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Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è Pasta... E Pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
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All the United States Missouri St. Louis

The Atlas Obscura Guide To St. Louis

39 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in St. Louis, Missouri

Updated February 14, 2025

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Unusual Attractions in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

City Museum

Less a museum than a bizarre fantasy world created by artists and engineers.
Bathrooms!

St. Louis, Missouri

Venice Cafe

This mosaic-covered bar is brimming with curated curios.
Eros Bendato.

St. Louis, Missouri

Eros Bendato

A creepy sculpture of a decapitated head invites viewers to see St. Louis through its empty eyes.
The Front of the Lemp Mansion, built in 1868. There have been three suicides in the walls of this house.

St. Louis, Missouri

Lemp Mansion

A historic house in St. Louis was plagued by a series of suicides committed by family members involved in a successful brewery.
Turtle Playground.

St. Louis, Missouri

Turtle Playground

This is not your typical jungle gym.
Clydesdale horses

St. Louis, Missouri

Grant's Farm

What was once a presidential estate is now an exotic menagerie and home to the Budweiser Clydesdales.
A miniature ice cream parlor by artist Judy King.

St. Louis, Missouri

Miniature Museum of Greater St. Louis

A big museum full of little worlds.
Chuck Berry House

St. Louis, Missouri

Chuck Berry's House

The red brick house where the father of rock 'n' roll wrote some of his classic hits.
See All 39 Things To Do in St. Louis

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in St. Louis

Bathrooms!

St. Louis, Missouri

Venice Cafe

This mosaic-covered bar is brimming with curated curios.
Welcome to the oldest soda fountain in St. Louis.

St. Louis, Missouri

Crown Candy Kitchen

The oldest soda fountain in St. Louis has been serving up treats for more than a century.
Jollof rice is central to the menu and made with care.

St. Louis, Missouri

Levels Nigerian Cuisine

This restaurant, art gallery, and nightlife hot spot is a love letter to Lagos from St. Louis.
Permanently Closed
Turkey thigh roulade with bayou belle sweet potatoes and fried wheatberries.

St. Louis, Missouri

Bulrush

This ambitious restaurant celebrates the culinary traditions of the Ozarks before 1870.
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Unforgettable Experiences Nearby

Atlas Obscura Itineraries

6 Wondrous Places to Get Tipsy in Missouri

Celebration or desperation aside, these six spots in Missouri are proof that imbibing is only half the fun of bar culture. From a mountaintop drive-through golf-cart bar to the state's oldest waterhole hole—nestled more than 50 feet underground in a limestone cellar—the “Show-Me State” has no shortage of boozy fun to show you (as long as you're 21+, of course).

View Itinerary
At Defiance Roadhouse, it’s bottoms up.

Explore St. Louis, Missouri

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Recent St. Louis Activity

  • crunchygirl70

    wants to go to The Mural Mile (Floodwall)

  • crunchygirl70

    wants to go to 'The Naked Truth'

  • crunchygirl70

    wants to go to Cementland

  • crunchygirl70

    wants to go to USS Inaugural (1993-2013)

  • sylph6

    wants to go to The Girl in the Shadow Box

Stories About St. Louis

This diagram from Modern Swindles shows how card cheats work—and what happens to them when they’re caught.

A Peek Inside a 'Scam Manual' Written to Help Immigrants Avoid Becoming Victims

Early 20th-century migrants from Europe had to be on their guard against marriage brokers, card sharps, ghost mediums, and more.
by Nina Strochlic
February 20, 2024

Podcast: Meramec Caverns

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
by The Podcast Team
October 18, 2022
Charles Henry Turner was the first scientist to prove certain insects could remember, learn, and feel.

How a High School Teacher Changed Early 20th-Century Insect Science

Systemic racism kept him from a position in higher education—but it didn't stop Charles Henry Turner from rewriting our understanding of bees, ants, and cockroaches.
by Edward D. Melillo
August 15, 2022

Podcast: Bloody Island

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
by The Podcast Team
April 21, 2022

Podcast: City Museum

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
by The Podcast Team
January 27, 2022
Monks Mound at Cahokia.

How Did Cahokian Farmers Feed North America’s Largest Indigenous City?

Native American farming was more sophisticated than your history textbook told you.
by Reina Gattuso
March 28, 2019
The skate park hidden inside St. Liborius’ walls.

How a St. Louis Church Became a Skate Park

Welcome to heaven on earth for skaters.
by Evan Nicole Brown
December 19, 2018
The Ribbon Map of the Father of Waters—pictured rolled up (left) and fully extended (right)—was meant to be wrapped around a spool and brought on steamboat trips.

This 11-Foot 'Ribbon Map' Puts the Whole Mississippi River in Your Pocket

Steamboat tourists of the late 1860s wrapped it around a spool.
by Cara Giaimo
May 7, 2018

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