United States Destinations

St. Louis, Missouri: baseball, brew and blues

By Toni Dabbs

Photo by Toni Dabbs

On previous visits to St. Louis, Missouri, I had witnessed the "Sea of Red" flowing into the old Busch Stadium. This time, wearing my own Cardinals’ colour shirt, I joined the river of red-clad baseball fans flooding the new stadium of the same name, which opened April 10, 2006.

The stadium, situated on the southern edge of downtown and overlapping part of the site of its predecessor, is a beauty. Earlier in the day, my companions and I had joined a public tour of the facility, taking in behind-the-scenes views from the press box to the dugout. The tour group wandered the spacious concourses of the red brick structure, also visiting party rooms and premium restaurants.

Now, along with about 40,000 other fans, we settled into our seats and prepared to enjoy the great American pastime. It was a good way to end an all-too-short but certainly sweet stay in St. Louis.

One might think we went cuckoo for the Cardinals on this trip, but we considered some of our choices to be research for the game.

For example, our first sightseeing stop was the city’s signature steel Gateway Arch, where we took a tram ride 630 feet to the top for an overview of downtown. That perspective made it clear how Busch Stadium fit into the picture, along with the Edward Jones Dome where the National Football League Rams play and the Savvis Center where the National Hockey League Blues play.

We also went to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, which shares a building with the International Bowling Museum across the street from the ballpark. The galleries depict a century of baseball history through artifacts, mementos, pennants and trophies.

Models of the city’s two previous major league stadiums are displayed, as are virtually all versions of the Cardinals uniforms. Special sections are devoted to the city’s Negro leagues, the old American League St. Louis Browns, and Stan "The Man" Musial’s personal collection.

Okay. It might have been a bit out of the way to drive to The Hill, a quaint part of St. Louis settled by Italian immigrants in the 1890s, but we wanted to see the 5400 block of Elizabeth Avenue, where Lawrence "Yogi" Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up. Berra’s sister still resides in the family home at 5447.

And maybe taking rooms in the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark with views into Busch Stadium was a little over the top, but we had to stay somewhere, and the hotel is conveniently located. In fact, it’s just a one-block walk from Mike Shannon’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant, where we ate one night. A former Cardinal, Shannon has filled his establishment with baseball memorabilia.

Busch Stadium bears that name not just because beer and baseball go together so well, but because the Anheuser-Busch company was founded in St. Louis in the 1860s, and its headquarters are still there. So one afternoon, we headed out to the brewery for a free tour and tasting.

The tour group first visited the century-old stained glass and brass decorated Clydesdale stable for a close encounter with some of the huge horses. We then walked through the attractively landscaped grounds, stopping at several key buildings. My favorite was the Brew House, its late 19th century elegance evident in its copper kettles, wall murals, ornate wrought iron railings and hop vine chandeliers.

The tour concluded in the tasting room, where we were invited to sample our favorite Anheuser-Busch brews or one of the company’s newest products. We differed in our opinions on the mango-flavoured beer being test marketed.

Two days during our stay, we lunched at microbreweries, giving us the chance to also try some of the citys handcrafted beers.

Schlafly Tap Room, located downtown in a renovated complex originally built in 1904, was the first brewpub in Missouri when it opened in 1991. Although it has a varied menu, we favored the German style dishes and matched them with fresh unfiltered Hefeweizen (wheat ale) and Pilsner.

Morgan Street Brewery, also downtown, occupies an 1890 structure bounded by cobblestone streets highly polished by more than 200 years of commerce. The weather was fine, so we chose to sit at tree-shaded sidewalk tables, washing down our pizzas and burgers with California-style Steam Lager.

Actually, we visited a third microbrewery: Fitz’s, which has produced and bottled its own root beer since 1947. The brewery and soda fountain-style restaurant now is located in the converted 1930s Delmar Bank Building situated on The Loop, a revitalized stretch of Delmar Boulevard between Kingsland and Eastgate, named for the old streetcar turnaround.

We kept getting sidetracked by Fitz’s floats, refurbished theaters, specialty shops and art galleries, but we had come to see the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The walk was started in 1988 by Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill, a popular combination bar/restaurant/nightclub where the legendary Chuck Berry performs once a month.

To date, 122 noteworthy St. Louisans have been commemorated with brass stars and biographical plaques set into the sidewalk. We found stars honoring baseballs James "Cool Papa" Bell, Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson and Ozzie Smith and music’s Scott Joplin, Albert King, Clark Terry and Tina Turner.

As we approached Blueberry Hill, we ran into Joe Edwards, who took us inside and showed us around. The interior is a showcase for Edwards’ eclectic collection of pop culture paraphernalia including bobbleheads, lunch boxes, neon signs, sheet music, record jackets and vintage postcards.

In addition to Berry’s monthly gig, Blueberry Hill hosts national touring bands and the top St. Louis bands, playing pop, rock, jazz, reggae and, of course, the blues.

The city has been associated with the latter musical genre since 1914, when "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy published what has become one of the world’s most recorded songs, The St. Louis Blues. And on any given night, blues bands may be heard at clubs all around town.

We went to BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups one night, where local and national bands usually play from 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Meals are served until Midnight and drinks until 3 a.m. BB’s mid-1800s building, once a brothel, is just a few blocks south of Busch Stadium.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals didn’t win the game we attended. Although the faithful fans were disappointed, they remained upbeat and still seemed to have a good time. I know I did.

If You Go

International Bowling Museum (111 Stadium Plaza Drive, 314-231-6340, www.bowlingmuseum.com) displays items related to 5,000 years of bowling history. Four frames of bowling are included with admission.

Scott Joplin House (2658 Delmar Boulevard, 800-334-6946 or 314-340-5790) is a State Historic Site and a National Historic Landmark. Daily tours of the ragtime composers home are available.

Missouri History Museum (Forest Park, 314-746-4599) hosts travelling exhibitions, organizes its own special exhibitions, and includes several permanent exhibitions. Among them are Spirit, focusing on St. Louis sports, with memorabilia from various teams, and Reflections, celebrating the city’s music scene, with stations for listening to recordings by St. Louis artists.

Union Station (1820 Market Street, 314-421-6655) was once the world’s largest train station. Before air travel became common, it was where fans came to cheer on the Browns of the American League and the Cardinals of the National League as they left on road trips. Now, it’s a shopping center with more than 85 stores and restaurants plus a small museum honoring its past.

Dierdorf and Hart’s (701 Market Street, 314-421-1772) is a New York-style steakhouse owned by former football personalities Dan Dierdorf and Jim Hart. Seafood also is a specialty.