Looking for Toddler friendly neighbourhood in St Louis (St. Louis, University City: apartment, rental)

[onthemovetostlouis]

We are, yet again, relocating. This time from San Francisco to St Louis. And the new thing we have an 18 month old with us. We are looking into renting, but are not sure about safe and fun neighbour hoods with lots of activities like music classes, dance classes and playcircles. My husband works Downtown so it should not be too far either as he does not like commuting by car.
Do you have any suggestions? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[aragx6]

If you give us a better idea of your budget and what you hope to get for it (House? Apartment?) we can probably give you better answers, but initially I'd suggest looking at Tower Grove South, Soulard, Lafayette Square, Central West End, Skinker-DeBaliviere, The Hill, Southampton or Dogtown. The suburbs of University City, Clayton, Brentwood, Richmond Heights, Maplewood and Shrewsbury would also be worth looking at.

The STL City Talk blog has great neighborhood guides that will give you some insight to all of St. Louis' 79 neighborhoods, but you'd also do well to look into some of the inner ring suburbs as well. Like San Francisco the city limits are itty bitty so there are some solid options just outside that would still be an easy commute to the city.

Although I have known people who commute by bus, the easiest place to live would be close to a metro stop (light rail) if your husband doesn't want to drive to work.

[zach_33]

when you say music, dance, playcircles, my mind goes immediately to COCA in University City, which is a vibrant, walkable community. I also think of Gymboree Play & Music in downtown Old Webster Groves, which is another nice area, but not as good for public transit options as U City. I'm sure there are lots of other places to keep the toddlers productively engaged, but those are two of my favorites. Webster Groves and University City would also be, coincidentally, two communities that I would highly recommend for young families with kids. Both have central entertainment districts, good community centers, easy access to downtown, and very high concentrations of married, white-collar couples with kids under age 10. There are tons of other options, but it really does depend on your tastes and your budget.

[Dawn10am]

The most walkable, convenient, and fun neighborhood (in my opinion), is the Central West End. There's a ton of rental options, lots to do, close to Forest Park for your toddler, and MetroLink accessible for your husband.