The 14 Most North County Things About North County

By on Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 9:20 am

To know north county is to love north county, that weird and wonderful playground of dive bars, airplanes and a touch more radioactive waste than would be preferred. The characters here are colorful, often going back generations, the historical roots run deep and the vibe is laid-back — and frankly a little bit drunk.

But some things are a little more north county than others. Some things just define this place and serve to ensure it remains one of the more interesting spots to live in the St. Louis metro area. We here at the RFT have studied this matter carefully, with some in our ranks even going so far as to grow up in the region so that our research could be as complete as possible.

Without further ado, we present to you our findings. From Florissant to Overland and all points between, here are the 14 most north county things about north county.
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Busch Beer The official beverage of NoCo is as plentiful as the specks of dust on the Earth, and at least twice as tasty. Busch beer (Heavy, not Light) is such a staple of north countian consumption that it even flows freely from the taps in the homes across the region. (Alright, that might not be true, but it might as well be.)
PHOTO BY DANIEL HILL
Busch Beer

The official beverage of NoCo is as plentiful as the specks of dust on the Earth, and at least twice as tasty. Busch beer (Heavy, not Light) is such a staple of north countian consumption that it even flows freely from the taps in the homes across the region. (Alright, that might not be true, but it might as well be.)
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A Laserlike Cop-Spotting Ability With dozens of municipalities across north county all competing with one another for the revenue generated by pulling over the local citizenry, it can be an expensive proposition to drive a car if one does not do so absolutely flawlessly (and let’s face it, no one in north county does). Luckily we’ve become quite adept at spotting the cops before they spot us.
PHOTO BY PAUL SABLEMAN / FLICKR
A Laserlike Cop-Spotting Ability

With dozens of municipalities across north county all competing with one another for the revenue generated by pulling over the local citizenry, it can be an expensive proposition to drive a car if one does not do so absolutely flawlessly (and let’s face it, no one in north county does). Luckily we’ve become quite adept at spotting the cops before they spot us.
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St. Louis-Style Pizza It should frankly be called North County-Style Pizza, being that in all actuality this is where it was invented (no, we will not be entertaining dissent on this front, least of all from anyone with the last name Imo). Ponticello's (RIP), Faraci, Pirroni’s, Angelo's, Nick & Elena's, BJ’s — need we say more?
PHOTO BY ZACHARY LINHARES
St. Louis-Style Pizza

It should frankly be called North County-Style Pizza, being that in all actuality this is where it was invented (no, we will not be entertaining dissent on this front, least of all from anyone with the last name Imo). Ponticello's (RIP), Faraci, Pirroni’s, Angelo's, Nick & Elena's, BJ’s — need we say more?
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Dive Bars Save your fancy cocktail bars for the Central West End; up north we like our watering holes dark and dank and filled with poorly aging alcoholics and cigarette smoke. North county positively overflows with rundown hole-in-the-wall bars, making every drunken stumble down the street a bar crawl in its own right. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
PHOTO BY DANIEL HILL
Dive Bars

Save your fancy cocktail bars for the Central West End; up north we like our watering holes dark and dank and filled with poorly aging alcoholics and cigarette smoke. North county positively overflows with rundown hole-in-the-wall bars, making every drunken stumble down the street a bar crawl in its own right. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Drinking and Driving We’re not saying we encourage it, we’re just telling it like it is. No one in north county is particularly worried about getting pulled over for drinking and driving, because odds are the police chief was tossing ‘em back at the bar with you anyway. He’ll get you off the hook, as long as a state trooper doesn’t get him first.
PHOTO VIA FLICKR/NEWYORK LAWYERS
Drinking and Driving

We’re not saying we encourage it, we’re just telling it like it is. No one in north county is particularly worried about getting pulled over for drinking and driving, because odds are the police chief was tossing ‘em back at the bar with you anyway. He’ll get you off the hook, as long as a state trooper doesn’t get him first.
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Late-Night Donut Runs Bunker’s Tavern just closed and you need something to soak up all the booze you’ve been putting back for the last six hours — whatever should you do? True north county folk know that nothing does the job like a late-night run to Old Town Donuts, the 24-hour fried dough destination where you’re sure to run into all sorts of fellow travelers in all manner of intoxicated state. Get the classic glazed; it’s a staple for a reason.
PHOTO BY ANDY PAULISSEN
Late-Night Donut Runs

Bunker’s Tavern just closed and you need something to soak up all the booze you’ve been putting back for the last six hours — whatever should you do? True north county folk know that nothing does the job like a late-night run to Old Town Donuts, the 24-hour fried dough destination where you’re sure to run into all sorts of fellow travelers in all manner of intoxicated state. Get the classic glazed; it’s a staple for a reason.
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Being Mad That Bigfoot Is Gone The pride of north county, the world's first monster truck for decades sat outside of owner Bob Chandler's Ferguson- and then Hazelwood-based automotive shop before heading west in 2015 to its current home in Pacific. North countians still haven't gotten over it, and the attendant rage is enough to make one want to crush a car.
PHOTO BY REUBEN HEMMER
Being Mad That Bigfoot Is Gone

The pride of north county, the world's first monster truck for decades sat outside of owner Bob Chandler's Ferguson- and then Hazelwood-based automotive shop before heading west in 2015 to its current home in Pacific. North countians still haven't gotten over it, and the attendant rage is enough to make one want to crush a car.
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Non-Practicing Catholics Culturally speaking, the vast majority of north countians are Catholics, but we’re not about to let that make us go to church or anything. Let’s be reasonable here.
PHOTO BY REUBEN HEMMER
Non-Practicing Catholics

Culturally speaking, the vast majority of north countians are Catholics, but we’re not about to let that make us go to church or anything. Let’s be reasonable here.
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Associating Basketball with Fried Fish If you grew up in north county, odds are at some point in your life you spent some time shooting hoops in the St. Ferdinand gym, whose long history of Lenten fish fries has long since imbued it with a distinct and prominent smell. Now every time you turn on a game you can’t help but begin to salivate.
PHOTO BY REUBEN HEMMER
Associating Basketball with Fried Fish

If you grew up in north county, odds are at some point in your life you spent some time shooting hoops in the St. Ferdinand gym, whose long history of Lenten fish fries has long since imbued it with a distinct and prominent smell. Now every time you turn on a game you can’t help but begin to salivate.
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Hesitance at Green Lights Sure, technically you can legally pull forward as soon as the light turns green, but to do so would be to take your life into your own hands (or more accurately, into the hands of the driver sure to blast straight through the red light they just received). The city’s issues with wild drivers and traffic violence may generate a lot more conversation, but the sheer lunacy of north county’s roadways predates and frankly outpaces it — as confirmed even by the professionals.
PHOTO VIA FLICKR/GREG GOEBEL
Hesitance at Green Lights

Sure, technically you can legally pull forward as soon as the light turns green, but to do so would be to take your life into your own hands (or more accurately, into the hands of the driver sure to blast straight through the red light they just received). The city’s issues with wild drivers and traffic violence may generate a lot more conversation, but the sheer lunacy of north county’s roadways predates and frankly outpaces it — as confirmed even by the professionals.
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Pipefitters If you live in north county, you are either in the pipefitters union or you know someone who is. We don’t make the rules; we just observe them.
PHOTO VIA FLICKR/NAVFAC
Pipefitters

If you live in north county, you are either in the pipefitters union or you know someone who is. We don’t make the rules; we just observe them.
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Overflowing Scrapper Pickup Trucks If it’s not a pickup it’s a flatbed trailer, and whichever it is it’s filled beyond its limit with broken bicycles, dilapidated water heaters, inoperable microwaves and mangled patio furniture. It may look like that haphazard pile will dislodge any second and spill into the street, but we can assure you it won’t — north county scrappers are Tetris masters.
PHOTO VIA FLICKR/LIBBY ROSOF
Overflowing Scrapper Pickup Trucks

If it’s not a pickup it’s a flatbed trailer, and whichever it is it’s filled beyond its limit with broken bicycles, dilapidated water heaters, inoperable microwaves and mangled patio furniture. It may look like that haphazard pile will dislodge any second and spill into the street, but we can assure you it won’t — north county scrappers are Tetris masters.
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Screaming Over the Sound of Airplanes Also known as “a normal outdoor conversation.”
VIA FLICKR/JASON O'HALLORAN
Screaming Over the Sound of Airplanes

Also known as “a normal outdoor conversation.”
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Radiation Sure, it will probably kill us one day and that sucks, but north county just wouldn’t be the bizarre wonderland of oddities and mutants it is if the government hadn’t dumped all that toxic waste from the Manhattan Project in our backyards. For that, we’d like to offer Uncle Sam a sincere thank you — and an even more sincere give us some fucking money.
PHOTO BY THEO WELLING
Radiation

Sure, it will probably kill us one day and that sucks, but north county just wouldn’t be the bizarre wonderland of oddities and mutants it is if the government hadn’t dumped all that toxic waste from the Manhattan Project in our backyards. For that, we’d like to offer Uncle Sam a sincere thank you — and an even more sincere give us some fucking money.
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