St. Louis Wet Shavers Meetup on Saturday, June 10

vtmax and wyze0ne, it appears as if both of you are in on the best rituals to combine with bathing in a sauna! (I used to have long hair, and it actually froze into icicles when I dipped into a semi-frozen lake one winter. Back into the sauna I went…)

hawns, sorry for hijacking the thread! It seems the meet-up went well and good times were had. Hopefully there will be more of its kind in the future.

I'm not worried about it! It's like having a secondary meetup in this thread, standing around, shooting the breeze.

And it was a really great event, thank you. Lots of people gave a lot of help, and I think next year will be even better

vtmax and wyze0ne, it appears as if both of you are in on the best rituals to combine with bathing in a sauna! (I used to have long hair, and it actually froze into icicles when I dipped into a semi-frozen lake one winter. Back into the sauna I went…)

hawns, sorry for hijacking the thread! It seems the meet-up went well and good times were had. Hopefully there will be more of its kind in the future.

I'm not worried about it! It's like having a secondary meetup in this thread, standing around, shooting the breeze.

And it was a really great event, thank you. Lots of people gave a lot of help, and I think next year will be even better

Shawn, it really was great. It was interesting and fun and a great way to mellow out. Thanks for putting this together.

I'm always a little perplexed by people praising Forest Park.  Of course I'm from here and drive through that park every morning and afternoon nearly. I'm sure it appears differently to me than it does a first time visitor.  A few weeks back I did a job at the CWE Metro station.  We were there for a couple weeks.  Looking around you it looks pretty nice, but if you're there for any length of time and watch the people that get on and off the train you definitely will get a different perspective of the place.  And indeed St. Louis is miserable in July and August.

PSA-  For anyone planning to visit STL in the future, STAY OFF THE METRO LINK.  Do yourself a favor and just take a cab.


Anyway, sorry I missed the big meet-up but unfortunately my house and all my belongings became one with the river a few months ago and I am currently living in my friend's basement until my house can be made habitable again.  It sounds like you guys had fun and it's pretty cool that some people made long trips out to meet everyone.

Granted, I was an out of town visitor and you live and work in the area but for me Metrolink was a lifesaver.  When I landed at Lambert Field, the Metro stop was steps from the terminal.  Twenty-five to thirty minutes later I was downtown and only a block or two from my hotel.  This was in air-conditioned comfort and all for the princely sum of a $2.00 senior fare.  A taxi, with a tip, would have been, I am led to believe, $35-40.  I returned to the airport, four days later, the same way and it was just as easy.  On the day of the meet-up, I was on the Metro from downtown (Convention Center) to Central West End where my friend picked me up and we drove over to Tower Grove Park and the meet-up.  The next day, I made the same trip but this time we headed to the Botanical Gardens.  The day after that, after going up to the Gateway Arch, I took the Metro across the Mississippi River to the first stop on the other side (Riverfront East) where a short walk past a casino and grain elevator took me to a little park with an overlook that looked back upon downtown St. Louis and the Arch.  Later that day, I was back on the Metro to the Forest Park station.  A short one block walk and I was in the park and the Missouri History Museum.  I returned to my downtown hotel on the Metro.  The worst part of my four day stay was leaving Metrolink and stepping into that ungodly St. Louis heat.  If I spent a total of even $15 on Metrolink fares, it still came out to less than half of what one taxi ride from the airport to my hotel would have been.  The trains were clean, comfortable, and fast.  They helped make my stay in St. Louis that much better.  Again, though, I admit that I am seeing this as an outsider and not a day to day rider so my perspective may be different.

I'm always a little perplexed by people praising Forest Park.  Of course I'm from here and drive through that park every morning and afternoon nearly. I'm sure it appears differently to me than it does a first time visitor.  A few weeks back I did a job at the CWE Metro station.  We were there for a couple weeks.  Looking around you it looks pretty nice, but if you're there for any length of time and watch the people that get on and off the train you definitely will get a different perspective of the place.  And indeed St. Louis is miserable in July and August.

PSA-  For anyone planning to visit STL in the future, STAY OFF THE METRO LINK.  Do yourself a favor and just take a cab.


Anyway, sorry I missed the big meet-up but unfortunately my house and all my belongings became one with the river a few months ago and I am currently living in my friend's basement until my house can be made habitable again.  It sounds like you guys had fun and it's pretty cool that some people made long trips out to meet everyone.

Granted, I was an out of town visitor and you live and work in the area but for me Metrolink was a lifesaver.  When I landed at Lambert Field, the Metro stop was steps from the terminal.  Twenty-five to thirty minutes later I was downtown and only a block or two from my hotel.  This was in air-conditioned comfort and all for the princely sum of a $2.00 senior fare.  A taxi, with a tip, would have been, I am led to believe, $35-40.  I returned to the airport, four days later, the same way and it was just as easy.  On the day of the meet-up, I was on the Metro from downtown (Convention Center) to Central West End where my friend picked me up and we drove over to Tower Grove Park and the meet-up.  The next day, I made the same trip but this time we headed to the Botanical Gardens.  The day after that, after going up to the Gateway Arch, I took the Metro across the Mississippi River to the first stop on the other side (Riverfront East) where a short walk past a casino and grain elevator took me to a little park with an overlook that looked back upon downtown St. Louis and the Arch.  Later that day, I was back on the Metro to the Forest Park station.  A short one block walk and I was in the park and the Missouri History Museum.  I returned to my downtown hotel on the Metro.  The worst part of my four day stay was leaving Metrolink and stepping into that ungodly St. Louis heat.  If I spent a total of even $15 on Metrolink fares, it still came out to less than half of what one taxi ride from the airport to my hotel would have been.  The trains were clean, comfortable, and fast.  They helped make my stay in St. Louis that much better.  Again, though, I admit that I am seeing this as an outsider and not a day to day rider so my perspective may be different.

Well, I for sure am glad you had such a pleasant experience.   A few of the things you experienced ( east side of the river, the metrolink, etc.) are things that not everyone has a pleasant experience with.  About once a month someone gets shot on the Metrolink.  In broad daylight people get robbed and shot downtown.  There is nothing on the east side of the river that I need to see.  And for someone unfamiliar it is easy enough to wander a block too far, if you know what I mean.

The majority of the time people experience these things with no problems.  Unfortunately it is all too common that someone doesn't.  STL is a shithole really.  My opinion may be tainted due to the fact that I work pretty exclusively in North St. Louis and see all this fun STL stuff every day.  It is a violent place and it is not a place people unfamiliar to it should go exploring.  Two of my co-workers, one of whom was a good friend I have known my whole life, were shot to death on the job on April 20th.  It wasn't a robbery.  They were digging up a gas service and a guy just walked up, shot them both dead and then blew his own brains out.

I just always feel a duty to inform people that are planning on visiting here that they should never take their safety for granted.  There are places less than a 2 minute walk away from what appear to be lovely little neighborhoods that make Afghanistan look safe.  There are no circumstances in existence that could entice me to ride the Metro Link unarmed

Sir, with a post like this, you frighten me more than a ride on Metrolink.

And I did have a terrific time in St. Louis.  Sadly, Shawn is right; bad things happen all over, and not just in our major cities.  However, I, for one, have to assume that most people are good, have lives of their own, and just want to get where they are going, exactly like me.  

Floyd, I am in no way suggesting that one shouldn't be aware of his or her surroundings but, for me, living in some sort of cocoon, as your posts suggest, isn't living.  While in St. Louis, there were so many helpful folks, from the man who showed me how to use the MetroLink machine to get my ticket, to the lady who told me where I could find a place to purchase postcards, to the folks at the meet-up, and all of them made my experience that much better.  If I didn't have the curiosity to discover new places then I could just stay home in front of the television, watching Netflix 24/7/365, while feeling "safe" but that is just not for me.

And I did have a terrific time in St. Louis.  Sadly, Shawn is right; bad things happen all over, and not just in our major cities.  However, I, for one, have to assume that most people are good, have lives of their own, and just want to get where they are going, exactly like me.  

Floyd, I am in no way suggesting that one shouldn't be aware of his or her surroundings but, for me, living in some sort of cocoon, as your posts suggest, isn't living.  While in St. Louis, there were so many helpful folks, from the man who showed me how to use the MetroLink machine to get my ticket, to the lady who told me where I could find a place to purchase postcards, to the folks at the meet-up, and all of them made my experience that much better.  If I didn't have the curiosity to discover new places then I could just stay home in front of the television, watching Netflix 24/7/365, while feeling "safe" but that is just not for me.

I honestly am glad you had a good time here buddy. Of course there are good people here. And my apologies for hi-jacking the thread.

I thought about attending the St. Louis meet up, but couldn't make it happen. It sounds like it was a great event. Maybe next year! In the meantime, I look forward to the Catalan's Prairie and Rose Santal aftershaves and soaps sitting in my office, awaiting my return day after tomorrow. I haven't been to St. Louis for many years, and would welcome a return. Everyone, have a great 4th!

Examples of St. Louis' progress to move on from the Rust Belt doldrums into becoming a modern, tech-forward startup hotbed

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/st-...-frontier/

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/h...cbfd2.html

http://fortune.com/2014/04/08/can-st-lou...-tech-hub/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bizjour...s.amp.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-...88df5.html

https://m.riverbender.com/articles/details.cfm?id=21805







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I'm not a moderator, so I can't close this thread. I'll just ignore it before it devolves any further.

Situational awareness is valuable no matter where you go, especially if it is a new and unfamiliar location. If you never practice it, you will never employ it. Freddy has pictures and memories that will last him a lifetime. If I stayed holed up on my farm cataloging the passing vehicles I see through my binoculars, I would never have met hawns , Freddy, Rod, Dominick, or any of the ladies and gents I met at the meetup. I will go again too. Yea, its a scary world out there but I have to overcome my mean world view of society by leaving the safety of my house to dare fate to hit me in every passing moment.

So, if I am not deceased or infirmed by MS-13 over the next 350 days or so, be sure to PM me as a reminder to sign up for the next STL meetup. That was the coolest outing my wife and I had in a long while. We are looking to do it again.