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Old 06-14-2009, 11:21 PM
 
389 posts, read 899,988 times
Reputation: 135

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I'm in agreement with you HCC I thought this thread was based entirely on personal experience, I don't think you were projecting or making sweeping generalizations. I think everybody here, or most of us here, are smart enough to realize when someones making a generalization.
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Old 07-13-2009, 12:00 PM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
5,888 posts, read 12,958,810 times
Reputation: 3973
Having lived on both coasts (Orange County, Long Island and the Hudson River Valley) along with Pittsburgh, WV and Saint Louis.

I am just looking for a way to get out. But we bought a house here so that option won't kick in until I see some return on our investment

To be honest, I hate it here in the Saint Louis Area (I could make a list for the reason why, but this forum is such a pro-Saint Louis cheerleading site that I would get flamed in a few minutes).

I am looking for a way to return to Orange County or a least Long Island.

Contrary to everyones' TV generated view of Orange County, The area is not laid back (but many companies do allow employees to come in a bit late if the waves are good), There are lots of Conservative Republicans and the people are not plastic phonies (look at Clayton if you want to see real phonies), The kids are not spoiled and even with inflated real estate costs and in this rough economy businesses are still relocating there and growing.

If you think that Saint Louis is such a great area, Good for you. But It gets a little old hearing people (especially local St. Louisians) say "why?" every time you tell them you moved from Southern California.
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Old 07-13-2009, 12:56 PM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
3,742 posts, read 8,353,489 times
Reputation: 660
Quote:
Originally Posted by cafepithecus View Post
I grew up in the St. Louis area - a small, more rural town that I hated. I can't stand small-town mentalities anywhere, really. Even just talking to my parents sometimes I just want to scream "Who the $*($#)* cares what so-and-so said or did???"

At 18, I moved to a part of Virginia that I would consider more stereotypically "East Coast" than South, as far as mentality. Long story short, I know I don't want to be here. Where to go? I love DC, but the mentality up there (and in all the cities up north) tends to be rush rush rush, type A, materialistic, snobby, rude, everything is about how much money you make, what car you drive, what your apartment is like - that gets old. And I know not everyone is like that, but I'm speaking in general terms here. Also, the population tends to be very transient, which is one of my issues with where I am now.

The West Coast appeals to me because it's very laidback, progressive, liberal, and chill (and new - never even visited there) - but me being a type A by nature... I think that laidback mentality might drive me insane after awhile.

Is it correct to consider the Midwest and St. Louis (not the rural areas surrounding it) a sort of balance between the two? I know the pace is slower than the East Coast, and the people are a lot more friendly. I've also heard St. Louis described as a big city with a small-town mentality, which kinda scares me. I don't want to be in a huge, anonymous city, but I don't want to be surrounded by a small-town mentality, either.

Just interested to hear some opinions on this.
Why not the rural areas surrounding it? They are part of the Midwest, so include them. At any rate, the Midwest in general compared to the east and west coasts to me seems to have some major differences...the pace is generally slower, people are friendlier, there is much more rural areas in between the cities..the Midwest has long mistrusted "Northeastern elitism" and is generally not as liberal and new as the West Coast. St. Louis and the Midwest are sort of balanced out. As to Virginia being East Coast, Virginia is culturally, currently, and historically a Southern state. If Virginia is East Coast, so are North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Yes they border the Atlantic Ocean, but they are all the Southeast. If I were to describe the entire Midwest and St. Louis, I would say they are probably the best mixture of all areas of the country you'll get.
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Old 07-13-2009, 01:22 PM
 
74 posts, read 181,682 times
Reputation: 59
I think St. Louis is a fine city, but I've found that it's not a good fit for my personality type. I grew up here, but left quite a while back for the military and ended up out in the bay area of CA when I got out before returning to the STL area to go to school. One thing I wanted to note in this post was something I've noticed about people that like living in big cities or coastal regions vs living in the Midwest, and that is that the case seems to be about real estate prices 99% of the time. Anytime I've ever had a discussion about living locations with people, they always look at me like I'm crazy for wanting to deal with the cost of living in California. I can understand the concern, the cost of housing is out of control, but it's all about location for me. I was stationed in Oklahoma City when I was in the military, and I had friends from all over the country that stayed there when they got out because you could buy these huge houses with lots of land dirt cheap. Also, when you read a lot of peoples' testimonies about why they chose to move from a place like New York City to a town in the Midwest, it's almost always about cost of living. I have a friend who just had a contract job out in D.C. for 3 years, but he couldn't wait to come back to STL because of how expensive it was there. He's happy to be back here, but he has already been catching himself saying things like "Man, out there, such and such was only a minute away, I didn't have to drive 30 minutes for it, etc etc." But, he'd still rather live here than have way more availability for things because he likes to have more space, a decent sized house and a nice sized yard.

Now, I can see the appeal in that, but it's really not for me, personally. I'd rather live in an apartment the size of a box (which I did for many years) in a place like San Francisco or San Jose than live in the Midwest, but that's just because of my tastes in what I like to do for fun and what I like to have available to me. In the bay area for example, you have the beach, one of the best cities in the country (San Francisco), Yosemite National Park, Reno, NV, for mountains and skiiing (good place to see snow in the winter rather than having to deal with snow and ice storms for 4 or 5 months out of the year), Lake Tahoe, NV, Monterey, CA, and tons of California coast line for good biking. All of those things are short drives away, not 20 to 30 hour drives (which I've done a few times) or flights away. Here in midwest, you have some neat things to do, like explore caves and go floating on rivers (both of which I really enjoy), and a great thunderstorm season part of the year. The storms in the Midwest are amazing, and you just don't get those out west really. However, when I really take the time to sort out the pros and cons of living in each area (which I've done numerous times trying to decide if I want to stay here with family or be much happier somewhere else), I can fill a page with pros for living out West and have very few cons, and I can fill a page with cons for staying here in STL with very few pros. Scenery and weather were actually two of my main reasons for wanting to move, and those are two things you just can't change about the midwest. I prefer mountains, oceans and climates that have a mild winter; STL is land-locked, surrounded by areas of flat land (MO is 'hilly' but the surrounding states are just plain flat) and has a very extreme climate. It's not uncommon for this area to see near or below 0 temperatures in the winter time due to wind chill, and near 100's and above due to the heat index in the summer time.

Oh, something else I forgot to mention before I close was about religion and diversity. The Midwest is a bible belt. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm not Christian. In fact, I'm not 'religious' at all (I do believe in God, just different than how most people do - totally separate discussion). One of the qualities of the bay area that really appealed to me was the diversity of culture. Not only are you exposed to way more culture out there (this is especially nice for someone that loves ethnic foods - it's everywhere), but there's also a greater sense of religious tolerance and diversity. Where I'm currently staying for example, there's a church basically every one hundred yards, and people treat you like an alien if you have non-Christian viewpoints about God (seriously). Out there, it's common to see churches mixed in with Buddhist and Indian temples on the same streets. I really appreciate that kind of stuff.

But anyways, these are just my opinions (not bashing STL) on why I prefer it out West. St. Louis a great little city (under-appreciated by most, probably), but it just doesn't compare when it comes to my personal tastes. Of course, having reread the title of this thread and forgetting the word 'mentality' was in there, this post doesn't necessarily apply now (I was thinking it was about STL vs. East and West Coast), but I typed all this out already so I'm posting it!
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Old 07-13-2009, 06:18 PM
 
Location: Silver Springs, FL
23,410 posts, read 36,874,167 times
Reputation: 15560
Quote:
Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna View Post
Having lived on both coasts (Orange County, Long Island and the Hudson River Valley) along with Pittsburgh, WV and Saint Louis.

I am just looking for a way to get out. But we bought a house here so that option won't kick in until I see some return on our investment

To be honest, I hate it here in the Saint Louis Area (I could make a list for the reason why, but this forum is such a pro-Saint Louis cheerleading site that I would get flamed in a few minutes).

I am looking for a way to return to Orange County or a least Long Island.

Contrary to everyones' TV generated view of Orange County, The area is not laid back (but many companies do allow employees to come in a bit late if the waves are good), There are lots of Conservative Republicans and the people are not plastic phonies (look at Clayton if you want to see real phonies), The kids are not spoiled and even with inflated real estate costs and in this rough economy businesses are still relocating there and growing.

If you think that Saint Louis is such a great area, Good for you. But It gets a little old hearing people (especially local St. Louisians) say "why?" every time you tell them you moved from Southern California.
I am so sorry you dont like the Lou, although you have just been there a year, correct? Thats really not enough time to get to know a place.
I, for one, cant wait to get out of the hellhole that Florida is and return to STL...... btw, not everyone from Clayton is a phony, I am from Ladue originally, and I am just about as real as it gets.
Maybe you would benefit from getting out and seeing a bit of the countryside? There are tons of gorgeous places, would be glad to suggest a few........
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Old 07-14-2009, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
5,888 posts, read 12,958,810 times
Reputation: 3973
I beg to differ about you about Clayton.

I get into the country side quite a bit. I do live in Lake Saint Louis because I enjoy water activities (and they are about as good as it gets in this area.) I get into downtown at least 4 times a week, there really isn't anything that wants me to stay there.

I'm a bit disappointed that the best Pizza shop in the entire Metro Area just closed shop and moved to Phoenix - and being a native New Yorker - I know pizza (sorry folks but provel cheese is a abomination that has no place on real pizza)

Still can't find a decent Mexican meal, but I do like the BBQ here.

Except for low income folks that get their meals at a fast food restaurants, Californians tend to eat healthier and lead healthier life styles (another reason I like LSL - there is a bit of a fitness culture here) I still work out, but I have also managed to put on 15 pounds since I arrived.
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Old 07-14-2009, 12:57 PM
 
Location: St Louis County, MO
711 posts, read 2,101,375 times
Reputation: 349
Quote:
Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna View Post
I beg to differ about you about Clayton.

I get into the country side quite a bit. I do live in Lake Saint Louis because I enjoy water activities (and they are about as good as it gets in this area.) I get into downtown at least 4 times a week, there really isn't anything that wants me to stay there.

I'm a bit disappointed that the best Pizza shop in the entire Metro Area just closed shop and moved to Phoenix - and being a native New Yorker - I know pizza (sorry folks but provel cheese is a abomination that has no place on real pizza)

Still can't find a decent Mexican meal, but I do like the BBQ here.

Except for low income folks that get their meals at a fast food restaurants, Californians tend to eat healthier and lead healthier life styles (another reason I like LSL - there is a bit of a fitness culture here) I still work out, but I have also managed to put on 15 pounds since I arrived.
Has anyone else figured out yet why the people that hate St Louis so bad are here on the edge of their seat every time a new post comes along?

Have you looked on Cherokee Street for a decent Mexican meal?

What was the "best pizza" shop? Obama the Chicagoan just said he had the best pizza he's ever had on the Delmar Loop - "Pi." Have you tried Ferraro's, Maurizio's....anything besides Imo's for that matter?

It seems you have very limited experience yet know enough to talk out of your @ss. That's a really tragic combination.

How did you come to meet all the kids in Clayton? We live in Dogtown so we are close enough that we go to the Demun Park occasionally and have always ran in to friendly people. If you think Clayton is snobby, you'd never survive in Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Ballwin, Manchester, etc...
(do you see the west county trend here?).

I guess what I/we are saying is; don't move 35 miles out of the city and then start telling people about the city, as if you know a damn thing about it; You don't.
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Old 07-14-2009, 01:27 PM
 
1,783 posts, read 3,874,991 times
Reputation: 1387
Sheesh Disdale give it up...we get it - you hate it here and St. Louis just isn't as sophisticated as New York and San Fransisco. You think whining on a St. Louis message board all day is going to make your experience here any better? And after your comment about poor people being stuck eating fast food, it's ironic you call people from Clayton snobs.

If you're so unhappy here then go somewhere you will be happy, and if you can't then at least try and make the best out of it. Judging by 20 posts in 2 days doing nothing but bash the entire metro area, you definitely need to get out more. Who knows, you might find actually come to like it here - I know west coast people who are plenty happy here.
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Old 07-14-2009, 02:44 PM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
183 posts, read 632,555 times
Reputation: 49
I'm from Ohio and getting ready to move to the St. Louis area. I've lived in the Northeast (Syracuse, NY and the Nashua, NH/Boston area) as well as Ohio (obviously) and I must say that I like Ohio the best, but the whole reason we are moving to St. Louis is because my wife mentions how much it feels like Ohio. The people are friendly and willing to start up a conversation even if they don't know you.

My wife absolutely hated New Hampshire and I didn't like it that much either. The only cool thing about New Hampshire was the fact that we could be in Maine, MA, Vermont, RI, and CT in an hour and a half or less. I mean we would just randomly say "Hey let's go to Maine for seafood" and we could be in Portland in about an hour and a half. The "location" was pretty sweet, but the people and the atmosphere wasn't for us.

Just being in St. Louis for two days we could tell that it was pretty much the next best place for us to be, outside of Ohio and that's why I took the position I was offered.
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Old 07-14-2009, 03:57 PM
 
Location: Silver Springs, FL
23,410 posts, read 36,874,167 times
Reputation: 15560
Quote:
Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna View Post
I beg to differ about you about Clayton.
I just told my mama that some guy on a message board said that she was a phony because she lives in Clayton. I wish I could tell you her retort, but good taste (and mods) prevents me.
Lake St Louis is NOT the country side, just in case you thought it was, its a -gasp- suburb!
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