The Sanctuary

So Y? already teased this in talking about the weekend, but Friday's Shabbat dinner and "after-party" deserve more than just a passing mention. Luckily, I am here to pick up the pieces for you all who missed out. So Y?'s parents were in town, which meant Shabbat dinner at the sanctuary. Granted, I had to bring my own chair, beer, and candles, but I scored an invite. (Sidenote: Schnucks's in the CWE only sells Shabbat candles in packs of 72, so the candles are on me for the next 35 Shabbats!) Anyway, dinner had all the amazing interactions you would expect when two parents (one of whom is a rabbi deeply learned in Torah) enter the world of the young professional on a Friday night. Save for the candles, challah and wine, nothing and no one was sacred as the chicken marsala and potato chips flowed like honey from the kitchen.

So, around 11:30 (four hours after the dinner began) we decided that it's probably time to conquer the world beyond the sanctuary. As we are determined to find new things to do in the city, we headed out to check out some SLU bars, figuring that its a major urban university (albeit Jesuit) there's gotta be something good going on. And was there ever...

So we get down to SLU and park by a place called Magnolia's. Everyone's pumped up and ready to go, fat and happy from dinner, when the bouncer tells us it's a $3 dollar cover plus a one drink minimum. A ONE DRINK MINIMUM? Sounds kiiiinda like an East Side joint you're thinking? Us too. So we move on, only to be greeted at the window of the next bar by stereotypical white shirtless dude. So now we're stuck. I mean, this is St. Louis so of course there are only those two bars within walking distance. So, being the resourceful smart Jewish folk that we are, we ask some passerbys what exactly is Magnolia's? "A gay club dude."..."No, really, man, what is it?"... "It's a GAY CLUB."

So we start looking around, really paying attention to our surroundings, and the tight pants give it away, that Magnolia's really is a gay club! Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it certainly was the most popular place around SLU that night, but not quite what we were looking for when we set out for some Shabbat night exploring.

I guess the lesson here is that when you commit to finding new things in St. Louis, you gotta be ready for anything. So when you come out with us, consider yourself warned, you never quite know where you might end up. But in a place like St. Louis, where so much is too often the same, isn't that a good thing?