By Christopher F. Schiel, Travel Correspondent

Fashionably Eccentric Boutique Hotel in One of St. Louis’s Most Vibrant Commercial Quarters

Eight stories above the vivacious thrum of Delmar Boulevard, a 10-foot-wide, 3,000-pound model of the moon—the largest such model in the world—spins in slow revolutions. Its surface is pocked in likeness of the real moon's craterous topography, and as it moves—predictable and deliberate, like all celestial bodies—the eggshell color of its light half slowly gives way to the sooty hue of its dark side. The chromatic sequence plays out, seemingly in perpetuity, above the heads of the crowd gathered at the Moonrise Hotel's Rooftop Terrace Bar, and down in the lobby a dynamic light wall and opalescent, LED-outfitted staircase cycle through the color spectrum, their vibrant undulations in dazzling contrast to the moon’s simple hemispherical shading. Nearby, newly arrived guests gawk at the lush spectacle of the hotel’s interior—the sleek, sometimes Jetsons-esque furniture, the towering fronds of a strelitzia nicolai plant, the ethereal, fire-toned Dale Chihuly glass chandelier suspended from the high ceiling above the second-floor mezzanine.

After check-in, a walk to the elevators—which require a guest keycard to access the guest-room floors—takes travelers past a recessed glass case that displays Space Race–era curios, signed memorabilia, and a certified moon rock from the personal collection of hotel owner, Joe Edwards. The dim, partially black-lit hallways of the guestroom floors shroud visitors in a sense of privacy, and inside the Superior rooms, furnishings and décor resonate with lunar motifs, from artwork on the walls to polka-dot drapery delicately evoking the cycles of the moon. Serta Enrapture pillow-top beds bedecked with a profusion of pillows equip sleepers with a plush yet solid slumber platform even snugglier than a NASA administrator’s feather-soft beard.

From its ground-floor location, Eclipse Restaurant—one of St. Louis Magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2009—delivers the updated American fare found on its full menus to hotel rooms around the clock. For those who choose to dine at the restaurant, vivid comic-tinged paintings, low-backed leather booths, and ’60s-style chairs augment the quirkily upscale feel of the dining rooms. The breakfast menu features a series of creative benedicts, as well as french toast tweaked with a spiced eggnog-batter infusion. High above the restaurant at the Rooftop Terrace Bar, views of downtown St. Louis spread out to the east, including the iconic curvature of the Gateway Arch, rendered diminutive by distance. Along with the scenery, the bar serves up an abbreviated menu of appetizers prepared at Eclipse, complementing a spread of signature cocktails.

St. Louis: Green Gateway City

The six-block Delmar Loop district maintains a Main Street feel thanks to a panoply of dining and shopping outlets entwined with cultural and nightlife institutions. The neighborhood’s more than 140 shops, eateries, and entertainment forums run the gamut from the casual espresso and conversation of Meshuggah Coffee House to the top-flight touring acts at The Pageant, a 1,000+-capacity concert venue a few doors east of the Moonrise. Just across the street from the hotel, the Little Shark Athletic Company rents mountain, road, and tandem bicycles by the hour and day with a 10% discount to hotel guests. Alongside rentals, keen cycle sage Natalie Carroll dispenses bike maps, route recommendations, and suggestions on city highlights.

About a half-mile south of the hotel, golfers, bikers, joggers, and walkers romp in the 1,293 verdant acres of Forest Park, an enormous swath of urban greenery laced with 5.5 miles of trails. At high noon, sunbeams refract into a beckoning glare off the geometric façade of the Jewel Box, a small 1936 art deco greenhouse in the southeast quadrant of the park. Slightly west along the park's Wells Drive, the renowned Saint Louis Zoo corrals hundreds of species of animals and herds of taxonomically inclined children, and to the north, the park's boathouse allows visitors to take to the waters of Post-Dispatch Lake aboard pedal-powered craft.

In the Southwest Garden Neighborhood 5 miles from Moonrise, the Missouri Botanical Garden sustains an enormous diversity of plant species in habitats such as the Buckminster Fuller–inspired Climatron dome. Outdoors, butterflies flit among the many-hued blooms of the Daylily Garden, and large blue dragonflies hover and zip above lily pads and lotus flowers in the numerous ponds scattered across the grounds.

The Gateway Arch—which at 630 feet is the tallest national monument in the National Parks system, more than twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty—offers a somewhat thrilling ride to its peak and, for those who make the ascent, bird's-eye views of Mississippi riverboats and Busch Stadium. Doors at the visitors' center and the Museum of Westward Expansion at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial open at 8 a.m., lines get long around 10 a.m., and the day’s tickets for tram rides to the top of the arch sometimes sell out in the afternoon.