The Most Underrated Things In and About St. Louis

Our microbreweries are the best.
Anhueser-Busch/InBev may get all the hype, but you can’t throw an empty can of Busch without hitting a great local brewery in St. Louis.

St. Louis is the biggest small town.
The city is large enough to where you’re not bumping into people you know all the time, but St. Louis has the same warmth and kindness as any small town. We’re no Mayberry, and we may shoot at people when KFC is out of corn, but our Midwest manners are unmatched.

Our weed taxes are low AF.
Our state’s weed industry has been notoriously unfair in how it has excluded minority entrepreneurs entering the field. Say what you will about Missouri’s pot problem, but at least we have this going for us — our taxes on weed are incredibly low compared to other places. So much so, that people from Illinois now drive to Missouri for weed. Oh, how the tables have turned!

Our hometown pride is lit.
St. Louisans love all things St. Louis. All of us going absolutely wild for a soccer team in its first season is a great example of our civic pride. But an even better one is our 2023 Cardinal fandom. The team is historically bad. The worst we've fielded since the 1970s, we've been told. Still, fans have been pouring into Busch. According to ESPN, the pathetic Cardinals are still drawing the second biggest crowds in the MLB.

Our coffee is the best part of waking up.
For years now, St. Louis has been heralded as punching above its weight in the food scene, but don't sleep on this city's coffee game. Whether we are talking about a mainstay like Mokabe's on South Grand or a new entrant into the scene, like the Central West End's Quarrelsome Coffee, there is absolutely no reason for anyone in the Lou to settle for Maxwell House.

Our bike scene has legs.
Is St. Louis a safe city to ride a bike? Hmmm. Do St. Louisans ride bikes? Yes! There are monthly Ghost Rides, weekly rides hosted by Bici and the myriad other excursions organized out of local bike shops. The city could do a whole lot to make biking to work easier and safer for people. But in the meantime, biking is a great way to meet new people. And thank the cycling gods for St. Louis BWorks, raising a new generation of responsible cyclists.

Our art scene is outsized.
Inexpensive cities like St. Louis are naturally good for the arts. But we undeniably punch above our weight in this area. So undeniably so that Forbes called us America’s “most exciting emerging art district.” Need more proof, check out Counterpublic, a public art exhibit that got broad national attention. This one may not be secret for much longer.

We know how to hold a grudge
This might not be the healthiest trait, but hey it's a testament to our sticktoitiveness. After Stan Kroenke screwed the city over and deprived us of our NFL franchise, we went all in on the Battlehawks. Sure, some of that record breaking attendance had to do with a genuine love for the team. But let's be real, if the "Fuck Stan Kroenke" chants were any indication, thousands of people showed up to those games to spite the old, mustachioed villain who married into Walmart money.

The city is pretty affordable
St. Louis has been consistently recognized as one of the most affordable cities in the country to live in. Earlier this year, Travel and Leisure named St. Louis as one of the 10 most “beautiful and affordable” spots in the U.S. It may not seem like St. Louis is super cheap depending on the neighborhood, but, hey, at least we’re not paying 30 percent more than the national average on groceries like San Francisco and Oakland, California.

We claim a lot of firsts.
The first hot dog, the first ice cream cone, the first gas station, iced tea and x-ray. Thanks, 1904 World’s Fair! (Plus the CWE was home to the first cocktail party, cheers!)

St. Louis is a great place to make a movie.
L.A., let’s be frank, is awful. It’s expensive and hard to traverse with its insane traffic. But it’s the home of the movie industry. Still, some savvy directors with St. Louis connections have figured out that it’s cheap to make a movie here and that the people are welcoming and helpful. Plus, there’s lots of great local talent. Just look at Dan Steadman, Joseph Puleo or Jason Abrams for examples.

St. Louis-area trails rule.
Other cities might be next to mountains. That’s not us. But what we have in St. Louis is quick access to lush, verdant forests run through with top-notch trails. Many are a quick jaunt outside of the city, like Castlewood State Park or the Lewis and Clark loops. But there are also some serious trails for serious hikers and trail runners, like the 20-plus mile Berryman Trail in the Mark Twain National Forest.

Our scandals are weird.
In what other city would the mayor call a random redditor a twat? Where else would an alderman tell his FBI informant mechanic, "mark that motherfucker all the way up,' by which he — allegedly — meant to scam the insurance company for all its worth? Has any other major American city had an elected official pull a gun on a constituent on Facebook live? (Those last two were the same guy.) And all the above happened in just the past year. Welcome to the Lou, baby!

Even our graffiti is great.
Every year this city plays host to Paint Louis, one of, if not the, largest gathering of graffiti enthusiasts in the world. The event takes place downtown by the graffiti wall, which is an attraction worth checking out even when it isn't the site of a massive festival. Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to the newest tagger in town, the mighty Provel Cheese.

Our running community is world class.
Speaking of the great outdoors, St. Louis is a fantastic city to be in if you’re a runner — something more often associated with cities such as Eugene, Oregon, (Nike) or Flagstaff, Arizona, (altitude and good weather). But if you’re a serious runner or a casual one, St. Louis is a great place to train. There are many homegrown running shops with great racing teams, like Big River Running (fun story, cofounder Ben Rosario moved on to coach the Hoka Naz elite team that produced Olympic marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk) or Running Niche. There are fantastic races from GO! St. Louis, the St. Louis Track Club and the St. Louis Ultrarunners Group. Plus, we just have a ton of parks and fun neighborhoods to ramble along in.

The theater scene here is robust.
Move over New York, St. Louis is on this one. This town has a surprisingly large number of theater companies of all sizes producing innovative shows. There are so many, in fact, that we’re not going to list them all out. But take a look at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the St. Louis Black Rep, the Muny, Stray Dog Theater, Cherokee Street Theatre Company and so many more more. RFT Theater Critic Tina Farmer’s reviews are always a great place to start.

We have great musicians.
From Tina Turner and Chuck Berry, to Smino and Nelly, St. Louis has forged some fantastic musicians. We’re lucky enough to have a plethora of artists, like Lizzie Weber, who’ve stayed in the city and grace our ears at local venues.

Our disc golf courses are special.
Whether we're talking south city's Wilmore Park, North County's Endicott or Bluebird in West County, no matter where you are in the region, chain-slamming action is never far away.

We have world-class opera.
There are some great opera companies in town, from the Winter Opera St. Louis to Union Avenue Opera to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. (Some towns don’t even have one good opera company, folks!) Opera Theatre, in particular, is top notch, with its beautiful festival season only matched by its routinely staging commissioned works and world premieres from diverse creators, and fostering of up-and-coming singers. When the Met wanted to stage its first (yes, first) opera by a Black composer in 2021, it turned to Opera Theatre St. Louis' commissioned work from Terrence Blanchard, "Fire Shut Up in My Bones." Yet, few outside the area really know about it, and even many here aren’t aware of it.

Our farm to table cuisine takes the cake.
When you think of the best farm to table food in the nation, San Francisco might come to mind. Or New York City, with its robust restaurant scene. Yet, St. Louis has farm to table going on to an extent that we should be a tourist destination. The plethora of farmlands in Missouri might account for this but we also must give many nods to the head to the St. Louis-region chefs who are focused on using the freshest local ingredients and transforming them into delicious fare. Whether that can be found in places like Big Sky Cafe in Webster or Vicia in the Central West End or Farmhaus in Lindenwood Park, we have truly amazing food in this region.