Nothing to do here

Christy Schicker
LifeStyles Art Reporter

Despite attending a university that is quaintly situated in the middle of a cornfield, there are entertaining things to do in the area. Not all the great locales are in Edwardsville, but they are within driving distance.

MOVIE THEATERS

Closest to campus is the Showplace 12 movie theater. It features 12 screens, some of which are stadium seating. Another great advantage to this theater is the free refills on soda and popcorn. Also, the parking lot rarely fills up, with the exception of Friday and Saturday nights. You can find Showplace 12 on Center Grove Road at the intersection with Cougar Drive. Also close by in Glen Carbon is the Cottonwood Cinema at the Cottonwood Mall. It's a much smaller facility, but better if you don't like crowded movie-going experiences.

There are two theaters in the Fairview Heights area that are rather nice. The St. Clair 10 Cine can be found at Highway 159 and Interstate 64 across the street from Applebee's. While it is an older theater, it's still clean and usually shows the films you can't find across town at the O'Fallon 15 Cine. This theater can be seen from Interstate 64, and the best way to get there is taking the O'Fallon exit. It has a diverse arcade and nearly all the screens feature stadium seating.

For a more enlightened film experience, the Tivoli Theatre shows artistic and foreign films and is St. Louis' oldest cinema. It's in the Loop at 6350 Delmar. It might be a wise idea to order tickets on the phone for this theater, since it's the only art-house cinema in the city and stays relatively busy.

THEATRE

The Fox Theatre has live entertainment year-round, including plays, musicals and musical concerts of all kinds. The lobby is fabulously decorated and the artwork is currently being restored. The Fox is at 527 N. Grand Blvd. in St. Louis.

For theater closer to home, the Dunham Hall theater is perfect. Not only is it close, but the Riverfront Times recently rated the facility as the best live theater facility in the St. Louis area. All the productions are performed by SIUE students and many different shows run every year.

UNIVERSITY CITY LOOP

University City Loop is in Washington University's back yard in St. Louis. The most widely visited street is Delmar, which has a wide variety of shops, restaurants and cafes. There are Tai restaurants, music shops, art shops, alternative lifestyle shops, thrift stores and the ever-famous Blueberry Hill. This is a restaurant that features mostly local music artists and offers a variety of imported alcohol. St. Louis' own jazz legend, Chuck Berry, plays there nearly every week.

The Loop is a place to go when you feel like walking down a road and seeing people from all walks of life. One minute you could be looking at a guy with blue and purple hair with multiple facial piercings and the next second be next to a hippie that you know hasn't bathed in days. As you walk along the sidewalk on Delmar, you can't miss the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Just as Hollywood has it's fair share of stars, so does St. Louis. Among the famous people honored in the Loop are Chuck Berry, Tina Turner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

LACLEDE'S LANDING

If you're under 21 years old, Laclede's Landing can really suck. For starters, bouncers are getting smarter these days and fake IDs don't usually work. And if you haven't figured it out, most places on the Landing are for legal drinking-aged people.

The best way to get to Laclede's Landing from SIUE is to take Interstate 70 to the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge and follow the signs. The Landing is quaintly arranged around cobblestone streets and for the romantic types, horse-drawn carriages offer a more subdued evening compared to what is going on inside most of the taverns there.

Each bar features either drink specials or perverse entertainment each night. Perhaps this is why the age requirement is enforced with such vigor.

If you are a youngster, you can eat dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, visit the McDonald's Riverboat, or walk around the landmark St. Louis Arch. If you're lucky, Mississippi Nights might have an all-ages show sometime soon....