On the Cover: C Level is an iconic beachfront restaurant and bar at Aurora Anguilla Resort, located on Rendezvous Bay.
Current Issue
Sophisticated Giving Charity Register, Presented by Stifel
A comprehensive guide to non-profit organizations and charitable giving in St. Louis.
Highlights from the January/February 2026 Issue
Updating a Sweet History
How Bissinger’s and Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Are Scaling a Legacy —All the Way to Nashville, New York and Florida
Text: Craig Kaminer
Photo: John Lore
A Dream Realized
For more than 40 years, this woman harbored a quiet dream about a particular piece of property in Huntleigh. When she was in her 20s, she asked the owner, Dolph Orthwein, if he'd consider selling her just a small parcel. He was kind about it, and with a big friendly smile, explained that he couldn’t sell any of it.
Yet, the yen lingered.
"All my life I wanted to live here so I could have my horses close to me" she says. "And it finally happened. I was in my 60s, but it happened.”
Text: Christy Marshall
Portrait: Alise O’Brien
Cosmic Color Comes to Kransbergville
It’s a rare thing when the art world’s cosmic energy focuses squarely on St. Louis. But in early November, that’s exactly what happened when Kenny Scharf —one of the luminaries of New York’s 1980s East Village art explosion and a close contemporary of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol —touched down in Midtown to paint a new mural for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation
Text: Craig Kaminer
Photo: Zach Dalin
Addin to the Bustle on the St. Louis Riverfront
At 92, Frank Jacobs still dreams big. The founder of Falcon Products —a company that grew from a one-man operation at Broadway and Franklin to a $300 million enterprise on the New York Stock Exchange —has a bold vision that could restore St. Louis’ position as America's inland port powerhouse.
Several years ago, Jacobs stood up at a Moving Forward St. Louis luncheon with a proposition: Use redesigned barges to turn St. Louis into an ocean port in the middle of America. Whenhe suggested it, everybody applauded. What Jacobs discovered surprised him: St. Louis never really lost its river mojo. We just stopped talking about it. But a vision for what comes next —a project called Container on Vessel —could take an already thriving port system to the next level.
Text: Christy Marshall
Photo: John Lore
Fueling Futures
The statistic is staggering: Nearly one in three children in the city of St. Louis doesn't know where their next meal is coming from.
Kristin Wild has made it her mission to change that. As CEO of Operation Food Search, she's leading an organization that's pushing beyond the traditional food bank model to tackle hunger with both urgency and innovation. And in a city where the food insecurity rate for children far exceeds that of adults, Wild knows that feeding kids isn't just about filling bellies today. It's about securing children’s futures.
"The sad reality is there is a need," Wild says. But what sets her apart is what comes next: not resignation, but resolution. Operation Food Search has become something more than a warehouse that distributes food. It's become a holistic health intervention, an education center and a community connector all rolled into on
Text: Christy Marshall
Photo courtesy Operation Food Search
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis
In his richly illustrated new book, “The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis,”architect and historian John Guenther presents a chronicle spanning more than three and a half centuries. The story begins in 1673, when Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet journeyed down the Mississippi River, setting the stage for the founding of St. Louis and the arrival of Catholicism in the region. From those early missionary roots emerged one of the world’s most extraordinary sacred spaces —an enduring symbol of vision, craftsmanship and devotion.
Text: Craig Kaminer
From the Publisher
As we welcome a new year, I find myself reflecting not just on the stories we tell in these pages but on the responsibility that comes with telling them. In a world that feels louder, faster and more fractured by the day, the role of the media —truly free, truly impartial media —has never been more essential. It is not merely a professional obligation; it is one of the foundational pillars of democracy itself.
A free press is the immune system of a healthy society. It identifies threats, illuminates blind spots and strengthens the public’s ability to make informed decisions. When it functions at its best, journalism helps us rise above fear, rumor and manipulation —forces that have always been the enemies of progress.
But today, the environment in which information lives and spreads is unlike anything our nation has ever faced. Trust is more fragile. Facts are more contested. Algorithms deliver tailor-made realities to every screen. And in the noise, it becomes easier for people to disengage entirely, to retreat into echo chambers or to mistake opinion for truth and entertainment for insight.
Text: Craig Kaminer
Event Calendar, Presented by Spirit Jets
Happenings of note in January & February.
Share your celebrations with us, or let us know what events you want to see featured on our pages by emailing editorSTL@slmag.net.
Sophisticated Celebrations
Presented by
Flourish: A Night of Giving
Wonder: A Quantum Blast
Zero Hunger: Doing What Work Works
Little Bit: Together We’re Unlimited
A Tasteful Affair
The Champions of Hope
The Sophi Awards
Get To Know Us
At Sophisticated Living, we are dedicated and passionate about all the finer things life has to offer. Whether your interests are close to home or in far-flung places, each issue shares highlights of the good life in St. Louis and beyond.
Craig Kaminer, Publisher
A native of New York City, Craig has spent the last 35 years developing award-winning marketing programs for some of the leading consumer/lifestyle brands in the US and St. Louis including The Ritz-Carlton, Tiffany & Co., Marriott, Italian Tourism, Simon Property Group, and Danon. His marketing experience includes senior management positions at Twist, Influence, Weber Shandwick and Fleishman-Hillard.
Craig is an accomplished sailor, art collector, jazz promoter, and frequent traveler to Italy. Craig received his bachelor’s degree in architecture and art history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and graduate studies in business management at Columbia University. He is married to Debbie and has two sons, Philip and Barrett, who live in Austin and Nashville respectively.
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craig@slmag.net
Christy Marshall, Editor-In-Chief
After earning her masters at the University of Missouri, Christy started her journalism career at Advertising Age, first in Chicago, then as the Southwest Bureau Chief based in Dallas, and finally in Ad Age’s New York office. She lived in Manhattan for the next decade. While there, she ended up working for Adweek and New York Newsday, while also freelancing for a variety of publications including the New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, and Cosmopolitan.
Christy moved back to her hometown of St. Louis to work on the brand-new daily the St. Louis Sun. When it was shuttered after seven months, she joined the U.S. Attorney’s office as the Public Information Officer. While there, she married her husband, Michael Gans, and they adopted their daughter, Katie, from China.
Always a reporter and writer at heart, Christy returned to journalism. First she was Executive Editor at St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles and then spent a decade at St. Louis Magazine as the founding editor of St. Louis At Home (now StL Design) and St. Louis Family. She joined Sophisticated Living in 2014, retired two years later, and then returned to resume her previous post in 2023.
Christy loves to read, cook, travel, play mah jongg with friends, spend time with her family including their Boxers, Buddy and Dot, and at her family’s farm in Grubville, Missouri.