# Ask me anything about St. Louis **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258 "2011-04-30T04:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/81 "2011-05-06T20:02:55Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > I dunno when you graduated, but the Athletic Complex is truly a piece of garbage now. We checked it out on visiting students’ weekend. I’m talking 1980’s gym funk smell to it, no ventilation to speak of. Easily the dirtiest gym I’ve ever been to in my life. Certain parts like the bball court and the climbing wall were nice but the weight room and the cardio room were small and truly filthy. I thought I was gonna get MRSA from walking around it. What was so bizarre is the rest of the campus is amazingly well maintained and flat-out gorgeous. The gym is this sad, neglected little thing. I’m actually still here (on faculty now), but I haven’t been to the AC since grad school. It doesn’t totally surprise me that it’s a dump; Division III school and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Hennessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/82 "2011-05-06T22:13:57Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Nothing makes sense of your complaint. No, there is nothing remarkable or dangerous about any of the curves on 170, even in the rain. I’m talking about people going at least somewhere near the speed limit, not over, so I have no idea why you’re bringing police and speed cameras into it (especially speed cameras that [no longer exist](http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_fc37e0ae-a0d9-5591-bbf4-6630df49cc67.html)). To say nothing of the fact that I was at 170 and Forest Park which is quite a ways from the areas of your complaint. > > And yes, believe it or not, it took me a while to find a space to get over into the next lane while being stuck behind a guy going under 40. Shocking that. I was hardly attacking you but how many other cars were going 38? How old were they? Did their wipers give out or did their contacts fall out? Better to get in an accident at 38 than 60… Down there by Forest Park they don’t give you much room to slow down for an exit. I’m not defending them but how often do you catch a car going slower than 50 that is messing with your day? Compared to the speeders in St. Louis, I would think you’d complain about that first… Nothings worse than driving 60 or even 70 to look in the rear view and find out I’m not going fast enough, that’s the most annoying thing… So when you do get over and let them pass they speed up and go around just to slow down and I end up passing them again… They think they have to be in front but they never are. The worst are people who don’t let your bumper breathe even if they could get over, they are just used to riding as close as possible to whatever car their behind. Sure the legal allowed space may be 1 car length but what is the harm in 2 to 3 or more car lengths? ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/83 "2011-05-07T00:31:55Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I know, right? That’s why it’s helpful to have someone take a more empirical approach. Like all those city rankings I linked to before. It helps to cut across the individual differences.What amazes me is that every time I go back (pretty much annually, and in the summer too!) there’s always a whole new development, with a big box anchoring a collection of smaller stores. Even as other places stand empty, they seem to keep building new ones. Last year, I was over by Clayton at 141, and that’s being overdeveloped. How can that area support so much retail? > > When I was growing up, we had Chesterfield Mall, and a Target, a K-Mart and Grandpa Pigeons. If you wanted hardware, you went to Central Hardware. If you wanted music, you went to Peaches. And we liked it! > > In the early to mid 80’s, there was a small chain called Pantera’s, and they did this pizza that was thick and loaded with cheese. It was really good stuff, but I suppose ultimately in an Imo’s type town, they were ill-fated. Really your only cite that St. Louis has the WORST drivers was from “Men’s Health Magazine” 2007: > [@](#): > > A new magazine ranking says Des Moines, Iowa. > > But the cities that follow on the list from Men’s Health Magazine may be somewhat puzzling. After Des Moines are Jersey City, New Jersey; New York City; Yonkers, New York, and San Francisco. > > And where are the worst drivers? > > Columbia, South Carolina,leads the list, followed by St. Louis; Greensboro, North Carolina; Jackson, Mississippi, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. > > The survey used data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Allstate Insurance and the Governors Highway Safety Association to rank 100 cities. > > The key factors in deciding the rankings include the total number of fatal accidents and fatal crashes caused by speeding. That is one impressive cite. Oh, forgot to include your own mega-data of driving on Manchester in the “county” not the city once a year almost every year. Got it. Your almost yearly experience of driving in the county tops my every day driving in the city experience for over 20 years. Cool, just needed to know what the boundaries were. You have so proved your point.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/84 "2011-05-07T02:45:57Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > Really your only cite that St. Louis has the WORST drivers was from “Men’s Health Magazine” 2007: > > That is one impressive cite. > > Oh, forgot to include your own mega-data of driving on Manchester in the “county” not the city once a year almost every year. Got it. Your almost yearly experience of driving in the county tops my every day driving in the city experience for over 20 years. Cool, just needed to know what the boundaries were. You have so proved your point.:dubious: Gee. You’re so right. I have only driven there one week a year for the past 20 years. That’s my only experience with St. Louis. Oh, yeah, except that I grew up there, living there for 20 years before that. I had another driver point a gun at me once. I had someone rear end me, try to get away, and then end up giving me a false name and phone number (despite knowing that I had their license plate). Unfortunately they gave me that false name and number on the back of a receipt that had their real name on it. My brother (who worked at Six Flags, by the way) had another driver throw an egg at his car while driving on the highway. His friend once had blood droplets all over his console because of a road rage incident, in which the other driver got out and punched him in the face through his window. I once had a woman do a stunt driver move to swerve around me and skid to a stop in front of me, so that she could accost me. When I suggested that the problem was that she had been speeding over a blind hill (on Big Bend), she yanked my door open and kicked me in the leg. Yes, all of this was in the county. So, unfortunately you can’t blame _this_ all on the black people living in North St. Louis. St. Louis is full of violent, angry people. They rank high in categories related to violent, angry (and depressed) people. Sure, you can crap on the ranking I cited, but you’ll need to do better at explaining why “data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Allstate Insurance and the Governors Highway Safety Association to rank 100 cities” is such a bad methodology. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/85 "2011-05-07T02:53:15Z")
Just googled, and found this: [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-28/worst-drivers-in-america-which-state-has-the-most-accidents/](http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-28/worst-drivers-in-america-which-state-has-the-most-accidents/) “Past bragging rights, the ramifications are deadly: There were more than 30,000 fatal crashes in the U.S. last year, including more than 5,000 deaths just from “distracted driving,” such as cellphone use, according to data released last week. In trying to get some definitive answers, The Daily Beast used crash data—because accidents provide an objective way to define someone as a bad driver, or not—and focused on fatal crashes, using the most recent available data (2009) since those are uniformly reported state-by-state. From there, we specifically measured fatal crashes where driver mistake was a key factor: DUI, blowing through stop signs, careless or inattentive driving and the like.” Missouri ranked 7th worst. > [@](#): > > 7, Missouri > > Fatal crashes: 786 > Driver’s licenses: 4,196,682 > Most dangerous age: 18 > Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs: 7 out of 50 > Failure to obey traffic signs or signals: 32 out of 50 > Careless or inattentive driving: 9 out of 50 We’re conflating bad driving with angry assholes here, of course. Perhaps we should keep the two distinct. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/86 "2011-05-07T06:03:03Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Gee. You’re so right. I have only driven there one week a year for the past 20 years. That’s my only experience with St. Louis. > > Oh, yeah, except that I grew up there, living there for 20 years before that. > > I had another driver point a gun at me once. I had someone rear end me, try to get away, and then end up giving me a false name and phone number (despite knowing that I had their license plate). Unfortunately they gave me that false name and number on the back of a receipt that had their real name on it. > > My brother (who worked at Six Flags, by the way) had another driver throw an egg at his car while driving on the highway. His friend once had blood droplets all over his console because of a road rage incident, in which the other driver got out and punched him in the face through his window. I once had a woman do a stunt driver move to swerve around me and skid to a stop in front of me, so that she could accost me. When I suggested that the problem was that she had been speeding over a blind hill (on Big Bend), she yanked my door open and kicked me in the leg. > > Yes, all of this was in the county. So, unfortunately you can’t blame _this_ all on the black people living in North St. Louis. > > St. Louis is full of violent, angry people. They rank high in categories related to violent, angry (and depressed) people. Sure, you can crap on the ranking I cited, but you’ll need to do better at explaining why “data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Allstate Insurance and the Governors Highway Safety Association to rank 100 cities” is such a bad methodology. Let me just counter this by saying that I lived in St. Louis for 32 years. I don’t have any specific memory prior to age 5, so that would give me 27 years as a passenger and a driver in St. Louis. In all that time I’ve never seen or experienced anything even remotely like what you describe. Never. I’m not trying to be accusatory, but is there any chance that your driving contributed to some of these incidents? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/87 "2011-05-07T11:08:07Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > I’m not trying to be accusatory, b’ut is there any chance that your driving contributed to some of these incidents? It’s certainly a fair question, generally speaking, although how my driving had anything to do with the incidents in which I was not driving, or even there, I don’t know. I was rear ended sitting at a stop light, so not much I could do about that, and I don’t think my driving made him give me a false name. The opinion of the professor at St. Louis University was also independent of my driving. Finally, in the years that I’ve been driving outside of St Louis, I have had zero similar incidents, as have my brothers. My experiences also accord with the data based rankings as above. Finally, as I learned a long time ago at the Magic House, when there were only four cars in the US, two of them collided in St. Louis. Otherwise, I’ve not ruled myself completely out as the causal factor. I’m at a loss as to exactly how though. I never collided with anyone, flipped anyone off or carried a weapon myself. I did confront the Manchester road guy in the parking lot, but nothing physical resulted. ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/88 "2011-05-07T18:20:54Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > Have you tried the food at Sala Thai? My niece (in-law) owns it and she cooks from scratch. Is that the one in Belleville? If so, it is indeed delicious. > [@Shayna](#): > > St. Louis is quite well-known for its [pizza](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis-style_pizza), but apparently it is an acquired taste. First of all, the crust is paper thin and made without yeast, so it doesn’t rise and get thick. It’s generally cut into squares instead of triangles, and many places use a cheese that’s not widely used on pizza, called provel, which was actually [invented specifically for St. Louis pizza](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provel_cheese). I don’t recommend the chain restaurants, like Imo’s. If you’re going to try St. Louis Pizza, even the President of the United States says [Pi’s is the best pizza he’s ever tasted](http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2009/04/for_obama_st_louis_pizza_trump.html). 😃 Eh. I had Pi a couple of weeks ago (on Delmar) and while it was good, it definitely wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. For the adventurous who don’t mind crossing the river, there’s an excellent wood-fired place called Peel in Edwardsville that is fancy and scrumptious, or Johnny’s in Fairview Heights for more casual, super-delicious hand-tossed pizza. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/89 "2011-05-08T17:20:06Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > I’m actually still here (on faculty now), but I haven’t been to the AC since grad school. It doesn’t totally surprise me that it’s a dump; Division III school and all that. Do you like St. Louis overall? I really enjoyed the city; “pleasantly surprised” is how I felt at every turn. Actually D3 gyms tend to be quite nice at private schools b/c there isn’t an athletic team; often major D1 schools have separate facilities for the athletes and their regular student facilities are dumps. I guess I was just struck because the rest of the campus is gorgeous and well maintained without being stuffy (IMO). The gym was a radical departure from the rest of the campus. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/90 "2011-05-08T17:57:18Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Do you like St. Louis overall? I really enjoyed the city; “pleasantly surprised” is how I felt at every turn. Actually D3 gyms tend to be quite nice at private schools b/c there isn’t an athletic team; often major D1 schools have separate facilities for the athletes and their regular student facilities are dumps. I guess I was just struck because the rest of the campus is gorgeous and well maintained without being stuffy (IMO). The gym was a radical departure from the rest of the campus. There are lots of things I like about St. Louis, and things I don’t like. The people strike me as generally friendly, although sometimes startlingly provincial (I regularly encounter people who can’t understand that I’m not a Cardinals fan, as though it’s impossible to root for any other team). Lots of great neighborhoods, with some less pleasant areas in between. The lack of a real downtown is disappointing, but there’s plenty to do if you know where to go. Decent cultural scene; world class orchestra, great jazz, etc. It would be nice if there were more opera around (since that’s what I do) but what there is is pretty good. I’ll never really be a “St. Louisan”. I’m a New Englander at heart. We’ve been talking for a couple of years about eventually moving to a bigger city (Chicago, New York, Boston), but it’ll be a few years before we’re in a position to. That said, when I’m visiting family in NH, I begin to feel homesick for St. Louis after a couple of weeks, so obviously I have some affection for the place. Wash U actually has a bunch of teams, and some very good ones at that. Multiple national championships in women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, and some others, I think. All of those teams jammed into the field house. Wash U is very selective about what it spends money on. Athletics is not one of those things, despite the success of several of its teams. Anyway, I’ve not been there in years. I’m rarely even on main campus; the applied music building is on the Loop. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/91 "2011-05-09T05:18:01Z")
Home of Panera Bread, locally know as St Louis Bread Company. I bet almost everyone here from St Louis area has one within two miles or so… ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/92 "2011-05-10T02:20:36Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > There are lots of things I like about St. Louis, and things I don’t like. The people strike me as generally friendly, although sometimes startlingly provincial (I regularly encounter people who can’t understand that I’m not a Cardinals fan, as though it’s impossible to root for any other team). Lots of great neighborhoods, with some less pleasant areas in between. Funny you mention the provincial part - when we were asking around for food recommendations everyone kept recommending Italian and then sushi. Nobody understood we didn’t want to eat Italian (every place with at least 100k people has decent Italian) and didn’t want to eat sushi in the Midwest. But it seems like the neighborhoods are friendly and a lack of a downtown reminds me of Pittsburgh. Speaking of the St. Louis Bread Company - is it any different than a regular Panera in any other city? I love me some Panera for a healthy filling lunch but I won’t make it a habit to stop there on our trip in 2-3 weeks unless it’s different/much better than a regular chain Panera. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Defenestrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@The\_Defenestrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Defenestrator)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/93 "2011-05-10T03:26:52Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Speaking of the St. Louis Bread Company - is it any different than a regular Panera in any other city? I love me some Panera for a healthy filling lunch but I won’t make it a habit to stop there on our trip in 2-3 weeks unless it’s different/much better than a regular chain Panera. Bread Co is exactly the same as Panera elsewhere in my experience. Only difference is the name. (And there is one less than a mile from me, even though I’m across the river in St. Charles County.) ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/94 "2011-05-10T03:32:35Z")
> [@The\_Defenestrator](#): > > Bread Co is exactly the same as Panera elsewhere in my experience. Only difference is the name. > > (And there is one less than a mile from me, even though I’m across the river in St. Charles County.) This was years ago, probably just after Bread Co. went national, but I was at a Panera in NH and asked for a toasted bagel. They handed me an untoasted bagel and pointed to the small toaster at the end of the counter. A bit of a contrast from the industrial-size conveyor type toasters they usually have. Other than that, I’ve never noticed a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/95 "2011-05-26T12:07:32Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Aided and abetted by just about every governmental and commercial office, including the post office. When I first moved to Creve Coeur, I spent some time being absolutely bewildered as to why nobody would accept that as my mailing address. When I went to get a library card, the lady at the County Library took some time to explain it to me. > > (I’ll add, that was by far the nicest experience I have ever had at the St. Louis County Library. It sucks. The employees are mostly assholes; the stock is limited (and every summer since I’ve been here they purge the shelves of old books even though they have no need to–apparently management likes the appearance of half-empty shelves); and if you only go every other Saturday, forget about holds and requests still being there waiting for you. The City Library is far better in every way.) > > Umm . . . even though nobody asked about the library. Well, I don’t know about service. I go to the Daniel Boone one (or Sachs), and I’ve always had a positive experience checking out. My only complaint is _how shitty the selection is_! Jesus H. CHRIST! Looking through their catalog, it seems to have gotten WORSE.:smack: I sure hope that’s just a temporary effect of budget cuts because of the current fiscal situation. ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/96 "2011-05-26T12:10:14Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#): > > Home of Panera Bread, locally know as St Louis Bread Company. I bet almost everyone here from St Louis area has one within two miles or so… Ah, yes. Good ol’ Breadco (that’s what most people call it here, I think). :dubious: Can’t tell you how many times my Mom referred to it or my friends and classmates back in HS and middle did. It’s pretty big around here, apparently. I really don’t give a fuck, though, since sandwiches aren’t really my thing.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/97 "2011-05-26T12:18:27Z")
Missouri’s road system is a fucking mess. I’ve only been driving a month, and already it pisses me off! It’s only recently that I discovered that “MO-100” (when referred to on places like Mapquest) doesn’t actually refer to a highway or freeway BUT THE MAIN ROAD OF MANCHESTER! It’s just another name for Manchester Road! WTF. Why keep the MO-100 bullshit on Google Maps and Mapquest, you dumbasses? WE ALL KNOW IT AS MANCHESTER! I also gotta agree with the drivers thing. Drivers here, from my experience anyway, are TERRIBLE. I’d consider myself a pretty safe one, however. I’m careful as can be, but it still doesn’t make up for all the other idiots on the road, esp. some jackass who almost bumped into me making a lane change with _hardly any fucking room_. I can’t tell you how many morons I’ve seen driving who can’t stay within the fucking lines. They tend to lean on one end or the other. The traffic on Manchester is the worst, and for some reason, it doesn’t really die down til at least after 8 pm. Getting into the parking lot and finding a space at the Pizza Hut I work at can be such a bitch. Trying to get back to Chesterfield from a faraway city in St. Louis County or a little farther away in Missouri is also fucking irritating as hell. You gotta go through I-270 (wish I had known that before I had to ask for directions that one night I got lost) and then I-64 or some bullshit. I wrote it down on a piece of paper. It’s weird as hell. If you go through the OTHER interstate that claims to lead you into St. Louis County, it lists many St. Louis towns, BUT IT DOESN’T LIST CHESTERFIELD or Ballwin! Somehow it skips over them, starts going into Illinois, and if you don’t go through 270 earlier to get to places like Ballwin and Manchester, you gotta do it all over again. What a dumb fucking system. ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/98 "2011-05-26T12:33:13Z")
Based on my experience so far on places like Manchester, the drivers here _are_ terrible. One guy almost fucking hit me when he was doing a lane change! \* Don’t these people understand that you can’t do lane changes when there’s hardly any room between the other cars between the space\*??? Why is that so hard to understand? And there are those other morons who can’t stay within the lanes; instead they lean to one side or another. It confuses the hell out of you sometimes and makes you wonder if they’re gonna lane change or what! And of course, there are those people who just plain suck at turning and make you wonder if they’re gonna try to go into your lane as well, so you get all defensive and a little tense. The Pizza Hut in Ellisville has such a TERRIBLE parking lot in the whole strip mall area, and trying to get a space on the weekends during rush hour is such a bitch. How hard is it for some of these people to fucking make sure no one else is coming your way before you make an abrupt turn?? Do you see a sign or arrow that says it’s one-way? ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/99 "2011-05-26T12:41:21Z")
The guy who said there are “better places than Six Flags”… to some extent yes. But it depends on if you’re talking about places in general or amusement parks. As far as I know, there really aren’t any good amusement parks (if at all) in STL County other than Six Flags. I’ve been living here all my life, and if you know of one, that’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Branson’s ok for a quick vacation, but it kinda gets old fast. Silver Dollar City? Not sure I’d say it’s “much better” than Six Flags. I’d say the two are equal, esp. because they tend to cater to different clientele from what I can see. SDC is more for people who are into historical STL and old-time shit rather than roller coasters, water slides and other traditional amusement park stuff. Magic House is ok… if you’re 7. I don’t give a fuck about plants, so I don’t go to the Botanical Garden. Science Center’s not bad, but if you’ve been there a few times, you’ve pretty much seen it all already, so there’s little point going back (unless you _really_ are looking forward to an Omnimax presentation or exhibit at a specific time). And if I recall correctly, I don’t think it’s free, at least not if memory serves. City Museum is kind of a joke, and it’s only ‘exciting’ once. The Arch is cool-looking and all, but to me that kind of seems to be more nowadays about overcompensating for the lack of an efficient downtown. I mean, what’s the point of the Arch? It’s just this giant structure reaching high up in the air for no particular reason that you can ride to the top of. “We got the Arch!” So WHAT! Does it have magical economic development powers? STL County’s OK, but there’s no way in hell I’d live in the city. It doesn’t seem to have much to offer, and at least half the buildings and old billboards and signs always look rundown. I’m not big on sports, so the Cards, Blues and Rams can kiss my ass. I also seem to be one of the few St. Louisans who doesn’t give a shit where people here went to HS. If I ever ask people about that, it’s usually just as an icebreaker cuz I kinda suck at starting up conversation with new people. I don’t really understand why the local news oftentimes gets statements from the mayor of the CITY regarding various incidents and events, instead of the county mayor, unless the City AND County for some reason only have ONE mayor total. All I’d ever heard on the local news regarding “St. Louis mayor” was Francis Slay. ---
**Author:** ![Whoo69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Whoo69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whoo69)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258/100 "2011-05-26T12:48:50Z")
One thing that bothers the hell outta me is when some people mispronounce the name and call it “Missoura.” HICK much?? Ever notice how the only people who pronounce it that way have Southern or Southern-sounding accents?? What part of the “i” at the end signals an “uh” sound?? Are they trying to say “Missour-ih” but somehow it comes out as “uh”?:smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-me-anything-about-st-louis/580258.md?page=6)