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St. Louis Attractions
Bus Tours
Gray Line, 312 W. Morris, East St. Louis, Ill., provides lecture bus tours about the city's history and major points of interest. Tours lasting 4 and 5 hours are available. Five-hour tour $42; ages 2-14, $21. Four-hour tour $39; ages 2-14, $19. (314) 241-1224.
Driving Tours
"Day Tours from St. Louis," a 44-page booklet detailing 10 trips within a day's drive, and a St. Louis points of interest map are available to AAA/CAA members free at any AAA service office in the St. Louis area.
Sports and Recreation
The 2005 season marked the beloved St. Louis Cardinals' 114th year as a baseball franchise and also their final year playing at venerable Busch Stadium, which opened in 1966. Diehard fans had two big reasons to celebrate in 2006: The new Busch Stadium opened on schedule, and the Cardinals won the World Series--their first in 24 years--on the home field against the Detroit Tigers.
The improved design of the ballpark offers wider concourses, elevators and escalators between levels and excellent spectator sightlines, as well as dramatic views of downtown and the Gateway Arch. For schedule and ticket information phone (314) 345-9600.
Minor league baseball fun is offered by the Frontier League Western Division's River City Rascals at the Ozzie Smith Sports Complex in O'Fallon, about 35 miles west of downtown St. Louis; phone (636) 240-2287.
The St. Louis Rams play football at the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center; phone (314) 982-7267. The arena football season runs from March through June for the Show-Me Believers at St. Charles Family Arena; phone (636) 896-4200.
The St. Louis Blues professional hockey team, (314) 622-2500, takes to the ice October through April at the Savvis Center, 14th and Clark streets. The St. Charles Family Arena is the home of the Missouri River Otters minor-league hockey team as well as the St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer team; phone (636) 896-4200. The St. Louis Aces, (314) 647-2237, play team tennis in July at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.
Gateway International Raceway in nearby Madison, Ill., offers marquee motorsports events, including NHRA National, Indy Car Championship, stock and sports car events; phone (618) 482-2400.
Fairmont Park in nearby Collinsville, Ill., offers Thoroughbred racing mid-March through October; phone (618) 345-4300.
Note: Policies concerning admittance of children to pari-mutuel betting facilities vary. Phone for information.
There are many golf courses throughout the area, including a public course at Ruth Park, 8211 Groby Rd., and three public courses at Forest Park.
Horseback riding is one of many recreational activities available at A.P. Greensfelder Park, north of I-44 on Allenton Road in nearby Pacific. The Wayne C. Kennedy Recreation Complex, on Wells Road, and Edgar M. Queeny Park, between Mason and Weidmann roads, offer ice skating, tennis and swimming. Ice skating and roller skating are popular at the Steinberg Memorial Skating Rink in Forest Park.
Shopping
St. Louis began as a marketplace; furs and food were exchanged for goods from the East and Europe. The embodiment of this role was the city's Union Station, a continental crossroads of mammoth proportions which catered to some 300 trains and tens of thousands of passengers daily.
Passengers no longer throng the vaulted Grand Hall, and trains no longer thunder in the shed. Instead, specialty stores, festive markets and a hotel fill this cavernous space and have restored Union Station as a downtown landmark.
St. Louis also offers such areas as the Central West End's Euclid and McPherson streets. This fashionable neighborhood of townhouses and tree-lined avenues provides a pleasant backdrop for browsing and strolling among a variety of shops and boutiques that sell clothing, antiques and other items. Five minutes south, Cherokee Street Antique Row offers six blocks of antiques and collectibles.
Just west of the city limits at the intersection of I-64 and Brentwood Boulevard is the Saint Louis Galleria; it has 165 stores, including anchors Dillard's and Macy's. Another distinctive mall is West Port Plaza, I-270 and Page Avenue, housing shops that collectively evoke an alpine setting.
Other malls around the city's perimeter are Chesterfield, I-64 and Clarkson Road; Crestwood, Watson and Sappington roads; Jamestown, N. Lindbergh and Old Jamestown Road; Northwest, N. Lindbergh and St. Charles Rock Road; Plaza Frontenac, Lindbergh Boulevard and Clayton Road; South County, S. Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry roads; and West County, I-270 and Manchester Road. Bargain hunters head for St. Louis Mills, SR 370 and St. Louis Mills Boulevard, which features some 200 manufacturers' outlets and specialty retailers, as well as dining and entertainment venues.
Shopping on a smaller scale in nearby Florissant and St. Charles offers historic charm. A couple of craft and gift shops are in the John B. Myers House & Barn, an 1860s Palladian-style house at 180 Dunn Rd. in Florissant. In St. Charles, antiques and crafts fill the shops along Main Street.
For outdoor enthusiasts, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, 1365 S. 5th St. in St. Charles, features an indoor waterfall and game fish aquarium, wildlife exhibits and sporting demonstrations.
Performing Arts
The St. Louis Symphony, founded in 1880 and one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the nation, performs in Powell Symphony Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd., from mid-September to mid-May and presents several free outdoor concerts during the summer. The symphony also presents Kinder Koncerts, geared to ages 5 through 8, and Young People's Concerts for ages 9 and up; phone (314) 534-1700 for ticket and schedule information. The acoustically renowned Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Ave., presents a variety of concerts; phone (314) 533-9900.
The Muny in Forest Park is a 11,000-seat outdoor amphitheater featuring 7 weeks of Broadway roadshows during the summer. About 1,500 free seats at the top of the house are available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 7 p.m.; phone (314) 534-1111. Broadway hits also are performed at the restored 1929 Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd. A twin to the Detroit Fox Theatre, the Fox also presents concerts and headlining entertainers in a lavish setting; phone (314) 534-1678.
The UMB Bank Amphitheater is a 20,000-seat venue offering concerts April through September; phone (314) 298-9944.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, 130 Edgar Rd., is the home of St. Louis' regional equity theater as well as the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts; phone (314) 968-4925.
Dance St. Louis regularly gives performances September through April at the Fox Theatre; phone (314) 534-5000. Dance, music and drama are presented at the Edison Theatre on the campus of Washington University; phone (314) 935-6543. Stages St. Louis offers musical theater productions June through October at the Robert G. Reim Theatre at Kirkwood Civic Center; phone (314) 821-2407.
The St. Louis Black Repertory Company offers theater and dance presentations January through June in the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Sq.; phone (314) 534-3807. Also in the Grandel, the Off-Broadway On Grand Cabaret features Broadway cabaret performers September through December; phone (314) 534-1111.
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