Cherokee Street is just a 15-minute drive away from the Danforth campus, depending on traffic. Hopefully after reading this you will feel inspired to visit this hidden gem of St. Louis or bribe a friend with a coffee to drive you (or text me).

Bustling commerce, delightful aromas, and hundreds of footsteps pattering on the ground. Sounds like a scene out of an alternative, bespoke art market in New York City, right?

Cherokee Street. Throughout my time here at Washington University, I have heard the name quite a few times. Mostly, it pops up when I ask upperclassmen how they get out of the campus bubble.

When a classmate and I found ourselves at a poetry reading on Cherokee Street recently (one of my classes requires me to attend an off-campus poetry reading), it was nothing at all like what we were expecting.

Without a car—and with an unwillingness to pay for Uber or cab rides—it can be difficult to get around St. Louis. That’s where the Metro comes in.

Sump Coffee lies south of Cherokee Street, eight miles from campus and well off the MetroLink corridor, so even with its reputation as the epitome of specialty coffee, perhaps more so than Blueprint Coffee, I doubt many students have made the trip to South City. But is it worth the voyage (and the price)? I mean to answer that question.

The Cherokee Street area in downtown St. Louis is famous among locals for its antique shops, vintage stores and graphic design community. The neighborhood is just eight miles from campus.

There’s a renaissance happening in south St. Louis, and we think it’s high time for Wash. U. students to get off the Loop and explore it. With art galleries, coffee shops and vintage stores packed closely together, Cherokee Street’s run-down, industrial feel only serves to highlight its artsy, underground appeal. “I think Cherokee is to St. Louis what St.