Is This City Dangerous, Or Is It Just.. Sad? (Or Both?) East St. Louis, Illinois 4K.

[@gustavoacosta215]

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

[@jag92949]

Unlike Detroit where the city went into trouble during the 1970s, I heard East St. Louis was terrible for most of the 20th century.

[@tammybrown4901]

This is so sad

[@queenofthenile2012]

@@tammybrown4901 All SUN DOWN TOWNS are [CURSED] DAMNED.. SO SHALL ALL OF THEM BE!

[@bmphil3400]

The local elderly get killed for their social security checks.....the elderly probably don't last long in this environment.

[@crud420]

the riots that made it this way happened in 1917. major employers that supported the town left because the black labor they depended on couldn't be replaced. by the time the whites who could fill the factories came back from the first world war, the jobs moved across the river or to another state entirely. not one living resident of this city gets to experience the place their ancestors helped build.

[@buffyaquaponic7427]

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.

[@CL-333]

Thanks for sharing ❤

[@tysonsmartialarts]

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

[@stevechasteen4184]

Yes it was. At one time in that time frame the largest casino in the US was the Hyde Park Club in Venice IL just to the north of East St.louis. It was illegal of course.

[@stephenmartin9393]

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.

[@omnivector45]

wherever black people exist, they destroy the civilization that has once grown there. there is no, and there will never be, a wakanda. except in the minds of delusional people.

[@francescacontento42]

Whenever I visit a town, if the shopping district has Goodwill, vape stores, auto part stores, and tattoo parlors and liquor stores and Walmart is your only choice for grocery and department stores, that is the first clue to go past go, do not stop, not worth visiting or living in.

[@MsFox2u]

I'm from East St. Louis and my mom still lives there. Some entrepreneurs have come in and started building new houses starting at $300K. They are trying to get people to move in and plant roots to stabilize the neighborhoods.

[@trisha9697]

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

[@monicaperez9367]

Just like Chicago avoid west and south side

[@djbetterrr]

@@monicaperez9367 and certain parts of uptown to

[@jackson5116]

he's driving there through the day, I guarantee you at night, it's a complete 180 from what he shows, and he better be ducking the gunshots!

[@jag92949]

@@jackson5116 I’ve been to this exact city at night. It was eerie and incredibly dark.

[@pinkiesue849]

@@jag92949 must be spirits.

[@jeffholloway7974]

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.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

That's a NEGATIVE! East St Louis can be revived if the crooked politicians are replaced with people with good moral values.

[@jag92949]

Flint and Saginaw will be consumed by nature in the next 30 years.

[@jag92949]

@@tommiebrooks8573 Good luck with that.

[@asimhusain8087]

@@jag92949 Saginaw, one of my best friends is from Saginaw mi his dad worked at the gm plant

[@paulam408]

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.

[@Yuan-lo3zz]

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

[@deonprice2524]

One of the reasons why that may appear to be true, is because the leadership has been compromised for a.long, long time.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

The politicians are the problem... They put their family and side chicks in positions they're not qualified for. Nepotism is rampant in the city and no one pays for their white collar crimes.

[@deonprice2524]

@@tommiebrooks8573 Absolutely right. Nepotism is bad in East St. Louis.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

@@deonprice2524 yes!

[@SS-hd7kn]

@@tommiebrooks8573 what you say is so true- I live her and the politicians are so crooked and that is the main reason this city is in the shape it is now

[@montana_patriot]

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.

[@alexluthor7215]

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 🤣😭

[@tommiebrooks8573]

I don't believe you're from East St Louis... Anyone from there would NEVER use a laughing crying face.

[@flowerchild9464]

@@tommiebrooks8573 are you from estl??

[@tommiebrooks8573]

@@flowerchild9464 no ma'am... Have friends there.

[@reeverfalls2069]

@@tommiebrooks8573 I didn’t know we could base our opinions on wether someone was lying or not because of an emoji. I grew up in south side Chicago and I use an emoji on occasion. What a silly thing to say

[@joemomma3208]

Wuzzup bruh what part are you from

[@dangergunner2788]

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.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

It isn't any dangerous than a lot of places. St Louis is more dangerous than East St Louis. You have to be careful in any city you enter, especially if you're not familiar with it.

[@pinkiesue849]

what happened to the other houses?

[@dangergunner2788]

@@pinkiesue849 They were all torn down. Only the foundations remained.

[@MikeS62226]

@@pinkiesue849 Mostly abandoned, then some squatters or kids and then arson. Significant Federal dollars were spent taking them down and removing them due to the dangerous conditions that resulted. When a family had the chance to get out, often there were no buyers (awful schools, CRAZY tax rates on the remaining residents, gang/drug activity was rampant), so in many cases they just walked away.

[@nms9]

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.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

Greedy politicians are keeping the city from growing.

[@jdoggtn7]

@@tommiebrooks8573 More to the point, the soil is poisoned with toxic metals and chemicals, and the whole area is subject to flooding.

[@showmestatefinest5412]

@@jdoggtn7 barely floods over there except maybe the riverfront

[@r.pres.4121]

What revitalization, downtown St Louis is struggling to hang onto what business is still located there. The area economy is stagnant and the city is still shrinking in population.

[@angellamyers9758]

Yes and all the politicians live in st louis missouri

[@henrypark5776]

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

[@dwh5512]

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.

[@rolandsnyder2088]

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 :)

[@deonprice2524]

I was raised in a neighborhood in East St Louis named Goose Hill. There was at one point hundreds of houses in that neighborhood, all the way to the early 2000s. There are probably 3-5 houses in that neighborhood now. Even the house I was raised in is gone.

[@pinkiesue849]

@@deonprice2524 Deon, what happened?

[@regunter6599]

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.

[@bartolomeestebanmurillo4459]

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

[@Yuan-lo3zz]

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.

[@mikekeeler6362]

East St Louis gets all of their money and support Chicago

[@dwh5512]

When I was a boy in the 1960s, it was like that, but all industrial not utopian at all. Both were a broad shoulders, hard working & decent places to raise families. My dad said the new welfare state of LBJ would change all that. He was right.

[@dwh5512]

The city was so broke about 30 years ago the city hall was foreclosed on.

[@dwh5512]

E St. Louis is broken down cr-phole but Hey! they have light rail!

[@SanFelipeCreek]

Creve Coeur resident here Dexter Lombardo 🤠 St Louis Missouri and East St Louis Illinois are worlds apart from each other it's because East St Louis is in Illinois. Take Kansas City Missouri and Kansas City Kansas for example . Both KC MO and KC KS put up with the notorious zip code 64130 in KC MO that zip code is known as a murder factory. In the KC Star newspaper 🗞️ the story is in the January 25 2009 one it was a great story. Oh yeah Prospects Avenue in Kansas City Missouri is horrible too . Creve Coeur MO man 🤠

[@r.pres.4121]

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.

[@tammybrown4901]

Nigra by. Really humm didnt know that

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

It's amazing that Niagara Falls has not taken advantage of being right near Niagara Falls

[@greenbrown7776]

I'm glad you brought up the brownfield issue. That's a huge complication.

[@FSAUDIOGUY]

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!

[@ChrisHarden]

I’m glad that you enjoy. And just about every video I’ve shown so far was filmed during the pandemic, so that’s probably a big factor as to why.

[@tammybrown4901]

I noticed that as well

[@judyn6639]

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.

[@brush200400]

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

[@ChrisHarden]

You should.

[@deonprice2524]

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

[@joanna7350]

Congrats! That's probably all you accomplished in your life, other than a prison sentence.

[@deonprice2524]

@@joanna7350 Yep! 👍🏾

[@darnayblue3081]

@@deonprice2524 My dad was class of ‘92 as well.

[@durandjohnson1321]

Eastside High.. class of '70.. and then I left there!

[@youbigdummy4866]

Did you play football there? Yall had one of the most feared teams of the 80's. In chicago, we would say yall had grown men playing in the state playoffs. 😂

[@lunad1519]

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

[@tammybrown4901]

My condolence hope she gets the justice deserved, amen

[@greenbrown7776]

I'm so sorry, and that fact it's a cold case I'm sure makes it harder still.

[@ronnielamar3473]

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.

[@AngellaMyers-xf3km]

I was born n grew up there until late 70’s

[@CARDINAL701]

I've heard of East St. Louis, but never been there. Thank you for the tour and narrative!!

[@1KingCoop]

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.

[@yogamatt443]

It’s in Illinois. It will never bounce back.

[@christopherhoppe7508]

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.

[@nelsonmcatee3721]

I'm white and I've never had any trouble in the East Side. I even shop for clothes there. At the Boutique. Mr. Maxwell is a nice guy. Everybody I've met or known from there is nice, with only a couple of exceptions. Most of the time I'm the only white person in sight. My impression is that the trouble is coming from people across the river.

[@dennissvitak148]

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.

[@jackson5116]

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

[@ChrisHarden]

Hmm.

[@pinkiesue849]

that's almost funny

[@JustMe-ws2pe]

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

[@durandjohnson1321]

When??

[@somersetdc]

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

[@jackson5116]

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.

[@ChrisHarden]

Cool.

[@danielsentertainmentproduc1527]

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

[@1ksubswithnovideos365]

Lies

[@sunshine21041]

Why did you run the railroad flashing lights?

[@ChrisHarden]

@Sharon Melville Wright Ummm.... because they were broken??

[@showmestatefinest5412]

@@1ksubswithnovideos365 not lies. There are parts of North city that have 15-20 homicides in a 10 block radius and average a shooting everyday. East st louis can go weeks without a shooting or murder and is very slow paced and vacant with not much going on outside the strip clubs which are outside east st louis city limits. Plus some of the murders in the eastside are committed by people from the Missouri side catching their enemy over there at the club or dumping bodies in the wooded industrial areas

[@marciaeppelin161]

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❣️

[@dr.nicolewilliams1655]

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!

[@aliceloyd771]

And nurses

[@yogamatt443]

You still live there? Why not?

[@dr.nicolewilliams1655]

@@yogamatt443 I'm going back. Don't you worry your pretty little head.

[@hph9614]

Thank you for the positivity, every city has plenty of nice areas vs run down..I feel like these videos showcase negative area of a large city that is spread out...a drive through of a main road doesn't show an entire city and how you can go from run down looking and go a block over and it's much nicer, vibrant looking...I'm glad you had a positive experience here and will return.

[@LR-je7nn]

French Village was the last area to crumble. My wife's Aunt lived there. She was married to the Mafia's hit man for Southern Illinois. It's been over 20 years since I have been there and at that time most of the homes were vacant as the Locust and Democrats were destroying it too.

[@alexluthor7215]

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.

[@jasonrarick4649]

my mother was born here in 1947. as a youth I always held a healthy respect for it, as I was there often. I believe it can renew its former status.

[@tammybrown4901]

Yes he did

[@abc123gpl]

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.

[@ChrisHarden]

Thank you!

[@MikeRuh01]

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.

[@twistedangel7308]

Nobody cares about anything regarding maintenance there...potholes are large and plentiful

[@MarvSimmons]

It is a true place to have trouble come your way.

[@richfarfugnuven6308]

I grew up near there, run...

[@Mtthyman]

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.

[@ChrisHarden]

Sure is.

[@tammybrown4901]

This is sad

[@Ilovemonkeyz21]

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

[@keddw]

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

[@Aarontank24]

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

[@chadsauls5588]

that's hard to believe in washington park 😂😂😂

[@tammybrown4901]

I lived there all the 80s

[@mr.countup9500]

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

[@mkeonfiremagazine4673]

City of bums

[@jackson5116]

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.

[@ChrisHarden]

Ok.

[@tammybrown4901]

That's not true how long you been here

[@tommiebrooks8573]

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

[@lisaphifer6213]

Exactly! Full of doodoo!!🙃

[@tommiebrooks8573]

@@lisaphifer6213 😆 🤣

[@MsFox2u]

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.

[@vin-r8602]

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

[@dwh5512]

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.

[@jeffking4176]

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). 📻🙂

[@hypemuch]

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

[@AllEyezOnDeRozan]

the poor old town looks very gang driven and abandoned

[@ChrisHarden]

Yup. It’s sad.

[@tysonsmartialarts]

Demar, young man it may remind you of Compton, Ca

[@AllEyezOnDeRozan]

@@tysonsmartialarts I don't mind Compton, the place has been filled with gangs for a while

[@asimhusain8087]

@@ChrisHarden Tina Turner is from nutbush in west tennessee

[@teriking2237]

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

[@jag92949]

These corrupt mayors of these inner cities should come to East St. Louis to see their city’s future if they keep the status-quo.

[@tombellows4167]

The government is not half as corrupt as the citizens.

[@johnsmallberries3476]

cool music in this one 👍

[@TheMosaikx]

song id plz

[@alexandrej.maurent7155]

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.

[@trisha9697]

Thanks for your videos

[@ChrisHarden]

Thanks for watching. Couldn’t do it if it weren’t for viewers like you.

[@greenbrown7776]

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.

[@JoseGonzalez-bt1fo]

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

[@jaiyamarley6801]

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

[@SanFelipeCreek]

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

[@khaleefax9553]

*Dangerous or Sad? Obviously, BOTH!*

[@jackson5116]

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!

[@ChrisHarden]

Dang.

[@erikmcc804]

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 :-)

[@ChrisHarden]

Didn’t know that, that’s interesting!

[@tommiebrooks8573]

Are you sure that isn't in Cahokia... Google will have that city marked as East St Louis.

[@tammybrown4901]

Now they do yes

[@iowacorn9740]

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

[@jakerod3014]

It's worse lol the murder rate doubles or even triples Detroit's in most years

[@darnayblue3081]

@@jakerod3014 That’s because there’s like 25,000 people in ESTL.

[@jakerod3014]

@@darnayblue3081 ok but the thing is that murder rate is consistent it's not a one off thing for them to consistently have murder rates that high with that small of a population is terrible at most a place like that should see 1 murder every few years not 36 in one year for back to back years

[@durandjohnson1321]

@@darnayblue3081 18,000

[@kevinbarry3277]

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

[@railspike7057]

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

[@mallaholicretailadventures]

There is a McDonalds on State St. I wish he would have kept on State St because there is a little bit of a shopping area there.

[@bbushes]

He turned off of where the highschool is its on state street as well

[@Tory_Budgets]

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!

[@paullopezopaclinicman2127]

Great vid, thank you

[@rodneykingston6420]

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.

[@jag92949]

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).

[@caj1119]

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.

[@startfirevsofevil8877]

My city! Lee Linc Stallings, Published Poet!

[@jerrykinnin7941]

East St Louis had always been a rough town. Think the Bronx of the midwest. Its rougher than Chicago.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

No it's not!

[@jimibones178]

Aint really any cities worse than chicago. You just aint been to the bad parts

[@ajlogomanthecreepysusiefan5502]

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

[@jag92949]

“Mean Streetz” by MK2

[@ajlogomanthecreepysusiefan5502]

@@jag92949 Thank you.

[@staceysturgill846]

This video doesn’t (can’t) catch the eeriness. Most of the houses are kept and decent looking. It doesn’t look as bad as say the north part of St.Louis (City) but, It feels so abandoned and eerie when driving through.

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-2025]

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

[@ChristianGustafson]

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

[@pinkiesue849]

I believe you.

[@Indigo00eyez]

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

[@ChrisHarden]

Always trying to make my vids better.

[@Indigo00eyez]

@@ChrisHarden You do a thorough job. I’ve watched videos of different parts of southern IL where my family is from and if I wasn’t already familiar with the area, there would be a LOT to research. You do it really well.

[@Indigo00eyez]

Hey I’ve watched more of your vids since writing this and the music I’ve heard on the others is fine, it’s good. 😎

[@jag92949]

Playing “Mean Streetz” on a continuous loop is a perfect representation of being stuck in a place (like East St. Louis), not being able to move out, and becoming insane from the nonstop violence.

[@bradvincet1848]

East St Louis is Illinois' finest.

[@michaelfeist4683]

The most dangerous part is north of the interstate known as the Lansdowne neighborhood.

[@ChrisHarden]

Ok.

[@mikekeeler6362]

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

[@AustriaGermany]

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

[@ChrisHarden]

Talked about it my Collinsville video kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXSTnpJuoK11kKM

[@jerrykotzman4092]

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

[@chuckruckus3648]

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

[@Tory_Budgets]

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

[@bbushes]

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

[@ibelieveicansoar]

Did you just write four sentences with no punctuation?

[@jerseygetsherwetter345]

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…

[@SlowedByCinnamxn]

Which City is Worse? Detroit, MI; Gary, IN; or East St. Louis, IL?

[@ChrisHarden]

The amenities of Downtown Detroit along with the districts that surround Downtown Detroit puts that city above the other two easily, but it’s definitely a close call between East St. Louis and Gary. I’d say that East St. Louis is the worse of the two, but not by much.

[@michigandersea3485]

I think Gary has a lower crime rate than East St. Louis. Gary's crime rate isn't even as high as Michigan City or Evansville, Indiana anymore. It used to be horrifyingly crime-ridden but now it's just mostly dead.

[@jag92949]

East St. Louis, IL is the worst city in America. Gary has a nice beach at Indiana Dunes National Park. Ironically, I was in both these cities on May 28th, 2020 when driving from Colorado to metro Detroit.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

You forgot about Camden NJ

[@advantageous111]

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

[@uhoh7541]

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.

[@douggreen639]

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?

[@tommiebrooks8573]

Cahokia is a hot mess right now!

[@douggreen639]

@@tommiebrooks8573 It has been since the 90’s.

[@tommiebrooks8573]

@@douggreen639 okay, I didn't know that!

[@stevechasteen4184]

Cahokia is now merged with Alorton and Centerville I think to form Cahokia Heights, otherwise known as Cahokia Heists.

[@joemomma3208]

You didn’t go through half of East St. Louis you missed all the good areas.

[@jag92949]

The parts of this video weren’t even as bad as what I saw.

[@tellitlikeitisfresh6541]

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

[@rymtotheprime11]

Yea it’s extremely boring in illinois, mountains are beautiful, cherish them

[@tutorialsbyaaron6707]

@@rymtotheprime11 south there are some beautiful hills

[@tutorialsbyaaron6707]

You should see Florida it’s plain flat no mountains at all LIKE I mean no hills or anything only swamps and beaches

[@durandjohnson1321]

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

[@taerandolph9658]

My city i know it intimately dont disrespect don't get lost

[@sarahawkins1917]

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

[@willbygosh4887]

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.