There's no such thing as a bad day at Busch Stadium. A bleacher seat, a pork steak sandwich and a bottle (or three) of Schlafly Summer Lager—sounds like the recipe for a perfect day.
The Lou's even got it's own style of 'za: its unleavened crust is almost cracker-like in texture, and its red sauce is heavily seasoned with oregano. It just ain't real St. Louis-style, either, unless it's covered with goo-gobs of melted provel cheese.
The City Museum isn't just for kids. OK, if you've got some, you can bring them, and they'll have a fantastic time climbing around inside the giant whale, the enchanted caves and the mega jungle gym “shoe shafts.”
This St. Louis landmark, open for over 40 years, is not just a restaurant and bar, but also a museum of sorts, with exhibits on pop culture memorabilia. Blueberry Hill is also, as its name implies, all about rock’n’roll, with a jumpin' jukebox collection, an Elvis-themed room, a statue of Chuck Berry.
Animatronic dinosaurs! So awesome. Also:
And there are about a million of these in each slice. Still, it's the quintessential St. Louis baked good. This dense, flat cake looks kind of like a lemon square, only minus the lemon. If you want the real deal, try Park Avenue Coffee or Gooey Louie.
The Lemp Mansion, said to be one of the city's (if not the nation's) most haunted sites..
Two vintage trolleys are on their way to St. Louis, where they will be put to use as soon as the new Delmar Loop Trolley gets up and going.
The St. Louis Zoo has been named by both “Zagat's Family Travel Guide” and “Parenting” magazine as one of the nation's best, and they ain't lion about that. Current must-see attractions include the touch pool at Caribbean Cove, the lions and tigers and leopards of Big Cat Country and the creepy crawlies of the Monsanto Insectarium.
St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch is more than just a world-famous landmark. It might not look possible but you can actually ascend to its pinnacle for an unforgettable view of the city from 630 feet up. If you dare.
St. Louis is known as “The Gateway to The West” and it earned this nickname courtesy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that kicked off from the city in May of 1804.
The St. Louis Outlet Mall has all your basic mall shops, but this mall is anything but your basic mall. For one thing, it's divided into different neighborhoods, each with a different theme and décor. One of the mall's major attractions is the Ice Zone, which offers public skating sessions and is also the official practice facility of the St. Louis Blues. So yes you can take a break from shopping and watch a little pro hockey action while you nibble your obligatory mall Cinnabon. How cool is that?
Perhaps the 1904 World's Fair's main claim to fame is as the launching pad for a number of new foods that have now become a staple part of the American diet. While Dr Pepper, iced tea, hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream cones, hamburgers, puffed wheat cereal and peanut butter may have existed in some form prior to 1904, the fair was the first place to introduce them to a national (and global) audience.
You just can't talk about St. Louis without mentioning the 1904 World's Fair. It was a huge hit, drawing almost 20 million visitors from around the globe during its seven-month run. Although most of the buildings erected for the fair were temporary, and have long since fallen to bits, a couple of them still remain in town. The Palace of Fine Arts now houses the St. Louis Art Museum, while the Administration Building was re-purposed as Washington University's Brookings Hall.
The Blues have some pretty cool traditions like playing live organ music including (of course) “Saint Louis Blues” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” There's even a superfan who celebrates each goal by tossing a towel out into the crowd. Well, at least it's less messy than chucking octopi onto the ice.
The St. Louis GateKeepers are a pretty badass bunch of bros, but wait 'til you see their sister team, the Arch Rivals!
Or screaming for it, more likely. You haven't really experienced St. Louis until you've had a concrete from Ted Drewes. This St. Louis institution has been serving up its famous frozen custard since 1931. The concrete is a super-thick custard blended with mix-ins like candies, fruit, even chunks of fresh-baked pie, it comes in tons of yummy flavors such as s'more, lemon crumb and strawberry shortcake, is just as good today as it was back in ’31.
St. Louis is also home to Tums, a necessary invention needed to combat the after-effects of all that pizza, ice cream and cake. It was invented by local pharmacist Jim Howe in 1928, and the downtown factory, opened two years later, still churns out billions of tablets sold all around the world.
Not the hockey team, but the song by W.C. Handy. He wrote it in 1914 while sitting by the St. Louis riverfront. This song, with its famous intro line “I hate to see de evenin' sun go down,” is perhaps the most popular blues song of all time, and two versions, both featuring Louis Armstrong, have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It's also been recorded by hundreds of other artists besides Armstrong, most recently by Hugh Laurie. Yeah, that guy from “House.” (I didn't know he sang, either.)
Budweiser, signature beer of world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch, is practically synonymous with St. Louis, and those great big gorgeous Clydesdales put in their appearance at major civic events like opening day at (where else?) Busch Stadium. Did you know, though, that St. Louis is also the home of Everclear? Yes, that 151-proof rotgut, guaranteed to burn a hole in your stomach that no amount of Tums will ever repair. The stuff you used to use to spike watermelons.
St. Louis really goes all out for the holidays each year. They kick things off with the Ameren Thanksgiving Day Parade, then downtown lights it up with the Macy's Festival of Lights. Other can't miss holiday sights include the Gardenland Express holiday train and flower exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, Wild Lights at the zoo and, if you don't mind Jack Frost nipping at your toes (and other extremities), outdoor skating at the Steinberg Rink in Forest Park. The World's Fair may be long over (like, a century-plus) and the trolleys no longer clang, clang clang (for nw), but St. Louis has still got it going on—“it” being world-class food and baseball, brewskis and a shining steel arch.
