Almost every year, I visit St. Louis on business and I've read several travel guide books about the city. This new guide by Brooke S. Foster is by far the best. Foster was formerly a writer for a local weekly newspaper that is the premier source of info on entertainment, dining and attractions in the area. She clearly brought a wealth of local knowledge and journalistic talent to the table when writing her book. It's definitely not your typical dry guide book. It's well written in a modern style that's concise, informative and entertaining to read. It covers not only the best known tourist attractions but also places, shops, restaurants and sights that only a well-traveled local - or someone who bought this book - would know about. I also think the organization, graphics and layout are extremely well done and much better than the usual travel guide. It's clear that a lot of thought and effort went into this handbook to St. Louis. I highly recommend it to visitors who want to get more out of their trip to St. Louis and to local residents who want to know more about their city. Moon St. Louis (Moon Handbooks)
I recently reviewed the Moon Kansas City (Moon Handbooks) guide and gave it four stars. I was about to give this book on St. Louis only three, but then realized that I was comparing thing unfairly. I used the Kansas City guide for a long weekend, but moved to St. Louis several months ago. Although no expert, my knowledge of the town gives me a broader base to nitpick little details in this volume. But trying to be objective, MOON ST. LOUIS provides a visitor with a number of useful tips for enjoying the city.
Of course everyone knows about the Arch. But not everyone knows about gems both large (the Cathedral Basilica and the Old Courthouse where Dred Scott originally went to trial) and small (Big Sleep Books). Like its Kansas City counterpart, MOON ST. LOUIS also provides useful tips on entire neighborhoods.
Nonetheless, even being objective, there are a few clunkers here. Hit Blueberry Hill for the incredible collection of pop culture memorabilia. It is a trip. But best burger? No. Try O'Connell's Pub. And although I live in Tower Grove South, a great neighborhood, the nearby Blackthorn's pizza is nothing to brag about. For breakfast, City Diner is appropriately included but The Mud House on hipster Cherokee Street is inappropriately not.
Those are mere disagreements in taste, however. Some exclusions are hard to excuse. One of the true delights in having moved to St. Louis is the discovery of a wonderful breakfast known as the slinger, and it is almost criminal neglect to outsiders to fail to mention it in the section on local cuisine. Further, in a beer town bursting with brewpubs, the author mentions only two. One of them, Schlafly's, is top dog among local brewers and justifiably so. The other, Morgan Street, is generally considered to be the worst of the lot. No mention is made of such gems as Amalgamated Brewing at The Stable, also on Cherokee Street, or any of the others. Yes, the St. Louis brewing scene is dynamic and ever changing, but then the author should at least have included info on certain websites such as stlhops or showmebeer to allow others to do research on places that may arise between editions of this book.
Of course, any one source on a city is going to create disagreement as to what to see and do. But for a short trip to St. Louis, or a starting point for things to do if you move here, you could do far worse than this Moon guide.
I just moved to St. Louis and in order to get acclimated to the city I decided to pick up a tour book. Little did I know how valuable that decision was! This tour book provides a wealth of information about St. Louis from well known attractions to things people who have been living here for a couple of years don't know about! Brooke Foster is a fantastic author and her descriptions of various places are some of the best reviews I have ever read (check out the review for the Complex, I am still blown away!). If you are new to the city or just visiting be sure to pick this gem up and hit the road exploring!'
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