urbanSTL

White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 46/?no-ist

from Vogue.com

An Insider’s Guide to the Magic of St. Louis, Missouri

https://www.vogue.com/article/insiders- ... s-missouri

This Vogue article is actually a big deal. That's really great press for a market that doesn't really hype St. Louis.

More good buzz from the NY Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/trav ... dable.html

1) Is the CVC paying for these articles? Why did they come out a day apart from each other?
2) I liked the NYT article a lot more. But neither captured the city for me.

stlgasm wrote:The "big small town" refrain is so overdone and cliche. Just because a city is friendly, casual, neighborhoody and accessible doesn't mean it feels like a small town. St. Louis has plenty of attributes (good and bad) that make it decidedly NOT small town. Even though the "big small town" quality is usually meant to be endearing, I don't think a lot of people perceive it that way. "Small town" to me comes across as a little patronizing. I generally don't equate small towns with social tolerance, diversity or excitement, do you?

Sorry if I'm being overly-sensitive, but every city of similar size claims to be a "big small town"- it's not like it's unique trait to St. Louis. I guess the fact that practically every PR piece about St. Louis being a big small town is proof that we actually are?

I agree with you. It bugs me to no end.


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stlgasm wrote: ↑

Mar 14, 2018

I generally don't equate small towns with social tolerance, diversity or excitement, do you?

To be fair, St Louis is not exactly the most diverse place in the world and is considerably less diverse than pretty much any city of comparable size in either coast (which I assume forms the bulk of these articles' target audience). Not that I think that much can be done about it (i.e. I am not blaming this on anyone in particular or in any specific set of policies), but having moved from one of the coasts, the lack of diversity was the thing that shocked me the most especially for a metro area of its size.

stlgasm wrote: ↑

Mar 14, 2018

The "big small town" refrain is so overdone and cliche. Just because a city is friendly, casual, neighborhoody and accessible doesn't mean it feels like a small town.

It may be a cliche but I think it's one shared by most in the region; especially those like that dad whom I bet lives in the County "The County has great schools!" Truthfully, most people in the region don't want a big town feel and that's why we struggle to gain core population. Fortunately that's changing a bit but I think we have quite a ways to go to reach an unqualified feel of "big town" urban vibrancy, (Same with most of our mid-size peers.)

Article from Business Insider:

http://www.businessinsider.com/washingt ... -my-career

Here's an typical bit of us on an odd bit of media:



I call it "Arch of the Palms." It's from the trailer for a game called "Cities: Skylines." Looks to me like 55 and Memorial have been completely overgrown in the most lovely way. (And sure, the buildings are wrong, and the arch is in the wrong spot, and . . . palm, trees. But I like it.) Just a small thing, but it's a pretty clear reference in a sort of media where we don't get a whole lot of recognition.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Apr 18, 2018

Here's an typical bit of us on an odd bit of media:



I call it "Arch of the Palms." It's from the trailer for a game called "Cities: Skylines." Looks to me like 55 and Memorial have been completely overgrown in the most lovely way. (And sure, the buildings are wrong, and the arch is in the wrong spot, and . . . palm, trees. But I like it.) Just a small thing, but it's a pretty clear reference in a sort of media where we don't get a whole lot of recognition.

It looks like it was placed in Florida. Though would note that a few palms can grow in the St. Louis area with minimal to no protection, particularly in a place like downtown. Just not the taller ones, though a number of climate change models do show that over time it could end up being possible with winters on average becoming much less severe.

A fair bunch of my neighbors grow hardy banana palms of a sort that will overwinter. (But don't produce fruit without Herculean effort.) My wife, being Vietnamese, never fails to point such things out.

I've been quite tempted by Cities: Skylines, but I'm still mostly playing a late version of Sim City. (Which also has an arch, though with an odd plinth that makes it look like a toy off someone's shelf.) How does Cities compare?

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Apr 19, 2018

I've been quite tempted by Cities: Skylines, but I'm still mostly playing a late version of Sim City. (Which also has an arch, though with an odd plinth that makes it look like a toy off someone's shelf.) How does Cities compare?

For the Arch? They haven't quite gotten it right since SimCity 3000.
For the game itself? It's very good. I'm not a huge fan of the graphics though. I preferred how clean and crisp SimCity 4 was (just without the four axonometric views).

^For the game. It's actually Sim City 4 I've played most recently. Fantastic game.

Not a ton of substance to this article but it was nice to be mentioned.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/e ... city-gems/

stlgasm wrote: ↑

Apr 21, 2018

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Apr 20, 2018

Not a ton of substance to this article but it was nice to be mentioned.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/e ... city-gems/

Thanks for sharing this. It’s refreshing to read an outsider’s perspective of St. Louis that doesn’t dwell on the doom-and-gloom or isn’t a paraphrased press release written by the CVC. It’s also cool that our urban appeal is recognized along with other classic legacy cities that are St. Louis’s true peers, and not random comparisons with Indianapolis or Columbus, etc.

I agree it is always nice to get an outsiders perspective. I married someone from the Bay Area in California and who went to school in the Northeast so we get a lot of outsiders she is friends with that come visit. All of them always are amazed by what St. Louis has to offer. We currently have a couple in from NYC and multiple times they have said things like we didn't realized STL had such in such (architecture was one of the things mentioned). Most people just think the Arch and AB is all we have. One friend came recently who lived in STL 20 years ago when she was young and hadn't been back here since. When she came to visit she thought it was a lot better than she remembered.

We talked a little bit about it at dinner and thought one of the reasons not many people know about STL is because STL has so many people who just stay here compared to other cities. Maybe they go off to college but then they come back. Thus, you don't have people a lot of people out there campaigning for it and talking it up like other places.

We currently have one couple we are trying to convince to move here from NYC. One has parents in Indy, the other in Arkansas so it would be in the middle. We are going up against them thinking Denver though, so I am not sure how that is going to work out.