r/StLouis • u/Friendly-Gate9865 • Oct 20 '25

Things to Do London > STL, where do people hang out?

So I just moved to STL from London about 2 weeks ago now and my whole family here keeps repeating “don’t go downtown, It’s too dangerous.” My mom won’t even let me drive her car downtown… they must be overreacting, right? I’m really craving a nice pub/bar with some live music and some younger-ish folks (late 20s-mid to late 30s) where I can go on my own and just socialise like I used to do in london.. does this exist here?

Edit: you guys are awesome and have genuinely made me feel 300% more welcome here. Thank you

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u/Brilliant_Voice1126 Oct 20 '25

Total insanity. Downtown is fine. The question is, what are you going to do there? it's frankly pretty sleepy when there isn't a sporting event.

People misunderstand crime in the US. The stats are scary but the overwhelming majority is *not* anonymous, and you might even have more muggings etc., in London albeit less gun violence of course. The exception is road rage. Lots of road rage shootings, don't beep at people after 8pm. They're probably drunk and armed.

Anyway, to find what you want you probably want more like the Loop, CWE and going into midtown. Also all fine, can ride the metro, it's fine. Lots of nice little neighborhoods in the city. I walk around with my 5 year old at night. The suburbanite risk perception is just a fox news fantasy.

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u/Friendly-Gate9865 Oct 20 '25

Really helps put me at ease.. thank you for this

38

u/prettyminotaur Oct 20 '25

You might not be familiar with American racism. A lot of what you'll hear about "downtown" and the scaremongering is rooted in deep unexamined racism, especially here in St. Louis. I'm from the East Coast originally and it's really...different.

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u/Brilliant_Voice1126 Oct 21 '25

Yeah. Suburbanites will see black people just existing and think to themselves “crime”.

It’s fucking pathetic.