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St. Louis Escapes Its Rust-Belt Past

In downtown St. Louis, the opening of the new Busch Stadium is the latest effort to beautify and improve an area that once was called an eyesore and a tragedy.

More than 50 businesses have opened in the area, where residential lofts are booming and major projects such as the new stadium are drawing new businesses and excitement to the area.

That's a far cry from 1981, when parts of St. Louis were used to depict post-apocalyptic Manhattan in the movie Escape from New York. In light of the recent changes, Snake Plissken, the roughneck portrayed by Kurt Russell in that film, would find the city's downtown a positive walk in the park.

Matt Sepic of KWMU reports on the lessons other Rust Belt cities are trying to take from St. Louis.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.