46 Gay Jewish Liberal -- is this the city for me? (St. Louis: violent crime, neighborhoods)

[stlouislux]

I have an opportunity to move to St. Louis to advance my career, however , I am a bit hesitant.

I'm 46 single, Jewish, gay (though that definitely does not define who I am) and from searching the Web, am a bit hesitant about making the move. I currently live in Chicago -- lots to do, very gay friendly, and an active Jewish life.

Ideas, thoughts? Is it a livable place? I am not a barfly, but would enjoy professional organizations that cater to the GLBT crowd. There seems to be a dearth of Jewish life in St. Louis in general.........

Thanks in advance.

stlouislux

[inahandbasket]

Originally Posted by stlouislux

I have an opportunity to move to St. Louis to advance my career, however , I am a bit hesitant.

I'm 46 single, Jewish, gay (though that definitely does not define who I am) and from searching the Web, am a bit hesitant about making the move. I currently live in Chicago -- lots to do, very gay friendly, and an active Jewish life.

Ideas, thoughts? Is it a livable place? I am not a barfly, but would enjoy professional organizations that cater to the GLBT crowd. There seems to be a dearth of Jewish life in St. Louis in general.........

Thanks in advance.

stlouislux

OMG - you need to check out Central Reform Congregation - http://www.centralreform.org/home.html (broken link)

The rabbi, Susan Talvi, is a positive force of nature. She is one of the area's leaders for the recognition/acceptance/nurturing of the STL LGBT community. I'd say she is the area's leading straight ally for the STL LGBT community.

Why don't you contact CRC and ask them some questions? CRC seems to be the center of gay Jewish life in STL. CRC is located in the Central West End in the city which has a high population of the wealthier gay male St. Louisans.

STL certainly isn't Chicago. It's a very Catholic city, however, just for example, I live in one of the western suburbs off one of the main streets that has practically in a row a Catholic church, a Muslim mosque and a Hindu temple.

Best wishes,

inahandbasket

[anduarto]

You'll do fine in St. Louis. If you're moving there to take advantage of a great career opportunity, you'll do even better. While it's mildly conservative compared to the big metros of the east and west coasts, it's a genrally tolerant city. Live and let live tends to be the motto.

St. Louis, much to many people's surprise, has a fairly large Jewish population. This is particularly true in the area known as the "Central Corridor" which starts downtown and runs pretty much in a straight swath westward through the city and out into the western suburbs. Generally speaking, the Central Corridor tends to contain the most progressive, liberal, intellectul and tolerant areas of the STL metro.

As a previous writer mentioned, the Central West End is a lovely neighborhood in this "corridor". CWE has had a strong gay presence for a long time. It's main drag, Euclid Ave. is charming and sophisticated. This area would top on my list if I were considering returning to St. Lou.

Continuing west, Clayton, University City, are near, urban suburbs that have a significant population of Jewish people. Washington University is a strong influence in the area. Both municipalities tend to be pretty liberal. In fact, University City or CWE might be my picks for the most liberal spots in town.

If a more suburban area is your preference, continue west. Creve Coeur also has a large Jewish presence and, in recent years has been morphing into a fairly interesting area in it's own right. It's suburban but there's stuff going on. Gay presence here isn't nearly as visible, but it's certainly not an intolerant spot.

Soulard and Lafayette Square are old, historic neighborhoods in South St. Louis. They're not in the central corridor and I can't say I've noticed a lot of jewish influence there, but they - especially Soulard - are very gay friendlly and progressive. Tons of music, lots of sweet little cafe's. They're different from CWE but just as beautiful in their own way. Soulard vies with CWE as my favorite neighborhood.

Downtown has also started taking off. I don't know as much about it, but it sounds exciting. I'd check it out. Does anyone have gay or jewish info on downtown?

As for the catholic thing, don't let it intimidate you. I grew up Catholic in St. Louis. My observation as a visiting adult is that the Catholic influence in the metro is a little over-blown. Yes, there are a lot of us, but we don't have nearly the clout we like to think we have. There are many christian denominations, a healthy population of jews and, especially in the western suburbs, a fair number of ethnicities that come from outside the judeo-christian tradition. God willing, you'll also come across a decent number of atheists.

Webster Groves and Kirkwood are also very nice, older suburbs a little to the near south. They've always struck me as tolerant to liberal. Webster college has a strong influence there.

There are also burgeoning gay neighborhoods around Tower Grove park,
the Manchester Strip and Hampton-Chippewa but I know less about them.

So in summary my picks:

Top Jewish areas: University City (esp around the Delmar Loop), Clayton,
Creve Coeur and West County in general and, to a slightly lesser degree, the Central West End.

Top Gay friendly spots: Central West End, Soulard, Tower Grove

Top Gay-Jewish cross-section: Central West End (more gay), U City (more jewish)

Move there. Enjoy. It's a lovely city.

[stlouislux]

Would welcome more feedback from others.......thanks!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

From what I hear of St. Louis, there shouldn't be any problem. I don't live there, though. The posts above I'm sure are more informative than anything I could offer you, though.

If you're worried about violence, I would just suggest that stay out of a neighborhood that looks rundown or that you're unfamiliar with. If you really want/need to visit the neighborhood I would suggest asking some St. Louisans in person or here about it ahead of time if possible, to gauge its reputation. Shady neighborhoods may have more violent crimes, although not necessarily hate crimes. Sometimes crimes are just random.

And just use common sense. Stay out of an unfamiliar area, if you're on the social scene try to be with other people you know, and don't take your eyes off your drink.

Sorry, all I can give you is general advice, but from what I understand you'll be fine. The posts above seem more informative than my own, though.

http://www.stltoday.com/ may be helpful. You can probably search the newspaper (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)'s site regarding gay life. You could also ask on the forum. They could probably help you as well.

I really hope everything goes well for you.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by stlouislux

I have an opportunity to move to St. Louis to advance my career, however , I am a bit hesitant.

I'm 46 single, Jewish, gay (though that definitely does not define who I am) and from searching the Web, am a bit hesitant about making the move. I currently live in Chicago -- lots to do, very gay friendly, and an active Jewish life.

Ideas, thoughts? Is it a livable place? I am not a barfly, but would enjoy professional organizations that cater to the GLBT crowd. There seems to be a dearth of Jewish life in St. Louis in general.........

Thanks in advance.

stlouislux

You will do just fine in St. Louis. While the Jewish population isn't that of Chicago's North Shore, there is an active and sizeable Jewish population in St. Louis. St. Louis is very liveable, tolerant, moderate, plenty of liberal areas for you.

I have some very active Jewish friends in St. Louis.(if you are interested in some names) Some of the previous posts have been helpful for you.

Washington University has a sizeable Jewish population as was mentioned.

Jewish population is blended, but has some sizeable locations in U. City, Clayton, Ladue and Creve Coeur to name a few. Central and West have higher Jewish populations in the burbs than the other burbs.

The city is very liberal and tolerant. You would do just fine.

St. Louis is a nice medium sized metro.

Being single, urban life is something I would recommend more for your living situation. Several areas have already been mentioned.(generally downtown, Central West End, Tower Grove, and others in the city) If you are not up for urban life try some of the above burbs.

Downtown and the city is on the upswing, with plenty of urban decay mixed in....St. Louis is a city of neighborhoods, similar to Chicago in that fashion. Example....Instead of 50 Theater shows a night, you will have a smaller number of options for example, but you will still have good options. Just have to know where to go and look, but they exist.

Having lived in both St. Louis and Chicago, I can certainly account for both places. You will do fine in St. Louis.

[slengel]

i'm jewish so i can vouch for st louis. it's a great place to be jewish. there are over 60,000 jews in a metro of 2.8 million and the jewish community is vocal and vibrant and visible and liberal. i also have a lot of gay friends who love it here. st louis is easy. it has it all without the headaches or the pretenses.

[Bobster]

I'm not Jewish or Gay, but have friends who are both....god, I wish I had paid more attention in English class....that is, I have friends who are gay and I have friends who are Jewish...none that are both, that I know of...

Anyway, St. Louis is a VERY large city...the population is over 2.5 million people and while it isn't as diverse as some of the larger cities, it does pretty much have something for everybody. As several people above have stated, you'll do fine!

[Kanick]

Chesterfield has a strong Jewish population as well. I went to Parkway Central High School and when I went away to college I was shocked to find out that "everyone" in St. Louis was actually Catholic. I thought it was at least 50% Jewish. True story.

Chesterfield/Creve Coeur probably doesn't have the gay population that you are looking for though.

[Ftball_Mom]

Originally Posted by Kanick

Chesterfield has a strong Jewish population as well. I went to Parkway Central High School and when I went away to college I was shocked to find out that "everyone" in St. Louis was actually Catholic. I thought it was at least 50% Jewish. True story.

That's probably because you went to a public school. I'd imagine that not many Catholic kids went to public schools.

In 2000, there were 645,000 Catholics in the St. Louis metro area. While there were only 54,000 Jewish people. So the two groups don't even compare in terms of population. However, the Jewish population is growing, while the Catholic population is shrinking.

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