Gateway Arch Ticket Sales Agent Karen Clark takes her role of representing St. Louis seriously. Get to know her and her memorable Arch experiences.

Q: Why did you choose to work at the Gateway Arch?
A: It’s iconic! I was five years old when it was done. There’s a picture that shows me standing on my grandfather’s shoulders on the day of completion. I am lucky to work here and to live across the street. It’s a beautiful city, I call it home!

Q: What was your most memorable experience working at the Arch?
A: In 2019, I had a guest who had traveled from England and was visually impaired. She had learned the stories of Westward Expansion, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis in school. She was 64. She came to the states and I sold her Arch tickets, but then I had the honor of being able to accompany her to the top of the Arch and on the riverboat cruise and escort her to the Old Courthouse. That was my day at work. Check mark, it was great. It was great!

Q: What do you love most about your job?
A: I work with people that are as old as I am and young enough to be my grandkids. We all relate, we’re all a team, we get together and cover each other. We have a relationship here that I think is unusual with most places, we all get along, we mesh. We’re in this together for one purpose/one reason that’s to see differently, to see St. Louis, to see what we are about.

Q: How do you feel about representing the face of St. Louis?
I love being the rep for St. Louis, the hospitality hero. The most fun I have every day is getting to walk to work. I pass tourists, I pass people who have no idea about St. Louis. The parking meters, where to go, where to park, where to eat. I have them covered. When I walk to work, I’m taking pictures of people in front of the Arch. When I walk home from work at night, they ask where to go to catch the Uber, the taxi. I love the interaction of any and everybody on the street.

Q: How would you convince a good friend of yours to work at the Arch?
I would convince a good friend to work at the Arch, especially if they are my age. First of all, we have flexible hours, you pick your day/your shift. Our supervisors are great in working with us. The benefit of having a Metro Transit pass to ride the bus and the trains, that’s a little perk. The pay is really good, plus we get to socialize with people all day long. As long as we balance at night, we can go home with no stress and come back the next day and do it all again! Or if we want a couple of days off, we can take a couple of days off. It’s a good environment for the older and retired who are looking for a job where they can come in and boost morale and bring in some knowledge!

You can join the Gateway Arch team! Just visit our employment opportunities page, where you can learn about open positions and apply.