, Missouri... they refer to the east & west side & diferentiate between Mo or IL.

Interesting..

East St. Louis is a separate city from St. Louis. Therefore, if you say that you went to East St. Louis, especially since you capitalized that "East", then people are going to think that you mean you went to the Illinois city, not the east section of St. Louis. Also, people in St. Louis usually separate the city by North/South. There is the Central West End, but the corresponding "east" section is Downtown, not the east end.

East St. Louis has such a stigma that I have never heard anyone who grew up in St. Louis, even on the eastern edges, refer to their area as "East St. Louis." People on the eastern edges of the city say that they live in Soulard, Downtown, Carr Square, Hyde Park, O'Fallon, Baden, etc.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

And the eastern side of the metro is generally Metro East, from my understanding. East St. Louis refers only to the city of East St. Louis. If you call Belleville or Collinsville East St. Louis, you will probably get some looks. And no part of the city is East St. Louis. It's Old North St. Louis, Laclede's Landing, Downtown, Soulard, whatever the case may be. This city has so many neighborhoods it can be confusing.

St. Louis neighborhoods:
St. Louis Neighborhoods: A to Z Listing
St. Louis Neighborhoods: Map

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Peeperpuppy

Interesting... I've been married to the man for 16 years. I've been to East St. Louis... in Illinois but he grew up in St. Louis on the east side of the city & I've never heard anyone else respond as you have. Within St. Louis, Missouri... they refer to the east & west side & diferentiate between Mo or IL.

Interesting..

Huh? This is just dead wrong. No one would ever say they're from east St. Louis, as in the eastern part of the city of St. Louis. NO ONE does this. EVER.

[loki03xlh]

I don't understand all the fear, lies and urban legends of East Saint Louis. I've been there more than a few time and have never had any problems. The first time were were 18, heading home (central Illinois at the time) from a heavy metal concert at riverport. One of our friends said never go to ESL. That meant we HAD to get off the interstate and make a stop. We stopped at a gas station to get some pop and smokes for the rest of the ride home. The few folks there were friendly, asked if we were going to the boat (Casino Queen). We told them no, that we just got done seeing a Pantera/Sepultura concert at riverport. Keep in mind that our motley crew looked like a bunch of hung over, pi$$3d off bikers. No one ever gave us any trouble, and we changed the perception to our member who was scared to stop.
Since then I have been there a few times, mostly to the Queen or Pops, Uncle Larry's and have never had any problems.