Saint Louis: The City That Keeps Surprising

St. Louis sits at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in the middle of the country, 380 km south of Chicago and 950 km north of New Orleans. It was the staging point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 and the westernmost city of consequence in the US for several decades afterward. The “Gateway to the West” label comes from this period, not from the arch, which was built in 1965. The city has had a rough run since mid-century deindustrialisation, but it retains legitimate cultural assets and a cost of living that makes visitors from coastal cities feel like something is miscalculated.

The Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States at 192 metres. Eero Saarinen designed it in 1947 and it was completed in 1965. The arch is a catenary curve, the geometric shape that a hanging chain takes under gravity, and it is one of the genuinely beautiful pieces of mid-century American architecture. The simplicity of the form is the entire point.

The tram rides inside the arch legs to the observation room at the top are the main visitor attraction. The trams are small wedge-shaped pods that tilt as they climb the curved interior; each pod holds five people. The total ride takes four minutes each way. The observation windows at the top are small, but the view extends 30 miles in clear weather. Tickets are $15 adults for the tram, available online at gatewayarch.com or at the base; the museum on westward expansion at the base is included and is better than expected, with serious content about the Indigenous peoples of the region alongside the settler narratives.

The arch sits in Gateway Arch National Park, a long thin strip of riverfront parkland that runs along the Mississippi. The grounds are free.

The City Museum

The City Museum at 750 N 16th Street is difficult to categorise and genuinely has no equivalent anywhere. Artist Bob Cassilly created it from 1997 in a 10-storey warehouse using salvaged industrial materials, drain pipes, bridge sections, old school buses, mining equipment, to build an interactive architectural environment that functions as a playground for all ages. There are tunnels, slides, a 10-storey spiral slide, a rooftop ferris wheel, caves, and multiple floors of constructed environments. It is completely appropriate for children and has a cult following among adults. Admission $16; open from noon weekdays, 09:00 weekends. The bar operates in the evening, and Friday and Saturday nights shift the character of the place considerably toward adult crowds.

Cahokia Mounds

Cross the Mississippi into Illinois (15 minutes from downtown by car) for Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Cahokia was the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico: at its peak around 1050 to 1200 AD, the population was estimated at 10,000 to 20,000, making it larger than London at the same period. The city was built by the Mississippian culture and its origin, governance, and collapse remain incompletely understood by archaeologists.

The site preserves 80 surviving mounds. Monks Mound is the largest earthwork in North America north of Mexico: 30 metres high, 291 metres by 236 metres at the base, built in stages over 250 years. The view from the top looks southwest across the flat Illinois floodplain to the St. Louis skyline and the Arch, a visual line connecting 800 years of city-building in the same river valley. Free entry to the site; the interpretive centre charges a small admission. Allow 2-3 hours.

Food and Drink

Pappy’s Smokehouse on Euclid Avenue applies dry-rub Memphis-style smoking to ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. The ribs are consistently rated among the best in the Midwest. Gets busy fast after opening at 11am; arrive at opening or accept a queue by noon. Sells out, typically around 16:00.

Niche in Benton Park has been running since 2006 under chef Gerard Craft, with a tasting menu that focuses on Midwestern ingredients prepared with genuine technique. Around $85-95 per person. Reserve ahead; this is the serious cooking option in the city.

For the local curiosity: Imo’s Pizza serves St. Louis-style thin-crust pizza cut in squares and topped with Provel cheese, a processed three-cheese blend developed specifically for this city. It is genuinely different from any other pizza style in America and deeply divisive. Order it once to form an opinion.

Blueberry Hill on Delmar Boulevard in the Loop district is the bar where Chuck Berry played monthly residency shows until his death in 2017 at age 90. Decent burger, large Chuck Berry memorabilia collection, and a claim to musical history that few American bars can honestly make.

Free Attractions

St. Louis runs several major institutions with free admission, which is unusual for a city of its size and, frankly, better than many larger cities manage.

The Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park has Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, a strong pre-Columbian collection, and one of the better Asian art departments in the Midwest. Permanent collection is free. The Saint Louis Zoo in Forest Park is free for general admission and consistently rated one of the best zoos in the country. Forest Park itself is larger than Central Park in New York and has a free outdoor amphitheatre, boat rentals, and miles of running paths.

The Missouri History Museum (free) covers the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the 1904 World’s Fair, which was held in St. Louis and which, among other claims, introduced the ice cream cone and the hot dog to mass American consumption.

Where to Stay

The Moonrise Hotel in the Loop district on Delmar Boulevard is independently owned, art-forward, and in a walkable neighbourhood near Washington University. Doubles from around $180-240. The rooftop bar works.

Hotel Ignacio at 101 South 20th Street is a newer boutique option near the Gateway Arch, from around $160-220. Well-positioned for the Arch and the downtown museums.

The major chains downtown cluster near the arch. The downtown grid is well-lit and walkable. St. Louis does not require a car if you’re staying downtown, but it helps for Cahokia and for the further reaches of Forest Park.