Chingy’s “Holidae Inn” holds a special place in my memories. I was in my late teens when it dropped in 2003: that age where you’re almost grown, pseudo-grown, grown enough to vote but not drink, etc. That age where you’re allowed in some clubs but not the good ones so you resort to clubbing in the hotel room.
Every generation has the hotel room experience. Some 18-20 year old has an older sibling or cousin with a credit card willing to put a hotel room in their name. If they’re really cool they’re okay with purchasing “party favors.” Then we know what happens next: I call my friends, you call your friends, and we crowd in with loud music blaring until we’re damn near kicked out. Fun times. “Holidae Inn” was one of the songs that had to be played if you were hosting or going to a hotel party. Its release also coincided with my landing a job as a DJ for my college’s radio station. Evansville, Indiana is a 3-hour drive away from St. Louis and STL definitely held influence on local hip-hop fans. “Holidae Inn” was one of the first songs I kept in heavy rotation.
In a fashion similar to my Ice Cube map, instead of just reminiscing on Chingy’s hit, I wanted to find out the where. What Holiday Inn options did Chingy have at his disposal? Was there a particular Holiday Inn he frequented? I asked, researched, and found answers.
Holiday Inn is owned by IHG Hotels and Resorts, according to their website this is the number of Holiday Inns in the St. Louis area:
14 Total
5 with St. Louis addresses (only 2 within the city limits)
6 within St. Louis county
3 outside St. Louis county
The stars on the map reflect all of the currently open Holiday Inns, so there may be more that once were but are closed or reopened by another name. Illinois was not included for simplicity. Per usual I symbolized the map based on the colors of local sports teams:
The City of St. Louis, split into its many neighborhoods, and the stars representing St. Louis addresses are Cardinal red. Freeways are colored the dark blue of the Rams home jerseys when they played in St. Louis.
St. Louis County, and stars within are Blues blue.
Stars outside of the both the city and county are Cardinal yellow.
Of these there’s a particular Holiday Inn Chingy mentioned in his lyrics. In the first verse he say’s he’s “On Highway 270 to Natural Bridge Road.” There’s a Holiday Inn on 10000 Natural Bridge Road, within a few miles of Interstate 270. I enlarged the star of the Natural Bridge Road Holiday Inn, which is northeast of the St. Louis city limits. Fun fact: Mrs. Smithsonian is from St. Louis and Chingy’s favorite Holiday Inn happens to be the one we’re usually staying at when visiting our family.
I found it odd some of the hotels have St. Louis addresses but are not within the St. Louis city limits, so I explored further and learned about the difference between the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. In most places I’ve lived and most places I studied as a planner cities exist inside of counties for the most part. St. Louis is different. The City of St. Louis separated from St. Louis County in 1877 and became an independent city. Independent cities are considered primary divisions of their home state, meaning the City of St. Louis doesn’t have to go through or include a county to conduct business with the State of Missouri. According to Wikipedia there are only 41 such cities in the United States. I’m not certain if this city-county division is a contributor to St. Louis addresses existing in the county and not the city, but I have a hunch it might.
Sources:
St. Louis County Data Portal: https://stlouiscountymo.gov/open-data/
City of St. Louis Data Portal: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/data/datasets/index.cfm
Chingy, “Holidae Inn” Lyrics, Genius: https://genius.com/Chingy-holidae-in-lyrics
IHG website: https://www.ihg.com Wikipedia, City of St. Louis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis
Wikipedia, Independent City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)
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