I Drove Through The Worst Parts of East St. Louis, Illinois
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2019
- Wow! This place is completely abandoned and an empty wasteland now!
In our last video, we visited St Louis, Missouri, and right now, we’re going to cross over the Mississippi River and head into Illinois. We’ll take the first exit, Barack Obama Highway, and head deep into East St. Louis, one of the most notoriously rundown and dangerous communities in America.
The day is Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at approximately 11:30 am.
The region has just received several inches of snowfall two days prior, but as you can see, today, the skies are bright. The air was crisp, and the snowfall made the area appear unusually charming, like makeup covering a bruise.
Like other rust belt cities in the midwest, East St Louis was once a bustling community, and at its peak, was home to 82,000 people. However, the economic decline has hit this city hard, and the population now numbers around 27,000, shrinking by more than two thirds.
It was once Illinois’ 4th largest city, and was an All American city as late as 1959. But that was a long time ago - 60 years in fact.
The problem here really began in the 1970s when the middle class moved out of the area, and the resulting failed tax base meant basic city services, including police and fire departments, had trouble operating.
Because of depopulation, East St Louis today has many abandoned properties and extensive urban blight. All over town are sections of "urban prairie" where vacant buildings were demolished and whole blocks have become overgrown with vegetation. We saw the same thing in Detroit.
We drove by one such home being razed to the ground. You can see it here.
Much of the land outside of the city remains undeveloped, bypassed by developers who chose more affluent suburban areas. That area is now farming. What’s left in city limits proper are widely scattered "inner city" neighborhoods, truck stops, adult venues, liquor stores and other blighted sections of town.
The racial makeup of East St Louis is 98% black, 1% white, and 1% other.
35% of the city lives below the poverty line, where family incomes average under $25,000 a year.
Crime wise, East St Louis is notorious among the midwest. The per capita homicide rate here is about 18 times the national average, and East St Louis has the highest murder rate of any city in the United States. Kids who grow up here are told to take cover in the bathtub when they hear gunfire. People don’t answer their doors after dark.
However, it was early in the day, and much of the trouble makers here were still indoors, perhaps daunted by the icy roads and cold weather.
We’ll drive through some of the worst sections of East St. Louis now.
East St. Louis wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. Perhaps some of the blight was masked by the recent snowfall, and it appears as if more and more blighted neighborhoods have been demolished, possibly never to be rebuilt. In terms of dangerous members of the community, it would have been a different case had we driven through these areas at night.
As it stands, we’ve now reached the far northern limits of town, which is where urban blight meets farmland.
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Try this same exact drive at 1am on a Saturday night - guaranteed, a little more excitement in the video.
I was just thinking that
He thought of that I bet but was too scared
@@benwolf5264 hell i get scared accidentally crossing the mlk bridge at noon
@@benwolf5264 Having traveled through these small cities like this, being a rep for McDonald's I had to visit them all to see if they passed inspection. One rule I always followed was not doing it at night and as mentioned especially Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday morning was the time I traveled around the city the most, and of course weekdays in the am when many were sleeping.
I've been wanting to do the exact same thing for a while... I'm always up for an exciting drive !!
I grew up here from 1956-1972, at one time it was a wonderful place, 1970 and it changed overnight, homes started emptying out and then would suddenly catch fire in the middle of the night. Arson for profit was a way of life, too bad if you’re home was next door and caught fire when someone torched the house next to yours.
My home is gone, my grade school, Harding, is burned down, my junior high is burned down and the high school I went to has been converted to a prison.
No going back home if you grew up in ESTL.
Dieversity
I knew one ladies home that caught fire ' she used to Insurance settlement to get her & her children out of East St.Louis Illinois & moved to Cape Girardeau Missouri . The Drug Cartels in South America made a Fortune on East St.Louis Illinois that is One Thing Was a Sure Bet for awhile .
Bruna Fiorentino Yes it was all because of black people, not successive economic downturns rocking an already vulnerable neighborhoods.
Headass.
Some of the houses are beautiful. It’s a shame.
@@timmyjones1921 How did they (Drug Cartel)make a Fortune off E.St.Louis,lies lies and more lies ain't that kinda Money been in my City so go sit in a Corner some where they made a fortune off the whole Country if you ask Me!!🤣😂🤔🤦🏽🤷🏽
I’m from Denver I met two brothers from East St. Louis they took care of me when I didn’t have shit I will always have love for them kwan and Mikey my bro’s for life ♥️
Man we dont have the most out here, but we got big hearts. I'll never let somebody who ain't from around here to throw dirt on my hometown. Its room for improvements all over the world. But your boys sound like my type of people
Say for instance you catch a flat tire. A stranger in the street will help you before your family will
Halloe 618 big truth💯
Do you ever visit them in prison?
East Boogie is the place baby
I was homeless in east stl last year ( luckily I've managed to get clean, find a job and housing). The streets can over there can be terrifying to the average person. You can find any kind of trouble you can imagine there. It's a cesspool of drugs, murder and prostitution.
Congratulations on being clean! The road will not be easy, but the worst is behind you. Focus on what's ahead and you'll be fine. Lots of love♥️
Congrats & much love from England X
But hey overcame that, and look at you now. God bless!
Best regards and blessings forward
❤
This is what happens to a country that sells-out it workers and sends the jobs chasing cheap labor.
Not just in the United States, but also in Canada, Great Britain, and Europe.
Your right pal! Made in china. Corporate interest sold us out. God will Judge! 🇺🇸☝
now happening to Belleville Illinois
US - Uncle Sam th-cam.com/video/uJjv4G0jj4k/w-d-xo.html
US - Uncle Sam It is partially the fault of outrageous corporate taxes and thuggish labor unions.
Totally unrealistic: You truly need to drive by on a July evening; then you’ll get a real sampling of the local flora and fauna.
NYC Songman I agree, that’s why I prefer @charliebo313 ‘s vids. He drives through when the party is happening out in the streets and im like “man don’t go in there!!” If this guy drove through at night in the summer he’d either get jumped or the cops would pull him over for looking for drugs. Lol
Okay; maybe not totally; my bad; you do get a feel for the bleakness, in this vid; and those two dudes crossing the street walked like cats that haunted my youth lol
Duderonomy Smith “man don’t go in there!!”. LMAO . Perfect.
NYC Songman Haunted your youth? What do you mean?
Brendan Wilson Local toughs with whom I crossed paths coming up. I wasn’t raised to throw punches first, and ask questions later, but these people (women, too) were. Lol. No room for much discussion with those bad, older cats. When I got out from around there, it saved my future.
I’m from Kabul Afghanistan. I’d love to drive in the rural areas of Afghanistan and make a video like this. But it is incredibly dangerous.
Is this what the nice areas of Afghanistan look like
Come to NY we can hang out
@@jeffcook5449 im curious too
Nah, East St. Louis is more dangerous than anything in Afghanistan. It's one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Top 3
If he could make a video in ESL. I'm sure you can make one in Afghanistan too
Notice how when he started driving through the worst parts of town, he didn't stop at any stop signs. In this video, I saw the exact spot where one of my relatives was shot in the face at a stop sign. These places are NO JOKE
I can't explain it, but there's a strange feeling of fascination I get watching these videos. I often picture myself there...in one of those broken homes. To know the danger, yet still strangely attracted to it...to see the world through the eyes of whomever lives there.
i know right?
That's why we're all watching it
They call it ruin porn. It's your fascination with shuttered and abandoned places. I toured many such places. (From the old and now demolished meat-packing plants and shuttered factories) to the Packard plant in Detroit. Psychology Today says it has something to do with our views on life and death and how we interplay with them.
It might interest you to know that the city of St. Louis has a program where they will sell you a dilapidated ghetto house for $1, as long as you commit to living there and fixing it up. There are literally thousands of authentic 19th and early 20th century homes available. Your ruin porn fantasies could become your everyday reality. Don't let your dreams be memes.
I know what you mean... I go there to doordash despite living 100 miles away in Rolla... There is that real sense of aww and danger when you are literally looking at some of the things shown in this video. Like I have videos of the same type of rundown areas all over St Louis, after doing all my exploring (god by the river is scary) I'm just shocked at people's desire to live in cities, to think people pay more to live there. It never gets old though, and it's fun how your senses develop, like you'll start realizing where you are, how dangerous the area really is, even though you've never been there, and there's always more to discover in a city that big. Maybe my favorite thing to do ( and this doesn't just apply to St Louis ) is to imagine what it must've been like when things were operating at peak performance. How bustling and fun the city-life must've felt with all the innovation and things to look forward to, but the more I think about that the more I realize how broken America became from the 60's decade and how St Louis might represent as well as anywhere, but it wasn't just a select few places that felt the ripples of that decade, it's the whole Country.
I’m from ESL. It’s full of talented artists and helpful people. Crooked politicians and a messed up tax base destroyed it. But if you’re hungry, the people will feed you. If you’re cold, they will give you a coat. It’s a damn shame how the city has declined over the years.
I lived there for awhile.. crazy how it's discribe as most dangerous..if not for the good folks that live there I'd been homeless and starved..if you got a pocket full of$ and your on the streets at night buying drugs....well of course...your gonna have troubles...if you ain't got no $ and not caught up in the drug game you find really good folks there.
It can be dangerous that's true but don't forget that bad neighborhoods are usually filled with mostly good people
Good people at heart, but bad due to their upbringing
Wait what?
Yes indeed. I met some of them
Good people leave bad neighborhoods
no lackin impossible when you don’t have the resources
resembles many mid-western cities that have grown tired
i know i visited another one that video is coming out Tuesday.
Upper Midwest is pretty nice tho
@@NickJohnson Try Rockford, Ill. NOW a "crime city" show place. 60 years ago...bright...sunny...clean! Now?
Literally every city in Iowa... After the railroads died in the 90s, so did the towns.
One question. Do white people think blacks kill a city or neighbor hood or lack of resource hold back why move out when they move in this country is fucked full of hatred unjust laws and economic prejudice
Most of the homicides are gang related. Rivals ect... If u mind ur business and be respectful its relatively safe.
Yeah, the gangs aren't going to kill some random tourist. I recommend bringing your own weed if you decide to visit though lmao
@@RemixedVoice lollllll i bought weed there thru a native estlousian he told me to wear my hat straight look down n not to them n its gucci ahahahahaha i did that n got what was mine
On a cross-country drive, my mom said she booked a hotel on St Louis. When we got there, it was in Ferguson, and it was super scary. There were groups of people roaming around and it felt like something was going to kick off at any minute.
Thank you for documenting your trip. I once got lost for hours in East St. Louis in Streetview. There is something strange about urban blight, like the mind cannot process how a city can just start literally falling apart. Sure I live far away, but I think things do not have to go very far off before this can happen here too.
It's insane to learn that St. Louis went from almost 1 million to 300,000
@@nondescriptbeing5944 Detroit is even worse. Went from 1.8 million at its peak to like 650k and still declining.
I too grew up in East St. Louis, it was a very beautiful city in the 60's. Went to Hawthorne Elementary, got penny candy and two cent cones at Nieders Dairy, played in Jones Park. Now Granite City, IL is following the same path of decay.
preach!!!!! im from granite shitty!
A family of visitors to my church are from ESL and they were such great people! If you see this comment Corey come back soon. Your presentation moved us!
Out city isn’t abandoned lol it had just recently snowed as you can see and people were not really out!!
But we have had some great people come out of our city. Musicians, songwriters, track stars, nfl players the list goes on.... so don’t count our city out as a whole. We just still have a lot of work to do that’s all...(god bless)
Good points!
You’re city has a lot of potential. Some areas were beautiful. Hopefully, some type of renewal will happen. :) I was in STL last week, I really enjoyed it.
Nick Johnson thank you. And hopefully our city will come together and make a change. But I don’t live in stl I live in estl
We are Illinois across the river east of saint Louis
We are only 89 blocks and that’s our whole city lol
I grew up in East St. Louis and still have family that lives there. The main issue I found was that not enough of the citizens in the community are involved to make positive changes to the community. I watched it all decline growing up there, graduated from East Side in 2006. I went to a city council meeting there a couple years ago and not enough citizens were there to find out what is happening. I realize a lot of people are in survival mode but if they want the city to get better there has to be action involved to make it better. Otherwise the bad people will continue to destroy the city if the good people of the city don't use their voices and come together to make it better. Gentrification is definitely a possibility to renovate the city if the citizens there now refuse to do different.
Well those are the only ways out of the hood lol, sports or music
I grew up in East St Louis. It’s been a few years since I’ve visited. I have only great memories and positive experiences. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Yay Grace!
We lived there until about the end of 1965. We lived mainly on north 13th not even a block off State Street. It was starting to get bad and that’s why we moved, first to Washington Park and then to Edwardsville. But it used to be a great place to live and I hate what’s happened to it. 😞
My Grandparents and Mom grew up in the area. Did you know Richard, Jenny, or Nancy Johnson?
It's so sad that whites have to flee from the homes where generations grew up!
My former home town. It definitely has many abandoned buildings. The citizens have to know they can use their voices to make changes if they are willing to rise up and become more involved and engaged with everything going on around them. It saddens me to know how bad things have gotten in the city I grew up in. To know it was named the most dangerous city in America for several years is so sad. But the citizens are not involved enough to work on the positive changes that must happen. Complacency is real and it is hard to make changes when the people around you are in survival mode or don't want to use their voices to make things better.
It is difficult. But you also need clout and money and connections. If a bunch of hollywood people with social media accounts wanted to go there and make change, I think things could happen.
I understand what you are saying but that shouldn’t be the mindset they need to adopt. Getting someone from Hollywood with clout is a far stretch. Waiting around for someone to “save them” doesn’t work. The people themselves have their own voices that they MUST use. This happens in far too many black neighborhoods. Things go down over the years because not enough people are involved in trying to make it better. Too many want to be quiet with their heads down. That destroys the community along with all the crime happening. So those that don’t speak up are unfortunately passively allowing all the damage to happen and therefore adding to the problem. I don’t get why we have an image of being aggressive as a culture, yet when it comes to us being aggressive when it counts like speaking up for our communities, we sadly don’t. Voices need to be heard then when it matters most.
Yes this is true. It simply starts with them educating themselves. So much of it is because most families are not involved with their community at all. When I grew up there my mom didn’t go to city council meetings, church was the main place we went to outside of school. With the internet being so accessible today, the young people and adults have to get on their phones and do research to find out how they can make their community better. Especially because it affects the younger generations coming up. I hate seeing so many black communities get to this point. The root of the cause is complacency. Most people don’t care to educate themselves. When I asked a number of people to come to a city council meeting with me, they said it wouldn’t matter. So they’d given up. I realized I couldn’t help fix that when I am outside of the community today (I live in Vegas) can’t help a place where the people there don’t want to help make it better themselves.
I lived n the Roosevelt homes and 55th st as a kid
Im from St. Louis.
Honestly having been to East St. Louis, North St. Louis is much more dangerous than East St. Louis.
There is just not that many people in ESL compared to St. Louis' north side.
I used to be a armoured car driver.
Never really worried too much on the east side
North St. Louis?
The radar was on 150 percent.
Much respect to you doing that job. I live in a very wealthy city and I still turned down an invitation to drive a Brinks Truck.
That's because it is now a ghost town, the ones that survived moved on to destroy new neighborhoods.
I live in St. Louis. I agree I think north Stl is worse. I hate going down to like Kingshighway and Goodfellow at night lol
I'm from ESTL & both sides are dangerous. Nobody from the North Side comes to the E Side unless it's close to a bridge or 255. And nobody from the E Side goes North Side unless you have family or business. Both sides put up numbers that proves you'll get ate up on either side if you get comfortable.
Cap
The best part of the video was seeing my old grade school still standing Attucks Elementary. Lived not far from there down the street from the old Illinois Power company. Some of my best times growing up here was living right across the street from the old Jackie Robinson Baseball field. Had several baseball diamonds there and anyone who lived here especially back in the day would remember this. Great place for us kids to hang out at and enjoy great baseball games, food & company. I miss the old times!!!
polock
Driving through there at 11:30am is not prime time. The local natives and drug dealers aren’t out of bed yet. The jungle doesn’t “get going” until about 11:00 PM.
Its lucky these people clump together in certain areas, if they spread out more everything would be ruined
Honestly not even that bad
The homes are huge and at least they actually demolish old and run down buildings unlike Detroit, Baltimore, and philly
St Louis has a lot of potential
If a company like amazon opened a warehouse here I believe it would do wonders for the community
i just wonder if this community wants a job?
Nick Johnson if it’s amazon or similar big company that has great benefits then anyone would want a job
@@NickJohnson yeah there are lots of black people that want to work, I am sure even some of the world's worst trailer park people if shown the way, would try to get help, but some feel hopeless and have seen lots of hopelessness that they might feel lost in the toilet 🚽 town there in, if they build jobs they will comeeee, Wal-Mart anyone🤷🏾
Nick Johnson please go to New Orleans and look at the history and maybe go to a saint game WHO DAT!!
He not in the worst parts. Homes are not big
I live there and I take public transit sometimes. Night time in East St Louis isn’t as dangerous as you would initially think. But still, make sure you know where you’re going at night and always have some means of protection.
It would’ve been nicer if you’d come during the summer. It’s always more quiet during the colder months.
All in all, I love it here and I’m definitely giving back to East St Louis once I get my degree.
yeah i never had any issues there neither....i used to have to go to Estl every day....the city new me...i was well known....id actually drive down MLK and they would all holler out my nickname....TomCat..lol....
Good for you Bee...
Maybe an intelligent professional like yourself is being called by God to go back and do something worthwhile!
All the best to you, and hats off to you for your positive attitude👩🎓💚🙏
The summer looks completely diff, but still I would feel safer here than the North side. Maybe it's because I grew up on the East side. My mom worked in Washington Park. I actually get a little scared driving I-70 W now after 9 PM. I made the mistake of stopping for gas at the BP on Grand and 70 around 9:30 at night. Never, never again
I lived as kid on n82nd st
So apparently when they made Escape from New York they had a producer go scouting for run down cities. As soon as they saw East St Louis, they knew they found the perfect spot to film a movie about a horrible city turned into a prison.
One man's bad neighborhood is another man's mission field.
You missed the most dangerous part. There's a housing project not too far from the BP station. If you end up down there at night you will most certainly get robbed. East St. Louis was where a lot of music and comedy happened. Red Foxx and Richard Pryor and Tina Turner. There's a ton of history there, it sucks to see it end up like this. There could be several case studies done about misuse of funds, ground pollution from big chemical companies and long term effects, and long term decay.
It's in Illinois, you can be sure there is shadiness surrounding use of funds.
I rode through East St Louis on a motorcycle once and I cried. I couldn't believe what I saw. But, the only good part was many of the residents were waving and smiling as we passed by. It gave a sense of hope
I don't doubt you were emotive, it's been dpopulated, looks freaky, I google mapped it, it's back to forest in most parts.
Fam people still live in peace I've lived here my whole life due to the government that oversees our city we are deprived so their pockets can grow
Jai Ova Vote republican
It's sad ...
That much is true. The political landscape is so corrupt going all the way back to when it was Ilinoistown. Even Jimmy Connors dad was a crook as the manager of the Eads toll bridge.
The snow kind of hides the litter, a tell tale sign of violent places
GTFOH
LOL he's engaging in "St. Louis stops" at the stop signs :)
looks pretty alright to me even wealthy, another example of spoilt Yanks over reacting as usual...
LahomaK facts! Lol
@@Tigerland1962 its the murder rate in St.Louis. very little population and have a very high rate compared to other cities in America and the world
LOL..… yeah, I noticed that too....we call it a ';rolling stop'....keep 'er moving...never know when you may have to gun it at an intersection.
Its called "the St. Louis roll". That's how we all drive in these parts! Hes trying to blend in.
It's pretty amazing to see that when a town becomes derelict even the trees become ugly
That’s due to the Chinese Elm disease that passed through America in the 1960’s to the 1980’s. It killed nearly 100 percent of the Elm trees. So, all you have left is these massive tree skeletons. 😩😩
That’s not the only Chinese thing that ruined ESTL lmao
@@454bigblock7 China white!
Keep up the great work Nick. I always find your videos to be relaxing and calming , but very interesting. Something my family can watch. Thank you!
Oh wow cool! Sometimes I hope I don't make people too upset 😉 have a blessed rest of your week! 🙏
I remember reading a story about a US Marine in Iraq from East STL; he said he felt safer in Iraq than he did back home in East STL.
Been reading the comments below. What happened to esl in general, two things, for years the syndicate ( Midwest mafia) ran st Clair county. They had a piece of everything but they kept the place clean and honestly safe. Buster Workman ran it. Then the stockyard moved to the south for cheaper labor, followed by the armor meat packing plant. The steel mills in granite city did the same thing except granite city steel, Japan bought it. Nestle and union starch moved out as well. None of these jobs went out of country just other parts of the country. Then gangs moved in and regular people left. Sure there was corruption. One mayor ran for re-election while in jail. Police were not getting paid so they started selling their radios out of their police cars. No one political party was to blame for the demise, a combination of negative events brought down my home town.
Hey Walter! Do you live in the area? If so, will you help me clean up a section of East Saint Louis?
Ty, your comment should also be pinned 🤨
No ONE POLITICAL PARTY is to be blamed? LIAR!!!! DEMOCRATS COMMIES KILLED. RAPED IT FULL 10X OVER LIKE THEY DO WHILE THEIR AND THEN LEAVE. DEMOCRATS
DEMOCRATS KILLED AND RAPED ALL OF IT BEGINNING TO END
Walter is a lying democrat pro commy union propagandist much of the likes that killed this place. The demmcomm unions killed it and they did it in the “NEWS” by literally killing and raping the blacks and their culture top to bottom. No matter Tina Turner or otherwise….full democrat communists rape was in FULL EFFECT for the first time in History. Look now at LA, SF, Detroit, etc. Democrats comm rape union rape
ESL had a rich vibrant mix of Slavs, Czechs, Polish, German etc. etc. neighborhoods, wonderful little bakeries, community churches and a man working could support a whole family. Gee, I wonder what happened to them.
I used to live next door in Belleville. My wife would go to a beauty salon in East Boogie. I met some of the nicest people there. A friend in Belleville asked me if I was worried about being robbed or murdered. I told him that I've met plenty of assholes in Belleville but none yet in East St. Louis, so I felt ok.
Thank you
Why is this comment ignored smh thanks
Probably you had Jimmy Connors as Neighbour in Belleville ( i think he still lives there), Jimmy is from East St Louis...maybe the most famous from there
Is Belleville safe? Good schools?
@@andrewscott7816 The west side is a bit rough, but the rest of the town is still pretty decent.
In Sóviet Russia. The criminals don’t come out at night. The night comes out of the criminals.
sounds like fun!
Born n raise in East Saint n u just didnt come to the right weather if u wanna "see" people. Not everyone who walk in the streets are thugs or gangstas or criminals💯
Btw if u rode past 13th & Missouri Ave., that girl that on the billboard................ thats MEEEEEEE!!!!!😄💕💯
Yes and Sylvia Russia the criminals come out with red hair and the president of the United States exactly
🙃🙃
I hate when people don’t know nothing about the people or the city they just come by the city and just judge you think its so bad come and help us out then
I know that's right family!!! Tell them!!🙏
Help yourself, that's what other people have to do.
I used to know this guy from St.Luis and he told me St Luis & East St Luis are 2 different areas. I was like wow......he begin to tell me East Saint Luis is the Hood & poverty stricken. Im looking right now of East St Luis and it looks cleaner & quieter than my city come to Philly look how some of us live and look at East St. Luis snd compare it together i would say East Saint Luis is a come up....lol i see clear blue skies, nice trees, well kept lawns, damn near no trash. No graffiti, no one hanging on the corners, nobody driving around music blasting, no crooked police patrolling....i still say St. Luis is a come up.
Its a very small population of people here who do the crime. But they continue to do it. Many of the people there respect each other and are just tryna make it out
was fucking snowing what do you expect. You go there with that Philly talk you won't make it back home. I know that.
@@mardrecombs3448 actin tough online smh
@@454bigblock7 i think he means the snows slowed everything down cuz they dont wanna be out there... just saying... noone does...
The snow does make everything look nicer.
The snow makes it look clean. Amazing isn't it? It's like a miracle happened with just a few inches of snow applied.
Exactly
Too bad you didn't drive in North St Louis. That's a far more dangerous place than East St.
That's what I heard. I was on a time schedule. I'll be back in StL again. Is that your hood? We can meet up!
Nick Johnson I’m from east St. Louis you shoulda hit me up before this I respect you for this video dog thanks for shedding some light on my xitt
You're right.
Been to ESL, never really worried too much.
Being a "mighty whitey" on the St. Louis north side, risky.
Only because East. St. Louis is halfway a ghost town, not many people left there, after destroying the city them moved on to destroy new and better places.
@@phillhuddleston9445 So true
Drive through ESL?
Better you than me, pal.
I took the infamous wrong turn going into St. Louis in 1990, and had to defend myself against armed robbers waiting for someone to stop at the stop sign.
That was the last stop sign I stopped at in that place.
The worst place I've ever been, and that includes North St. Louis, Detroit, L.A., South Chicago, and the Wards in New Orleans.
Although the Wards were a close second, in the evening and at night.
I really enjoy watching your videos, they are so relaxing! Listening to the music and imagining myself driving through there just for the view. For this reason I watch them over and over! We get a little bit of history and we get to see somewhere we've never traveled to. The music while you are driving is very soothing and relaxing. Thanks for these great videos! Keep them coming, and the music too.
Really the place has improved in recent years since the city started demolishing rotted out buildings. Back in the 90's I was part of a traveling group and we took a wrong turn through there my god how rough the place looked back then. Also, the best time to experience the city at its truest is a weekend night in mid summer.
The scariest day of my life was when I drove accidentally into Gary IN... We were looking for a gas station in our way from Chicago IL to Noblesville IN... It feels like you are in Azkaban!! All your joy is sucked by the surrounding!!
😂😂 i experienced that when going to chicago we also stopped in gary to get some gas and food and couldn't believe how horrible it was and I've seen some rough areas in Cleveland before
Well folks I drove through Gary the other day and I'm putting a video up in a week so stay tuned for that 😉
@@NickJohnson haha awesome =)
Try driving through e. Chicago. You will breath a sigh of relief when you reach Gary
@Drew K Gary is the SHITTIER one that's for sure
There must be millions of square miles throughout the US that is open space like this. When I consider the homeless situation in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley (my city), Miami, even in Alaska! I have serious doubts about our country’s problem-solving skills. We have so many resources, and so little political will. Hand-wringing is a waste of time...
Yes yes yes
Many of those homeless fled places like this
& I'm still looking for the "dangerous" people?
Renaye Brown the problem its the drugs,,, drugs are destroying USA 🇺🇸
Your missing one city of homelessness. NYC. HUGE PROBLEM. WITH A LAME DUCK MAYOR
Im from Rochester NY, and i gotta say, Im so jealous of St Louis having that Gateway Arch.....it is so beautiful! You guys are lucky.
I lived here from birth until eight years old. As a young boy I witnessed and experienced violence on a level most people don’t see in a lifetime. True story.
What project did you live in?
I lived at 617 n 84th street it was a duplex close too edgemont school
Ya need to see Rio de Janeiro slums
There is a guy named yash qaraah on spreaker he talks about east st Louis i hear its worst then Chicago that it is one of the worst places to live
Impressive how many of the remaining houses still look nice and well-cared for. And the city services like snow removal and trash collection are still working.
The high school has an awesome football team. That's all I got.
Jeff Ha Alton High Beat them :).
Louis Bratton they went undefeated so how?
We also have great track runners, basketball players, and musicians!
@@cheroddagod5759 When did that happen ass wipe We Won the State Championship get your facts right!!🤷🏽🤦🏽
And good Chinese food
Boy our city is not abandoned at all! It’s snowy so ofc no one is gonna be driving around or walking. The aquarium is usually packed, arch, packed, city museum, packed, Ferris wheel, packed, zoo packed, art museum, packed, u see
Those are all over the bridge though.
ESL still isn’t abandoned but the population has decreased significantly it’s true.
I see a lot of vacant Lots, but the houses look pretty nice. Maybe I'm missing something?
Bea Drake You consider them nice?
@@dragondrew2000 I don't consider them slums!
You could get a house like that, fix it up inside and nobody ever know what's inside of there, especially the tax man.
@@beadrake2880 Can't raise the property value of a house if the whole area taints and drags it down. It's not so much how bad the houses are it's just a crime filled area.
@@dragondrew2000 I wasn't talking about the crime-filled areas, I was talking about the houses, and everybody's not looking to move. Anymore, you have a house, then you have a home. They are probably all paid for, and that's a blessing.
This might sound crazy but we regenerated our cities in Europe and keep using them for 100s of years.
It sounds crazy but our cities are almost all controlled by this party called Democrats. They are universally incompetent. It’s crazy because these cities keep electing democrats who run these cities into the ground and people keep voting for them.
A few years ago the alternator went out on our mini van as we crossed the bridge into St. Louis. Still get chills thinking about what if it went out 2-3 miles earlier.
You would've stayed your Scary ass in that Van and called a Tow Truck that's it thats all 😂😂🤷🏽🤦🏽
@@DavidCanada-hz9dq I hate the picture people have painted of our city. They go by hear-say.
Your hometown winter scene is so wonderful thank you
Nick Johnson
Subscribed and a thumbs up.
Enjoyed the music as well!
Thanks for taking the risk to do a great job!
George you have some catching up to do 😉
Lived here 25 years you're wrong about a lot of things sound like you used Google and you're looking for bad things you didn't go to the Martin Luther King or Malcolm X Park you didn't mention the multiple championships throughout the Decades of high school football.. you don't mention that the Cahokia Mounds etc
Or Kellen Winslow or Jackie Joyner. National high school football champions, 1985. They make me proud to be from Illinois!
That's what I said...it cold n snow who's going to be outside..
can you tell me about the cahokia mounds ? Id love to know !
@@QuestForDetails Native American city and museum! Very interesting, considered the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico.
The Cahokia Mounds are in Collinsville, not East St.louis. Anyone from that area should no that. I grew up in Cahokia Il. which is basically the same as East St.louis is now.
You don't know us at all.
I still have family that live here
Angela Long...
Your vids are awesome. I show all your videos to my family.
Hey Donald. I hope your family likes them too. Hope you guys learn stuff :)
@@NickJohnson Your the reason I like geography so much.
@@NickJohnson Who do you think will be the rep/dem candidates for president 2020?
PSH! You're there during the day, go there at 11 PM at night!
Decline actually started in the 1960's the stockyards and manufacturing in the area declined. Even in the best of times during the best of times, the city had NO strong industry tax base. The stockyards was in National City, Alcoa was in Alorton, and chemical plants were in Monsanto Village (Now Sauget). City relied too much on property taxes from homes.
Happy New Year, Nick and Mappy family.
Flavio Junior Back at you Flavio!
Mappy's family says WHATS UP Flavio :)
@@cocotaveras8975 thanks! I wish you have a wonderful year.
I was expecting worse. Looks like a regular working class/working poor area that has some nice cars. The murder rate is the most shocking though and that has more to do with the character of the community rather then money. People can live pretty well in a place like that making 25 grand a year.
St.Louis,Mo has the highest Murder Rate 194 ppl were killed in 2019 and 5 were killed on New Years Day 2020 smdh 🤷🏽🤦🏽
Looks can be deceiving. It's quiet but that is also why it's so dangerous. From what I hear, Bodies are found on a regular basis, police response time is horrible, government officials are corrupt and please don't drink the water. There are good families living there but let's be honest, the North side of Saint Louis is bad now but East Saint Louis has always been dangerous especially after dark.
It also is a reflection of the small population. Ten people killed with a population of 80,000 results in a higher murder rate than 10 killed in a population of 300,000. That's a reason why St. Louis murder rate seems so high, which is because it has a city population of 289,000 and the city is completely separate from the county. If you look at St. Louis as a part of a metropolitan area of 3,000,000, the murder rate drops tremendously. That's not to minimize the murder rate or the dangerous nature of some areas, but It's part of a bigger picture of the problem.
I think a lot of these murders are being committed by people from across the river coming to start trouble. I'm at white boy, I've been in the East Side a bunch of times and have never had a problem. But I wouldn't want to drive through a strange neighborhood in St. Louis!
@@nosyrosy I knew a guy from Northwest High in St. Louis back in 1972 and even then he said it was worse there than in EStL. I think a lot of these shootinhs in the East Side are being commited by people coming from across the river to cause trouble.
I liked the music. Could you provide titles and artists?
Hey nick and mappy. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020😀😀😀😀😀😃😃😃😃
Vaithy M Back at you Vaithy!
Vaithy Mappy says he hopes all your 2020 dreams come true!
@@NickJohnson thank you mappy😃
All of y’all pointing out how he only drove through the worst parts, some parts of the city, READ THE TITLE OF THE VIDEO. he’s not here to say good things :)
For reals
I like the escape from New York-esque background music 😄
What are your thoughts on the Town of North Charleston, South Carolina. I’ve wanted to move but i’ve not too informed to make an opinion
Amazing to see hardly anybody walking the streets or kids playing in the snow. Very depressing. Hope it finds its way back somehow.
They need jobs in that area there are none
You should have got a st paul sandwich while u were there.
@Walleye Wade Chinese food awesomeness!
i know thats rite
Pig snoots anyone?
Yes!!!! Or some Special fried rice w/an egg (egg fu-yung) on top & a little hot “powder” packet on the side😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@Pecker Dúnling San Patricio Space Dolphin Brigada no pho restos? from tower grove? lol they dominate it! atleast they did when i lived in st louis!
This reminds me, visually, with the homes and abandoned commercial areas, of my hometown of Kankakee, IL. Nick is crazy funny and right on the mark!!!
Did you see the danville one I did? th-cam.com/video/KR_TpNczKIs/w-d-xo.html
You have no clue how heartbreaking this is for me. I’m from there.
Really sad to see the old Spivey building. The only sky scraper built in East St. Louis built in the 1920s it was a beautiful classic building. Had expensive shops on the lower floors making it one of the first malls, then offices and at the top high end apartments
Now look at it!
Not worth the money to tear it down
I grew up there in 60's, 70's & 80's, graduated from East St Louis Sr. High in 1980.
I would ride my bicycle all over the city, it was such a different city back then, friends, family and a lot more people. Its so desolate now.
The City of Champions
A nice ride on a snowy day. Thanks Nick
I lived there for about 10 years... I moved to O'Fallon. I graduated from Lansdowne middle!!! Also went to ESTL Sr high. I love my city and will never forget where I came from.
Amen
Bars and pawn shops always thrive in these neighborhoods.
Houses look pretty nice from the outside and there are many open free spaces. Hard to imagine its such a dangerous place by the first looks of it. Big shoutout from Amsterdam! (much more packed n stacked but less dangerous)
Great video Nick. Thank you sir.
There's way more than that on here! And glad you liked it!
sooo did you stop by your mom house
I wish the larger vacant areas could be cleared and repurposed as rental land for growing crops or raising organic produce. These are things that people need and can be sold locally for a lower price than produce shipped in. Also, having the Mississippi River nearby makes access to grain transport by barge less expensive since it doesn't have to be trucked as far.
Money. Someone has to purchase all those lots and demolish the buildings. Land in illinois is over priced and the labor cost would be considerable. It would take atleast 60 years of farming to pay for the land and then many more to make a profit. If it takes more than a lifetime to get roi no one will ever do it.
You do realize present generations don't want to work in the fields in the mud
@@asimhusain8087 They will if they're hungry enough.
You drove past my house and truck on College Avenue that day Nick
I DID? what point in the video?
@@NickJohnson @9:24.....
@@terrancegodfrey8767 you mean at 9:39
@@indianachick6675 okay it's at the 9:53 mark of the video
Terrance Godfrey cooollll.
It's like a giant west side of Chicago.. The West side has its stricken areas but there's God fearing Christian working class ppl who live and raise there kids there. I grew up in the West side of chgo from 1965 till 1988. And I'm one who have not succumbed to gang drug violence. I pray for chgo and st.louis both..LORD BLESS US ALL..
I'm with you...too bad for these great cities' demise.
I once took a shortcut on my way to the Oakland Airport. It was on a Saturday night. Freeway traffic was blocked due to an accident so I cut through a not so nice part of Oakland. I had a tire blow out as I crossed San Pablo Ave. not good! A NASCAR team couldnt have changed it any faster than I did! I was getting eyeballed but I wasn’t messed with. Be careful!
This guy..only covered about a fourth of East Saint Louis.
I was thinking the same thing. Actually, the areas I saw were not even the worst. Plus, the vibe is totally diff at night and when it's warmer. A lot of people walk because they don't own a car. When the weather is super cold or super hot you won't see as many people around. Just the way it is
A forth?! Americans are weird, say a quarter!
And Definitely not the “Worst parts”.
I'm from East Saint Louis and its definitely worse parts he didn't really go much further than 25th no Edgemount no golden gardens no projects like the gumpers the holes the shields
The downtown area of East St. Louis shows urban decay, but paradoxically, the
suburban areas further out displayed some well-kept homes with nice-looking
cars sitting in front of them. I'll bet that if some industries were reintroduced
into that area, and training were provided in the schools, a new model city
might emerge, and the troubled past of East St. Louis would recede, in the
face of a new prosperity...
I find this video and the music so relaxing! I just watch it over and over and over again!!!
Hey there. I have another channel you should sub to as well! th-cam.com/channels/Y1W9MVJbzcvEgD2xATMWOg.html
I find these places depressing. It reminds me of Detroit, Gary, IN, and other places I have seen online. I also noticed an old vacant building that appears to be a school? At least they have a Walgreens and a McDonalds. I was wondering if they had any shopping places. I also wonder what else they had there like did they have any shopping centers or even a mall? Everything looked so desolate but felt happy to see someone out walking.
Thanks for sharing Nick. Hope you have good roadside assistance and carry some sort of protection if you ever break down. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have slightly tinted windows on the sides but that may interfere with recording. Have a good day😎
i do in the back :)
I was in East St Louis in the 90's. The thing I remember is railroad tracks and railroad yards everywhere.
We are originally from there, we went back in '68 , left in '73, it was quite an experience, haven't been back since!
It's quite alarming the vastness of the blight
My mom grew up just east of there in Collinsville. She used to take the bus to East St. Louis to work at the hospital.
Nick,
Curious out of all the neighborhoods you’ve done. What was the most dangerous place by your experience? Doesn’t have to be by stats but where you were in hurry to get out
I got one, Camden N.J. worse than East St. Louis, highest murder rate in the country, it's just over the bridge from Philadelphia, Penn..
East St. Louis built in area called the bottoms, a flood plain and the city was actually raised up above the flood level, ala Chicago.
Where did you get your information from?! I live here and still do...I or my family has never not opened our doors in the daytime or otherwise if our door bells ring. Never...have we ever had to get in any bathtubs because of gunfire!
Lovely! Happy holidays! 🎇🎄🎆
I really enjoyed this video. Would love to see in the summertime.
Y’all have no right to judge us and what y’all said about the gun shooting and getting in tubs ain’t true or opening doors after night
We really ain't even that dangerous🤦
Yeah all that stuff about ESL being the murder capitol and high poverty rates is just bs, right?
MaxKol this man started the video by saying that 35% live below the poverty line. That means appx 9,500 people in the city make about 24k. Everybody else is over that. All those cars and homes you see are owned and grandfathered in. If the state gave the city the funding to make repairs, they would do it.