Courtesy of Renegade STL's Facebook Page
OK, sure, no one hates chocolates and flowers—whether from your sweetie or yourself, bought as a gesture of defiant, independent single-hood. But we can all do better this Valentine’s Day.
Wouldn’t you rather spend your evening in your jammies at a cozy independent bookstore, hearing the juiciest St. Louis loves stories as you tuck into spectacularly delicious ice cream? With maybe some booze and fancy custom underwear, too?
314ever: Stories of Love, Loss, & St. Louis takes over The Novel Neighbor on Wednesday, February 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. The spunky history nerds of Renegade STL will be on hand to tell you romantic tales of the city we all love. Your ticket includes something sweet from nitro-based ice cream shop Ices Plain and Fancy. And the city’s biggest boosters, the designers at STL-Style, have created a special set of drawers you can buy at the event.
“We are known for our tours,” says Amanda Clark of Renegade STL. “We’ve been doing these great bus tours and walking tours for the past couple of years.” In response to clamoring from the crowds, the Renegades have begun providing speaking engagements and presentations—this is the first one that’s open to the public.
Expect “a very entertaining, very historically based, overall view of some of the great love stories in St. Louis, and some of the crazy ones, too—crimes of passion, great divorces,” Clark says. “It’s a really fun, laid-back, irreverent discussion of the stories that are not always talked about. It’s things you’re not going to find in a history museum.”
Clark, who also serves as the events and program manager for The Novel Neighbor, says her favorite tale to tell is the love story of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, St. Louisan Julia Dent.
“He’s my history boyfriend, whatever,” says Clark.
Their love spanned a war, a presidency, and an intractable case of Julia’s strabismus (the fancy word for crossed eyes). Ol’ U.S. loved them and forbade her from having them fixed. She posed in profile for portraits, always.
You’ll also get the deets on a crime from the 1930s, where a teen girl discovered in her boyfriend’s clutches in a hotel room by her dad chose to shoot the old man, right on Clayton Road. Here about Dred and Harriet Scott, and marvel at the sexy curves of the Arch.
“We’ll wrap up with the great divorce—the city and county. Can they ever get back together?” asks Clark.
While stories of love and tragedy, plus ice cream, may scream “single girls’ night out,” it doesn’t have to be, Clark says.
“You do not have to break up with your boyfriend to come,” Clark explains. “But if he doesn’t want to come, that’s on you.”
Fair enough. Get tickets online. $20 gets you in and gets ice cream, with undies for sale on site. Don’t tell the city, but The Novel Neighbor (7905 Big Bend) is outside city limits.
“We are stepping out a little bit on the city and having the event in the county,” Clark says. “We are two-timing.”
Scandalous.
