Your opinions on West County (St. Louis, California: 2014, living, vs.)

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Marksman84

Sorry to hear your neighbor is a tool. We have a few of those as well.

Some of our neighbors hate us too (we're a bi-racial couple with a beautiful, mixed-race child). You know what? The hell with the people that are rude to you - get online and join/meet up with a social club with common interests. Go to one of the beer festivals, go to a wine thing in Hermann, go see some live music. You will meet more friendly, healthier people.

It took us a long time to realize this, and we're NATIVES (although we spent more time in the military away from STL), but there are pockets of open-minded, independent thinkers here. You will find them, they are generally the younger, healthier people.

Don't let the fact that most of them are liberals discourage you

Dont forget about the Route du Vin!!!! Amazing wine, amazing food, amazing scenery!

Route du Vin | Ste. Genevieve Missouri's Wine Trail

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Dont forget about the Route du Vin!!!! Amazing wine, amazing food, amazing scenery!

Route du Vin | Ste. Genevieve Missouri's Wine Trail

Sounds awesome, we don't drink wine, too much sugar lol.

But yeah, there are some good wineries within a few hours of STL.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Marksman84

Sounds awesome, we don't drink wine, too much sugar lol.

But yeah, there are some good wineries within a few hours of STL.

Crown Winery, which is on the Route, has a great microbrewery.

[moorlander]

I find it puzzeling that people find it difficult to meet others here. I have no problem meeting new people and I find people to be extremely friendly and rather out going.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by moorlander

I find it puzzeling that people find it difficult to meet others here. I have no problem meeting new people and I find people to be extremely friendly and rather out going.

Maybe you are extremely friendly and outgoing.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by SCB123

Not all bashing comes from the city folks. We moved here from California 4 years ago, right next door to a nut case who has made our lives hell. The thing is, we moved here without friends or family in the local area. We find the people here to be very unfriendly and ignorant. No one has bothered to get to know us despite the fact we have tried to get to know them. After 4 years I still don't know anyone here, and after all we have had to deal with I just want to move back home to civilization. West County elitism is very much confused with trash. There is nothing elite about these people. The elite inbreed I call it.

Don't you folks have any pride in yourselves, or your communities? Is this how you all want outsiders to view you? I met this retired man in my local community who told me if he had to live the rest of his life in STL, he would rather not continue to live. He is from California. I don't dare tell him about our experience here in W.C., it make him even more depressed.

So its just not me. I think there is a built in prejudice against Californians. Maybe the locals watch to much TV and think all Californians are the vapid self absorbed yahoos they see on reality shows.

As much as I like my neighbors, I think I have only been in three of their homes, and they are also transplants. Its not that they are mean or anything, it just seems that they would rather stay within their own little closed circles of friends.

I've been back in CA for over a month, and glad to be back around genuine people that are able to express honest thoughts and tell you things the way it is. My experience with Missourians is that they will say one thing and not follow through or do something totally different.

In addition to my old friends, I have developed a new social circle of artists and athletes that I never met before. Just hoping this business venture takes off, so I can stay here even longer.

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

So its just not me. I think there is a built in prejudice against Californians. Maybe the locals watch to much TV and think all Californians are the vapid self absorbed yahoos they see on reality shows.

As much as I like my neighbors, I think I have only been in three of their homes, and they are also transplants. Its not that they are mean or anything, it just seems that they would rather stay within their own little closed circles of friends.

I've been back in CA for over a month, and glad to be back around genuine people that are able to express honest thoughts and tell you things the way it is. My experience with Missourians is that they will say one thing and not follow through or do something totally different.

In addition to my old friends, I have developed a new social circle of artists and athletes that I never met before. Just hoping this business venture takes off, so I can stay here even longer.

Our coolest neighbors in Creve Coeur are from San Diego. They are class acts all the way.

We like most Californians. They are generally healthy, active, educated and progressive-thinking people.

As natives who are well-traveled and educated, my wife and I have concluded that three terms may have been invented in St. Louis:

(1) Comfort Zone
(2) Cultural Conservatism
(3) Sunday Drivers

We are very outgoing, active and friendly people to folks from all over (yes, even democrats), mainly because of our military travels and trying to set an example for our daughter on how to be positive, healthy and respectful to people.

For years we hated the City for its politics and inability to care for itself. It seems now that there is veritable progress - albeit slow, but it is there. This past Blues season, we actually went to Tigin's before a Blues game (normally we hit Rigazzi's), and we had a nice time.

West County is a safe, family-oriented location. Yes, you will encounter cultural elitists, pot-bellied balding lawyers in their BMWs acting like king ****, housewives with more makeovers than Mount Rushmore, and pious propaganda.

My suggestion is to do what my wife and I call the "30/70" rule - we estimate that 30 percent of the people here are open, intelligent and welcoming to others outside their "comfort zone" - hang with them. You'll be happier in the long run.

[BubbyBobble]

Originally Posted by Marksman84

Our coolest neighbors in Creve Coeur are from San Diego. They are class acts all the way.

We like most Californians. They are generally healthy, active, educated and progressive-thinking people.

As natives who are well-traveled and educated, my wife and I have concluded that three terms may have been invented in St. Louis:

(1) Comfort Zone
(2) Cultural Conservatism
(3) Sunday Drivers

We are very outgoing, active and friendly people to folks from all over (yes, even democrats), mainly because of our military travels and trying to set an example for our daughter on how to be positive, healthy and respectful to people.

For years we hated the City for its politics and inability to care for itself. It seems now that there is veritable progress - albeit slow, but it is there. This past Blues season, we actually went to Tigin's before a Blues game (normally we hit Rigazzi's), and we had a nice time.

West County is a safe, family-oriented location. Yes, you will encounter cultural elitists, pot-bellied balding lawyers in their BMWs acting like king ****, housewives with more makeovers than Mount Rushmore, and pious propaganda.

My suggestion is to do what my wife and I call the "30/70" rule - we estimate that 30 percent of the people here are open, intelligent and welcoming to others outside their "comfort zone" - hang with them. You'll be happier in the long run.

Lolz, I can't stop lauging (tears are coming outta my eyes).

[goat314]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

So its just not me. I think there is a built in prejudice against Californians. Maybe the locals watch to much TV and think all Californians are the vapid self absorbed yahoos they see on reality shows.

As much as I like my neighbors, I think I have only been in three of their homes, and they are also transplants. Its not that they are mean or anything, it just seems that they would rather stay within their own little closed circles of friends.

I've been back in CA for over a month, and glad to be back around genuine people that are able to express honest thoughts and tell you things the way it is. My experience with Missourians is that they will say one thing and not follow through or do something totally different.

In addition to my old friends, I have developed a new social circle of artists and athletes that I never met before. Just hoping this business venture takes off, so I can stay here even longer.

Dinsdale, your posts never cease to amaze me.

Are you honestly implying that Missouri has less genuine people per capita than California?

Well actually you may be right about people expressing their "genuine" feelings out in California. I spent one summer in Mid-City, Los Angeles and experienced more racial slurs, vitriolic verbal attacks, and pompous attitudes than my whole time growing up in University City. I found people in Los Angeles to be cold, plastic, uninviting, and self consumed. Which is actually the complete opposite of my summer experiences in the NYC (a coastal, cultured city).

Even after my horrible experience in Los Angeles, I never made blanket statements about the region. I know there are "genuinely" good people everywhere and some of them even live in St. Louis (believe it or not). I even managed to make a couple good friends in Los Angeles despite the fast, cut throat, and abrasive culture of many locals. All in all I hold no grudges about California. It's a beautiful place (if you can afford it), with beautiful women, cultured people, and exciting cities around every mountain in every valley.

Being such a cultured, coastal, educated move maker, I would think that you would have no problem adapting to any environment. After all isn't that what players in the game do? I feel like I can go to Afghanistan and make a friend. That's just the kind of person I am. I've made friends with conservative, rural, white people and I'm a liberal, urban, black guy. Genuine people are willing to adapt to their environments without changing who they are. I'm just real like that and I guess that's why people like me wherever I go (especially when I hit the West and East Coast).

St. Louis is the 18th largest urban area in the country with 1st class amenities, universities, and cultural centers. It is rough around the edges and could uses some elbow grease, but its far from the unlivable, cultural, backwater that you make it. There is something for everybody in St. Louis, even stuffy guys like you Dinsdale.

[stlcitygirl]

^
Bravo!