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Perched just below the confluence of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers, three hundred miles south of Chicago and
north of Memphis, cosmopolitan ST LOUIS (pronounced,
whatever any song might say, as Lewis) owes its vaguely European
air to its history and developed cultural infrastructure. Any
city capable of producing two of the twentieth century's greatest
poets - T.S. Eliot and Chuck Berry - probably has a lot going
for it.
St Louis was founded in 1764 by the French fur trader
Pierre Laclede , but the American immigration
that followed its sale to the US under the Louisiana Purchase
all but extinguished the refinement it had gained during French
and Spanish rule. It subsequently became crucial as the major
gateway for pioneers on the wagon trails westward. Transportation
- first steamboats, then trains and now air haulage - has long
been the basis of its considerable industrial strength. However,
St Louis has not always had an easy ride. Downtown reached a nadir
during the 1970s, but the years since then have seen a remarkable
turnaround, with attractions on the revitalized riverfront
including the magnificent Gateway Arch and the
restored warehouses of Laclede's Landing .
Try not to leave without sampling the outlying districts.
To the west lie arty Central West End and studenty
University (or "U") City
, on either side of prodigious Forest Park with
its museums and playing fields. The blue-collar southside
features the markets, antique shops and jazz pubs of Soulard
and the Italian shops and caf?s of the Hill .
Directly across the river in Illinois, East St Louis
, once the stomping ground of jazz stars like Miles Davis and
John Coltrane, has very little to offer visitors.
