This weekend, I walked Midtown St Louis, it has really been reinvented the last few years. Area is roughly Downtown West at Jefferson to the Central West End at Vandeventer, Chouteau on the south to Powell Hall or so on the north. Grand Center aka the Arts District aka the theater district with the Fox, Powell Hall and Jazz Bistro, is technically the NW section of Midtown, but most people lump Grand Center into Midtown. SLU anchors the middle of Midtown. Ikea and City Foundry with a great food court cover the western edge. Pappy's is here, the Armory, even a Fresh Thyme grocery!

My walk focused around Compton, in the Locust Business District. It has Blueprint Coffee, The Fountain, Egg, Turn and Bulrush restaurants, Urban Chestnut Brewery, Cbabi Bayoc art studio (whose artwork was chosen for a Prince album cover), and lots of colorful murals! There are several small "blackbox" theaters as well, the Marcelle, the .Zack, and the Kranzberg, adding an intimate experience complimentary to the larger Fox, Grandel and Sheldon venues nearby.

Take a stroll there sometime soon, you will be glad you did!