Nightlife & Bars

While St. Louis is more known for its bar scene, there’s a handful of notable dance floors, and none closer to school than Atomic Cowboy in the Grove. With a lively DJ and a great mix of students and locals, this bar/club is a great option if you love to dance but don’t want to Uber for more than five minutes. It’s also minutes away from other great restaurants and clubs in the Grove, like Grace Meat + Three and Just John’s.

St. Louis is hands-down one of the best beer cities in America. Beyond the obvious powerhouse that is Anheuser-Busch, there are tons of other breweries and beer gardens throughout the city. 4 Hands Brewery is one of my favorites and being within walking distance from Busch Stadium makes it a great place to grab a beer before a Cardinals game. Urban Chestnut’s beerhall is just down the street from the med school campus, and along with great food, they have an awesome research brewery right next door where you can try out some new experimental brews they’ve been working on. Between these, Schlafly, and a ton of smaller microbreweries, you will have a hard time getting tired of all the variety in St. Louis.

During orientation, we went to a board game bar called Pieces and it was a ton of fun. Since that night, there has been a solid group of M1s (10+) that regularly meet up to play games together on Sunday nights. One of the favorites is a game called Avalon, which is essentially Mafia on anabolic steroids. Other crowd pleasers include, but are not limited to, Codenames, Deception Murder in Hong Kong, Settlers of Catan, and Sheriff of Nottingham. Playing board games on Sundays nights is a great way to rest up and recover from an otherwise eventful weekend.

Club Viva is known for its Latin dance nights and is conveniently located right in our CWE neighborhood! It has a great atmosphere and draws people of all skill levels and ages, from newbies in their 20s to older veteran salsa dancers. And don’t be afraid if you have never done Latin dances before — they have short intro lessons at the beginning of the night so you can jump right in!

Funny story: I got last-minute tickets to see an artist at the Pageant and left before they came onstage because we thought the opener was the main act. The Pageant is a concert venue located on the Delmar Loop and offers a range of musical and other performances. Some of the most recent headliners included Bastille, El Monstero, Switchfoot, and Allen Stone.