Brooke S. Foster - Moon St. Louis

HANDBOOKS

BROOKE S. FOSTER

Map 1: Downtown
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Map 2: Midtown and Central West End
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Map 3: Soulard and Lafayette Square
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Map 4: South City
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Map 5: Dogtown and the Hill
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Map 6: Delmar Loop and University City
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Map 7: Greater St. Louis
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St. Louis is a remarkable city, full of strange and beautiful secrets. The triumphs and follies of the past are visible everywhere in this red-brick town on the Mississippi River. This is where Lewis and Clark began their journey and Charles Lindbergh first took flight. In Forest Parkone of the largest urban green spaces in the nationthe pavilion from the 1904 Worlds Fair still stands. Theres the soaring majesty of the Gateway Arch and the unearthly beauty of the Cathedral Basilica. On the citys south side sits the eerie home of the Lemp brewing family, who took their own lives after being pushed into insolvency by the Anheuser-Busch empire. The clubs and bars are filled with living blues legendsand with the memories of those who have come before.

Visitors will discover dozens of unique neighborhoods, from Grand South Grand, where you can find a halal meat market and a raucous Italian-restaurant-slash-rock-club within one block, to the Central West End, where bistros and boutiques occupy some of St. Louiss most architecturally stunning buildings, to Soulard, where you can stop in real-deal Irish pubs and dance-all-night clubs, all in shadow of the Anheuser-Busch brewery.

And because St. Louis is not widely heralded by glossy travel magazines and guidebooks, discovering the real St. Louis feels like your very own secret.

Visitors to downtown will find plenty to see and dofrom the iconic Gateway Arch to shopping in one of the citys most cosmopolitan retail districts. After the bankers and lawyers head home at days end, downtowns many restaurants and bars come alive. Whether youre looking for a sports bar packed with Cardinals fans or a chic martini lounge, youll find it here.

Midtown is fast becoming the fine-arts hub of St. Louis, thanks largely to the reopening of the historic Fox Theatre and the development of Grand Center. In the Central West End, stately mansions nestle against modernist art galleries, which in turn neighbor high-end boutiques and rave-worthy restaurants.

Soulard is home to pretty red-brick rowhouses and friendly bars serving everything from draft beer to craft cocktails. In adjacent Lafayette Square, the Victorian-era mansions make this one of the most architecturally dazzling neighborhoods in the city. The many shops and restaurants hum with energy, and the bars and cafs that face historic