Photography by Whitney Curtis
I was out doing a story on this fella named Ray Doiron, who was seeing the Virgin Mary at Our Lady of the Snows on the 13th of every month. Afterward, I drove by this Old World house. It was really interesting, and it was for sale… Next thing you know, we’re negotiating. It just kind of found us.
The sun is always at your back. In the morning, when you’re going into St. Louis, you get the sun rising in the east. When you’re going home, it’s setting in the west. It’s 25 minutes from downtown St. Louis. It’s a small town with people you know.
Our son, Nick, could walk to a little neighborhood grade school, like Leave It to Beaver. He played in the woods and built treehouses and could explore, just like I did as a kid. You didn’t have to worry. It was just safe. It’s, like, the only town that still has a drive-in theater, the Skyview. We’d go to see a movie. He used to like to ride in a little train that they’ve had since the 1950s.
There is a microbrewery that opened up, 4204 Main Street Brewing Co. The Wine Tap is downtown. They have a big brick oven. They don’t even call it pizza; they call it flatbread. The Pie Pantry makes some of the best pies you’ve ever tasted. I love the pecan. I’ve got to be careful with it, because it’s pretty fattening. They are going to build a replica of the Hofbräuhaus that’s in Munich, Germany. It will be a hotel and brewery right across from Our Lady of the Snows.
Channel 2 actually started in Belleville back in the ’50s. [The building] is now a doctor’s office on Main Street.
There are some incredible bike and running trails. They are all rail lines. There is a Belleville Running Club. They meet every Saturday morning. I occasionally run with those guys.
They have their little festivals, like Art on the Square. They still have parades. Everybody decorates the entranceway into our neighborhood and their homes. Last year was their 200th anniversary. They had a big celebration downtown. They brought in the Beach Boys—they were more like the Beach Geriatrics.
You know the police. You know these people by name. If there’s an issue, you can just make a phone call, and you’re patched right through to the official. You didn’t really have that in the city of St. Louis. —AS TOLD TO W.P.
