At first glance, St. Louis seems like a city that can’t decide what it wants to be. The Arch is a symbol of opportunity, but people that come to love the city move on to chase other dreams. It’s a place where things are started and not always finished—it’s also exactly what America needs it to be.
We could look into many great venues or restaurants, but let’s begin with the downtown revitalization-venture, City Foundry. It’s just getting started after pandemic related delays. Large parts of the plan haven’t even ground-work but it’s already filling up with food opportunities from around the world. If thyme related puns are your thing you’ll find it, but also fusion, Indian and so many others, all together in a trendy food-hall style. The rest of the development seems to be up in the air, but if never comes to be, a new effort at food-service seems like enough.
Besides an exciting night-life scene and all the other service industry jobs, St. Louis will always need labor in transportation because of its location between the upper and lower arms of the Mississippi River. All sorts of things come in to be put on barges and then shipped out. You only need to walk through your local supermarket’s beer aisle to see how St. Louis affects life all over America. Budweiser and the other Anheuser-Busch brands are from there. From the beginning, it made perfect sense to brew and bottle along the river bank—distribution was completely different without an interstate system which made America’s domestic king into the brand it is today, cheap and available.
St. Louis is also an example to the rest of the country of how immigration can work. The last major wave happened in the mid 90’s. If you’re the type to worry about an occasional trickle of border runners, imagine seventy-thousand people en masse streaming up the river. Bosnians fleeing war in their home country came for safety and jobs. They organized, helped each other learn the American way and made their mark on the city’s culture—try a stuffed pide while you’re there. St. Louis isn’t known especially for education but the immigrant children managed to move on to better opportunities and in time, just like Budweiser, their families had grown out of St. Louis, many to the suburbs to enjoy a well-earned patch of lawn and the summer barbecues that go with.
If you’re looking to understand St Louis today, I suggest you experience it the way immigrants have since the time of Anheuser and Busch. See the Arch from a boat as it welcomes you into town. You’ll find what new arrivals need whether that’s work or a good time. As you settle in, you may find that St. Louis is a place that knows itself pretty well and when the time comes. It won’t be surprised to see you move on, or be concerned that others will follow.
St. Louis, Missouri
