Any St. Louis residents here?

Well, do you want an actual club, or would a bar work a bit better?

There are a lot of clubs downtown on Laclede's Landing. The Landing itself is pretty heavily patrolled by cops, but the surrounding areas that you would either walk or drive through are extremely questionable. The Landing is on the riverfront, right by the Arch and historically it's a pretty high crime area. The Landing is usually full of young twenty-somethings of all different races, incomes, etc.

If you're looking for a bar, I can make many more suggestions.

And yeah, you're right. The Greater St. Louis area is HUGE. We're a very spread out city.

Okay, just thought I'd add a few thoughts.

There are many many many many cities around St. Louis that are considered the St. Louis area i.e. Ferguson/Florissant, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Normandy, Blackjack, Bellefontaine Neighbors, etc.

Around here we know the areas as counties. For example, North County includes Normandy, Blackjack, Florissant, (and several other places). Then there's South County, West County, South City, Downtown.

Cities to avoid naming b/c they are higher income would be Clayton, Ladue, Chesterfield, St. Albans, Creve Coeur, The Central West End. You wouldn't find sleazy joints in those areas.

Cities that are lower income/higher crime would be Normandy, St. Louis City, Ferguson/Florissant, East St. Louis. The "Eastside" meaning East St. Louis is where all the strip clubs/all night clubs are. People generally only go to the East side to hit a strip club. High crime area. Definitely a mixed crowd.

Incidentally, there was just an horrific crime in the Central West End that made national news. A SLU volleyball player from Chicago was here to attend an alumni game. Two guys robbed her and shot her to death in broad daylight, in a relatively safe part of town. Her name was Megan Boken. You can google and read a bit about the neighborhood.

I don't live in St. Louis now, but I can second what Gretad said. The East side has quite a reputation for crime, and that in a city known for crime. You have St. Louis and East St. Louis, so I never think of the East side as St. Louis proper. I haven't been in that area much, but what I've seen was very run down and primarily black. I would've been there during the daytime passing through, not at night going to clubs or bars--I imagine the scene changes. The cities and counties incorporated into St. Louis are known by their names in a way that I always thought of as neighborhoods (Creve Coeur, The Central West End, South County, etc.). If you want something a bit less rough around the edges, go with the Missouri side of the river.

Ditto previous posters. I would set the story somewhere in downtown St. Louis. High crime (while I lived in STL, it was named the most dangerous city in America, not sure if that honor still holds), lots of diversity. St. Louis is a great setting for a story IMO.