I could only imagine how sad the local elderly people feel About their town being like this

East St Louis way back in the 30’s & 40’s was the precursor for Las Vegas

As a native of St. Louis and current Floridian as well as a commercial real estate professional, your video caught my eye. Whenever I do a site inspection I drive the entire regional market, like you are doing. It reveals a host of things about a given area. It tells about the prevalent industries, the residential and commercial neighborhoods, the population density, the availability of vacant land for future development , if any, available educational facilities, the types of corporations that exist etc. This city, East St. Louis, Illinois has long been known as a meca for crime , industries that once existed but are now longer gone and no real large corporations that exist. My parents were married in East St. Louis in 1947 but soon moved across the river to St. Louis, Mo. Most industries that exist including major corporations would never, repeat never, consider East St. Louis as a place to establish a headquarters. As a result, such companies locate in St. Louis and since the 1960s have established themselves in St. Louis. The black population , even in spite of civil rights has never been able to change the political structure. It is largely Democratic and closely follows on what has happened in Detroit where that city, once prosperous under the automotive industry, brought about by Henry Ford, has sunk to a new low. Once a city declines it almost never recovers unless entrepreneurs see opportunities to first eenter into an area where crime is low for obvious reasons, where future development makes sense and where taxes are cheap with incentives to move there and spend large sums of money to build and develop regional locations , field offices, headquarters locations etc. East St. Louis will never regain what it once had because it has a nominal infrastructure, housing that is reminiscent of the 1950s- 1960s. I would imagine that residents in East St. Louis wake up to hope and despair on a daily basis in a crime ridden city.

Graduated from the "new" East Side High in 1959. East St Louis was booming then. I went to lots of movie dates at the Majestic, our dances were mostly at hotels. Senior Prom was an all day trip on the Admiral river boat. Girls and boys had separate lunch rooms. I lived in Caseyville and was bused 12 miles to East Side High when Collinsville changed the school district bondaries. going from Collinsville High to East Side High was a cultural shock. I learned lots of street smarts at East Side.

Thank you for touring for us. Please be safe!!

Please keep safe when you’re in certain towns and cities

Love the video! Could you do one of Washington Park,IL ? THX

I’m from east st louis, I love the transition in the video from sunny then to dark with the hip hop as you enter east side 🤣😭

Hello from Germany ! i like your Videos very much. your calm comment style and the cool music as well. it,s a little bit like i drive around in your country and see what it looks like.

Thanks for your videos

I'm watching this whole collection of videos and enjoying it very much. In every town you hardly see any people out and about. And no kids playing any where in the parks and stuff...thats weird man!

Great vid, thank you

Always glad to drop a " LIKE " also I am very thankful to learn so much about every single one of your videos. Already a subscriber.

I remember during the end of the Clinton administration there was some push for government investment to revive East. St. Louis. While this sounds good, government investment rarely works out because if an area is a good investment, private capital will find it. I live in Memphis, a city with more than its fair share of crime and other problems, so I can't be wagging my finger at any other city, but the fact is East St. Louis started dying in the 60's, and is beyond hope. I think the best thing to be done for East St. Louis is to let it be reclaimed by nature. We are losing forests at an alarming level throughout the world and I believe that we should allow dead and dying cities to be reclaimed by nature.

background music is catchy and fitting. I'm gonna play it in my car loud with my windows down nodding my head when I drive through

Going through the neighborhoods and seeing all the gaps in the sidewalk where driveways used to be makes you realize how full and busy the neighborhoods where.. I wish there were more comments from the 60 and 70 year old crowd to tell the stories or talk about their growing up there.. original longtime residents that were there before all the crime and decay, would be full of tales and are sadly almost all gone. Each one of those driveways had a house and a family and is full of forgotten memories. With the way nature takes over, before long, you'll never know there were houses or neighborhoods there... thanks for the vids. Im addicted :)

East St. Louis fell hard, and yet, positive change/growth hasn’t been present in tons of years.

My sister's former in-laws were born & raised in Fairview Heights & the E. St. Louis area. It was a nice area back in the day. My sister lives in St. Louis & the last time we were near that area, there were some apparent renovations & new construction so I'm hoping the area is eventually restored to a decent suburb of the St. Louis metro area.

cool music in this one 👍

The fate of so many rust belt cities once booming towns on their way up then the factories closed.

My father was born and raised in East St. Louis. My Grandfather owned a butcher shop there. It was always a tough town going back to the race riot in 1917. It was gritty; a working class town. The last time I went there with my Dad, we visited his old house. It was the only one standing on the whole block. That area looked like it was bombed out. It is a very dangerous and sad city.

18,000 now. I am from central IL born and raised and I remember on driver's Ed being told not to get off the freeway until you hit Missouri. Yes, it's that bad.

You'd think that as the downtown St. Louis area continues to revitalize it'd begin to spread to East St. Louis, but I suppose Illinois' taxes contribute to why that hasn't happened yet.

From the looks of it it seems like East St. Louis is just a sad dilapidated place. It might be a bit more dangerous than some places but nowadays what place isn't going to have some type of violence, it's sad and unfortunate but that's how it is. I'm glad you was able to do this tour & give us little nuggets of wisdom/knowledge about the city, hopefully East St. Louis can bounce back somehow.

My mother was murdered in East Saint Louis in 1980 still a cold case #Justice4SharonHurley

It looks so much better today. In 1999 The north bound traffic on the I-64/I-55 bridge route, coming from St.Louis, had to be re-routed through that cr-phole town. Every intersection had 2 police cars and no one had to stop at the stop signs as they waived us all through and yelled at people who slowed down.

wow NT this was amazing thanks , i used to ive in Centreville and the areas you are traveling i remember wow thanks for the memories , a awazing catch :-) BTW my dad still live there also yes there was traffic lights all up and down State Street, but do to politcal influence alot of them was removed..also did you know E St Louis has the best flood walls against the Missipsi river just Google it back in 1995 :-)

Sad, empty....but strangely quite clean.

24:58 25:15 It would be beautiful to see if East St. Louis had at least some of the growth St. louis had towards it’s area. Obviously not with the problems that exist in both cities, but somehow a strong enough urban core that many could call home; a true twin city with lovely skylines on both sides spanning across the Mississippi River. Sometimes it feels like East St. Louis is a part of St. Louis being how close they are, how similar they are in cultures, and even the names the cities have. If only each city had a strong economic growth through it’s years of existence, then there’s no telling what it could have been. State lines and county-city splits along with a variety of other factors completely derailed both of these cities potentials.

I was on a Continental Trailways Bus at the East St. Louis terminal in 1968 and across the street there was a store being looted. East St. Louis had a mayor in the 1980s who actually lived in an apartment building in St. Louis. White fight became an avalanche in the 70s. All of the greater St. Louis area has lost lots of manufacturing from Granite City, Ill to St. Charles, Mo. I see miles of water and sewer lines that are going past empty lots, it costs just to keep those lines working to service the few who use them. Illinois was built, to a large extent on coal, it went away and the towns and businesses who depended on it suffered. Where there is poverty there will be an increase in crime, it has always been that way. One leads to the other, East St. Louis and St. Louis show those effects all the time.

Greater ville Walnut Park West and the Neighborhoods Of St. Louis north of natural bridge avenue are as about as dangerous as ESTL

You're passing through the areas I grew up in. I'm over there at least once a month because my mom and brother still live there.

I remember , as you drive down some of these old streets, where nature has reclaimed , and fields - the streets were lined with homes and businesses. [ you can see the entrances to driveways in some places - others you cannot, but they are/were there. I do remember when it was a busy bustling city. But once the business left…… And a mention was made about the corruption. Sad fact: East St.Louis was born of corruption, built on corruption, and pretty much stayed in corruption. Very sad. 14 minutes into the video, I’ve really only seen some of the better parts of the city. - still , excellent video. 📻🙂 ( You also missed the Spivey Building). 📻🙂

I was at the Joseph Center (50th and State) in E. STL for 9 months and felt safer in E. STL than in downtown STL. Never had any trouble on the bus or the Metrolink. People were always kind to me.

Used to drive there from chicago to hang out. Illusions and (Mickey's?) were my favs. Stayed in hotel across the bridge in stl.

I live across the river and can testify that it’s both dangerous and very sad. This video didn’t even get at all into the bad neighborhoods, though. There was one intersection at which if you’d just take a right, you’d have been there. I got lost in those once and it took me an hour to find my way out. Terrifying.

This is home for me 💯💯💪🏾 the city of champions baby

Looking pretty neglected but the trees are thriving and it actually looks quite serene in spots. The Spivey tower looks a bit sinister, though

I grew up near there, run...

Nice video! But what is the music at 1:32?

Every state has a rough part.. Im from the caribbean and I've stayed in east st louis and i loved it.

In the 50's, and 60's there was a beautiful park called "Sunken gardens" on Pennsylvania Avenue. Besides drinking water fountains, park benches, hired gardener/Landscaper would daily tend the beautiful flower and beds. A peaceful, stunning floral park. Quite a compliment to the surrounding neighborhoods Longfellow public elementary directly across the street. Wonderful memory❣️

Born and raised in East St Louis, IL. Class of 1992.

Bad but not nearly as bad as I expected. With some of those buildings that appear to be businesses, I couldn't tell if they were still functioning or the buildings were abandoned. Some of those houses look alright. Thanks for being brave and doing this video. I just don't have the guts to drive there myself.

When I went to st Lewis, me and my Mom went to a near by McDonald’s in one of these abandoned scary town. People were yelling and looking at us and we didn’t feel safe

Just so folks know dude spent 90% of the video taking back routes that most traffic doesn’t take , 💯 he almost went to my house.

19:05 trains stop on the sensors all the time. Common in Cahokia where they'll park, and block the intersection for days.

The Social Security Offices in East St. Louis once had doors for the clients, and a door behind the interviewer for a quick escape if any of the clients would get (let's be polite) excited. Even the City of St. Louis across the river has a population of under 300,000 and decreasing, with roads that can accomodate one million people.

I grew up in Washington Park. In the 60's it was working white class. Mowed yards. Clean sidewalks. Use to ride my bike to school. Now vacant lots burnt out houses weeds. Went thru their to see old homestead. Never made it. Had to turn around due to gang blocking street advancing. Sad.

East St Louis is in the exact same boat as Youngstown OH and Niagara Falls NY. When the factories and mills were shutting down not only did that create unemployment and poverty but those heavy industries left behind a dangerous legacy of toxic industrial brownfields and decrepit obsolete factory buildings making revitalization efforts more costly and difficult. This is why blue collar cities like East St Louis, Youngstown, Niagara Falls and other similar sized cities that were heavily industrialized are struggling and continue to be a very tough sell for new investment and development.

Love your channel (new sub). The music gets monotonous, maybe change it up instead of using same thing all through videos. 😉

I drove through some messed up places ,,, I thought I saw it all until I went through East St. Louis ,,, what a wasteland

Wow. I grew up in N. St. L. County in the '70s and even then E. St. L had this reputation as a nightmarish, crime ridden no man's land. In most of your video, it really doesn't look all that bad, nice houses and lawns, even though you occasionally pass one of those houses with the windows boarded up. The absence of almost any people, out and about in the daytime is a little eerie. It's like that much of the time in my neighborhood, but I live in a 55+ community.

I was stationed at Scott Air Force Base, just a few miles away from East St. Louis. NONE of us, in the military, would go anywhere near this city. Too many stories of guns being pulled out and pointed at cars, for literally no reason.

And since I live in ofallon Illinois and I always watched the news never really heard a crime case since a month ago so obviously I think it’s more sad than scary or bad because I spent my childhood here an my grandpa still lives here in Washington park and he has not heard a single gun shot so he lives at the right spot

Nature reclaim it more and more. Corrupt greedy now bankrupt government to blame. Very nice drive,glad u were safe.

18:40 they've also expanded the metro east definition, and counties that weren't originally included like Clinton, Monroe, and Bond are now considered part of the metro east.

It’s both, my best friend teaches grade school and one of her best friends older brothers was shot in a drive by. It’s easy to be in the wrong place wrong time. But it’s also heart breaking to see what has happened to the city.. after all the race riots the place was never the same.

Welcome to E.St.Louis, not as bad as Detroit

This is where Kellen Winslow, Hall of Fame tight end for the San Diego Chargers is from.

That is kind of weird. You'd think that they'd remove the old street light's seeing they do not work or have been turned off due too lack of need.

My city! Lee Linc Stallings, Published Poet!

I'm from east st.louis...he went down the street I grew up on 79th street

The stench will gag you if you go up Route 3 to Brooklyn Illinois because of the human decomposition in all of those weeds that looks like a jungle. Belleville IL is looking rough today it's because East St Louis Cahokia, Washington Park and other Mississippi Bottoms communities are moving up there. Belleville IL residences are moving further out Carlyle IL Nashville IL and other communities in Illinois or they are moving over here to Missouri. Thank you for your wonderful videos i enjoy them Dexter Lombardo 🤠 Creve Coeur MO

The movie Escape from New York was filmed in that area .

Just for reference, the St Louis metro area hasn't declined, it just moved from the independent St Louis City to the suburbs- white flight is extremely common all over St Louis, it's why St Charles is so heavily white while St Louis City is so heavily black.

Even earlier in my life I went through the downtown and it looked like the bombed out city of Beruit in Lebanon, which at the time was heavily destroyed by war.

Why didn't you go to the area of East St Louis where there's big beautiful homes? No trash near the streets

I like the videos. I was born in Belleville, Illinois and lived in Cahokia in the 80’s. Any chance you could do another video and show more of Cahokia?

All that and I never really saw a school or Walmart or a McDonalds. At one time it looked like a great place.

the poor old town looks very gang driven and abandoned

I was born and raised in East St. Louis. I loved it. There was no better place for a little black child to be in downstate Illinois. I lived in a 4 bedroom ranch house in an area called French village. It was a lovely enclave of brick homes from 86th to highway 157. We played outside until dark in the summer, and families all knew each other. My high school expected us to succeed, and many of us did. We’re not only sports people and musicians. We are executives in Fortune 500 companies, judges, teachers, lawyers, artists, poets, oh, and yes, DOCTORS. Bollocks to folks who denigrate my town. East St. Louis forever!

13:53 other way around, Washington Park is even worse than E StL. You want to talk about violent crime, Washington Park doesn't have a police force! It's even worse than E StL!

a few stop lights were shut off but just a few.

please do a video on Cahokia mounds which is close to east saint Louis

Played in a baseball game at the very nice jackie joyner kersee park and during the game we heard gunshots

Best way to reheat St Louis has to go around it. Down to the South highway 64 Missouri side. Rent a while since I've been to Memphis and a few other cities farther south. Cut through Missouri to go farther south and east not going this way. Because going down i-70 just is horrible when you go to St Louis Missouri and then when you go through East Saint Louis or what is an extension of the battlefield of East St Louis, isn't the smartest thing to do. Interesting life of businesses that you see as you pass through these parts. But it's been awhile

I like your voice

Is that Slick Rick? Tell me a bedtime story! Knock’em out the mouth Rick

The residential areas didn't look nearly as bad as I expected. A tear-down is sad, but an empty field is better than abandoned homes.

Not to be too picky.. but I wish you had of traveled down Bond Ave,.. the south end... and the Parkside neighborhood!..

I believe Jackie Joyner-Kersey and Kellen Winslow are from ESL also.

I see very few curbs and gutters. It seems like it's unincorporated. You haven't shown downtown by the bus station where the rough part is. I'll keep watching the video is only halfway through. Well I watched the whole thing and it sure has changed from when I was there last. It seems like it's abandoned but I guess that's better than being high-crime like it was

Green and fertile at the start -- the French voyageurs wept when they first saw the Illinois territory.

Uplifting ethereal pop on the way there 1:00, Sinister Hip-Hop ass soon as he hits the Ghetto 1:32

East St Louis is Illinois' finest.

Girl I am from the same place where you are from I haven't been there sence I was a little child how is it now

In regards to that street that was blocked off. East saint louis probably put the barricade up to block off washington park instead of the other way around 😂 East STL gets all the attention, but washington park definitely scarier.

This is the worst city in America I have ever been to. I stopped here driving from Colorado to metro Detroit back on May 27-28th, 2020. I was in the area to see the Gateway Arch and an antique car dealer 45 minutes north. The place was pitch black at night, with no traffic lights at all. I went to see the arch across the Mississippi River at a sketchy, unmaintained field (called Malcolm W. Martin Park).

All your videos of this nature are in the early hours daytime, and i know why, but i have to tell you that the areas of E. st Louis you were in are considered good areas, i know that's may be hard to believe, but i;m sure someone told you not to venture in certain areas, good video non the less

*Dangerous or Sad? Obviously, BOTH!*

Those stop signs ALWAYS been on state street, If you notice its a Middle school on the left, library on the left, many daycares and a High school on the right and it use to be 2 hospitals on the street! The stop signs are there to deter people from speeding!

East St Louis was quite a nice city in the '60s in the seventies that went downhill quickly

From cali I can't this shit look crazy not seeing mountains

I lived in Washington park in the 80s,

Flint is getting more like this by the day.

East St. Louis had a population of about 18,400 in the 2020 census down by over 30 percent from 2010,it peaked at around 82,000 in 1950.A better diversity of blacks,whites,asians,hispanics and immigrants without the race hustling,ghetto mentality could help revive the city but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

My hometown class of 2004 saw one of my old houses on here and my uncles home both were still standing

its dangerous sure but its more sad than anything tbh, few famous ppl from the city made it out so it gives the rest of us hope…