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The TourCWE Blog

CWE Confidential

Deep dives into the characters, restaurants, and hidden histories that make the Central West End — and St. Louis — so unforgettable. Stories you won't find in any travel guide.

Gilded Age mansions on Portland Place in the Central West End, St. Louis

Behind the Gates: Inside the Gilded Age Central West End

Portland Place, Westmoreland Place, and the private streets where St. Louis kept its Gilded Age money. The mansions are still here, the gates are still locked, and the stories are still spilling out.

Historic Gilded Age candelabra lamp at the Kingshighway and Lindell intersection, Forest Park entrance, St. Louis

The Lamp That Ruled Five Streets

At Kingshighway and Lindell, a magnificent Gilded Age candelabra once stood at the center of a five-way intersection — not as decoration, but as working infrastructure. The story of St. Louis's most spectacular piece of lost history, and how it lives on in our logo.

Tour group near The Gramophone in the Central West End, St. Louis

Art Meets Sandwiches: The Gramophone

Started as a live music venue in 2008, The Gramophone has quietly become one of the most creative sandwich destinations in The Lou. Weekly specials, zero bad sandwiches. A no-miss.

Cuban sandwich from Havana's Cuisine in the Central West End, St. Louis

We're Officially Obsessed: Havana's Cuisine

The Cuban sandwich alone is worth the trip. Add the empanadas and fried yucca and you start to understand why Tamara Landeiro's Havana's Cuisine earns OMGs from travelers nationwide.

Dressel's Public House exterior, a classic CWE pub since 1980

OG of the CWE Renaissance: Dressel's Public House

In 1980, the fascinating Jon Dressel opened Dressel's in the likeness of pubs he had enjoyed during his extensive time in Wales — places where folks could discuss art, music, and literature while enjoying food and drink of the highest quality. Decades later, his son Ben has evolved it into something even more legendary. Including a Porchetta Louie that even Guy Fieri couldn't stop talking about.

Straub's Market in the Central West End, St. Louis

Straub's Market: A Neighborhood Gem Since 1949

The CWE got a Straub's in 1949, and it's been a consistently faithful savior to the oh-no-i-forgot-to-prepare-something crowd ever since. Their prepared foods are the stuff of legend — especially 41 tons per year of a closely-held chicken salad recipe. Plus the last purveyor of Miss Hullings Split Layer Cake. This is the kind of institution that doesn't exist everywhere.

OMG in the CWE food tour spread of local St. Louis bites

OMG in the CWE: Curated Amazingness for Locals (and Everyone Else)

When TourCWE started, guests were mostly visitors who wanted to taste uniquely St. Louis things. But locals kept saying: "I'd love your tour, but don't feed me t-ravs again." Enter the OMG in the CWE menu — the best-of-the-best from the Central West End and the Grove, guaranteed to knock your socks off no matter where you went to high school.