On the western bank of the Mississippi River, St. Louis has been a destination for creatives at least since the 1904 World’s Fair, held there on the 100-year anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. The same year, St. Louis hosted the Summer Olympics.

St. Louis was founded in 1764 as a fur trading post on land once inhabited by Native Americans known as the “mound builders.” Steamboats and railways helped St. Louis to grow as a commercial hub, and nineteenth-century migrants provisioned wagons there before embarking on the Oregon, Santa Fe, or California Trails. The iconic Gateway Arch (est. 1965) commemorates the historic role of St. Louis in westward U.S. expansion.

Many CreativeFuture staff members have enjoyed personal introductions to St. Louis, because we have friends and family from the area! (Names have been redacted to protect the innocent from a possibly inconvenient association with us hell raisers.)

Here are some of the people and places that make St. Louis so amazing!

Forest Park (est. 1876)

So many of the city’s cultural institutions are located in Forest Park that we could write an entire roundup on the beloved downtown green space. At 1300 acres, Forest Park is over 50% larger than New York City’s Central Park (843 acres). And while St. Louis has a population of around 300,000, Forest Park welcomes 12 million people every year. You definitely want to be in that number, as Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) might have sung when he was passing by while working on a Mississippi riverboat, because the park has so many wonderful – and free – attractions.

To mention just a few: the St. Louis Art Museum (est. 1879) has ongoing or upcoming exhibits on gorgeous pre-WWII French automobiles, provocative multimedia works by indigenous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940-2025), and the short film Pendulum by Haitian Canadian artist Manuel Mathieu. The St. Louis Zoo (est. 1913) added twin polar bears in March. Finally, the  Missouri History Museum (est. 1913) has long-term exhibits on the 1904 World’s Fair and the music of St. Louis. Although the city has 110 parks to choose from, you cannot fail to find something to interest you in Forest Park.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre (est. 1929)

When the Fabulous Fox opened in the Roaring Twenties, just 50 cents could buy entry to “St. Louis’ largest and most magnificent temple of amusement.” It was closed due to financial difficulties between 1971-1982, but philanthropist Mary Strauss oversaw an ambitious $2 million restoration project, which involved meticulously reweaving a 7,300-yard elephant rug, reupholstering 4,500 seats, and refurbishing a 2,000-pound chandelier. In 2023, Strauss announced that the theatre had been saved again, shortly before a 99-year joint lease on its land could expire.

Thanks to Strauss and other benefactors, the sumptuous theatre puts on 200 Broadway musicals, comedy shows, concerts, or other events per year. One exciting show is left in the 2024-2025 Broadway Season: & Juliet, a fun-filled Romeo and Juliet sequel by David West Read, one of the Emmy®-winning filmmakers behind Schitt’s Creek. The 2025-2026 season kicks off this October with The Life of Pi. If you stop by the Fox on a Saturday morning, you can take a 90-minute tour of the truly fabulous theatre, where you can review its star-studded history in Peacock Alley and learn about its organist and comedic genius, Stan Kann (1924-2008).

St. Louis International Film Festival (est. 1992)

Every year, filmmakers from around the world gather in St. Louis to watch and celebrate hundreds of new films. Local film critics make up the juries for the Joe Pollack and Joe Williams Awards, named after dearly missed writers from St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Notable venues for festival screenings include the historic Hi-Pointe Theatre (est. 1922) and Arkadin Cinema & Bar, an indie “microcinema” that seats just 50 people and hosts a monthly game called Drinkolas Cage.

Several local filmmakers were featured at the 33rd festival in November 2024. Mike Gualdoni’s documentary Concrete Jungle Gym tells the story of Bob Cassilly, founder of City Museum (see below). Meg Halski’s Sylvie Who? follows a young woman who returns to St. Louis after ending her marriage. Finally, Andy Compton screened two films: US + ONE illustrates the wild world of online dating, and Phantasmic shows the consequences of navigating life without anxiety meds. But can you guess which one is a horror film and which one is a comedy?

City Museum (est. 1997)

Designed by Bob Cassilly and curated by Rick Erwin since 2006, City Museum is “an ever-evolving, always-thrilling, artist-built playground with installations you can slide down, crawl under, jump over,” and so on. Major attractions include a 5-Story Spiral Slide, the Spider Cave, MonstroCity, a treehouse, and the World’s Largest Pencil. It’s a No. 2, of course!

In April 2025, visitors at City Museum set the Guinness World Record for most people in banana hats. In a similar stunt last year, 355 people assembled to put underwear on their heads. No, it was NOT like your fraternity’s hazing ritual. This was for science! The same might be said of the museum’s collection of objects recovered from outhouses. But don’t worry – even if you encounter something unusual, you will always have good, clean fun while sparking your imagination at City Museum.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation (est. 2001)

After the Gateway Arch by Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), the best known architectural marvel in St. Louis is probably the Pulitzer Arts Foundation by Tadao Ando (b. 1941), a Pritzker Prize-winning architect who recently told Vanity Fair, “One can create architecture simply by pursuing light.” Ando was hired to design the museum by philanthropist Emily Rauh Pulitzer, wife of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. She also commissioned art by Richard Serra (1938-2024) and Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015). Serra contributed Joe, a large metal spiral sculpture meant to be walked through, and Kelly contributed Blue Black, a two-toned modernist painting that adorns the Main Gallery.

Besides those site-specific works from the permanent collection, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation hosts a series of changing exhibits. Until July 27, 2025, you can view Unruly Objects, a retrospective on four decades of work by Veronica Ryan (b. 1956). You can also enjoy I’m right here with you, a new collection of botanical sketches by Jess T. Dugan (b. 1986). While art on display at the Pulitzer changes periodically, the cost of admission is always the same – free!

Bowood Garden + Supply (est. 2006)

Much as City Museum was once a shoe factory, this “urban oasis” was once an automotive warehouse. After buying and renovating the building, the Bowoods reopened it to sell plants from their family farm, located about 80 miles upriver from St. Louis. Over time, the Bowoods renovated other nearby buildings, so that they now operate several wonderful businesses on Olive Street near Walton Avenue (see map), just a mile northeast of Forest Park.

The store sells a variety of indoor and outdoor plants, including edible ones. If you would rather enjoy professional cooking than your own, walk down Olive Street to dine at Bowood by Niche (est. 2021), a restaurant open for breakfast and lunch. Across the street, you can shop for home goods at Holliday (est. 2018), named after the Bowoods’ great grandmother. Finally, The Studio offers classes on not only gardening but also oil painting, book binding, and many other creative subjects. Sign up for a class to learn from – and support – a local artist!

Soulard Art Gallery (est. 2007)

At Soulard Art Gallery, the Resident Artists pitch in to run a series of exhibitions for the community. Rich Brooks, who makes gorgeous pointillist paintings, is the gallery’s director. Jay Thompson, known for whimsical anthropomorphic cat portraits, serves as chief marketer and graphic designer. Tonetta Frederickson, painter of psychedelic scenes, keeps track of supplies and welcomes visitors to exhibits on opening night. Another key person to meet is Claudia Ruth Burris, a retired photojournalist and active ceramics artist. She runs the bar!

The Resident Artists take turns curating themed exhibits, soliciting work from local artists and recognizing their submissions with awards. Currently on display (until May 9, 2025) is Dreamscapes: The Art of Surrealism. Top prize went to Gary Mifflin for the remarkable wooden sculpture August Heat, which looks like a melting desk lamp. You can visit Soulard Art Gallery at varying hours on Thursday-Sunday. And if you are in the neighborhood during January or February, you might also enjoy checking out events for Soulard Mardi Gras.

MyrtleHaus Books & Publishing (est. 2023)

MyrtleHaus began in June 2023 as a literary and artistic magazine, but recently, the owner, Kristin J. Thompson, opened a used bookstore at 2604 Cherokee Street. The grand opening celebration took place on December 15, 2024, as you can see on the store’s Instagram. A photographer and published poet, Thompson was interviewed about her new store in March 2025 for St. Louis Magazine. Asked about the community she hopes to serve, Thompson explained that small businesses “don’t have to cater to hateful people in order to be successful.”

As you will see immediately in pictures of the store, Thompson’s aesthetic is part goth, part Victorian steampunk. The store has a parlor pump organ, fireplace, inhouse café, and table of banned books. As far as we can tell, the only thing missing is an animal companion. We can picture a black cat or pair of talkative parakeets. And we wonder what we might teach them to say while sitting in that comfortable armchair, perusing works of subversive literature and savoring an extra-foamy latte.

That’s our roundup! We hope it gave you many reasons to visit St. Louis, even if you aren’t lucky enough to have family there.

We’ll be back soon with another – unless we’re playing Batman in the black 1937 Figoni et Falaschi on display at the St. Louis Museum (Why do all our dreams lead to grand theft auto?), reenacting the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet at the Fabulous Fox Theatre (“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? / It is CreativeFuture, like the dawn.”), or taking painting classes at Bowood so that we can submit a piece to Soulard Art Gallery for this year’s Art of Darkness competition. (We’re already known for our sharp tongues. It’s time to unleash our wicked imaginations in NEW forms!)

Until next time, find some creativity wherever you can. Stay safe, and be well. #StandCreative