Bay Curious

Recently uncovered and long forgotten oral histories from Black Americans who survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire are front and center in this episode all about the stories history forgot. Given the racism of the day, how did the Black community recover from the devastation of the Great Quake? And how do people remember those moments when the earth shook and fire consumed the city?

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This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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On the west side of San Francisco, the streets running east-west follow a bit of a pattern. They seem to be alphabetical, starting in the middle of the Richmond and going south, across Golden Gate Park, and into the Sunset District. Except, there are some anomalies in the pattern. Most of the names seem to be Spanish, but not all, and most of the alphabet is represented, but not all. What's going on?

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Cambrian Park Plaza, a strip mall in San Jose, was once the heart of the neighborhood. Featuring a bowling alley, grocery store, post office, clothing stores and more, it had everything nearby residents might need. But it's faded significantly since it's heyday in the 1960s-1980s. Now the smattering of stores that are there are on short term leases, and may storefronts sit empty. On today's show, we explore the fight to redevelop this space, and the market conditions that have made moving forward a challenge. It's the story of one neighborhood, yes. But it's also the story of San Jose, and in many ways the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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When BART trains pull into stations, a robotic and antiquated-sounding voice announces its arrival and destination. Bay Curious listener Jimmy Tobin has long been baffled by these voices. They're hard to understand, he says, and why is it that in the cities pioneering AI and synthesized speech models our own trains are nearly unintelligible?

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Ana De Almeida Amaral. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Muir Woods National Monument is known for its towering redwoods because some old growth trees have been preserved there. But redwoods used to grow all over the San Francisco Bay Area until they were logged for their timber just after the Gold Rush. Most of what we see in places like Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland are second growth trees, ones that have grown since that time. After the 1906 earthquake and fire was another period of intense logging. Timbermen worked their way up the coast to provide the lumber that would rebuild San Francisco. Bay Curious listener Christy Dundon wants to know just how much of our old growth forests were devestated.

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This story was reported by (insert reporter name). Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Tucked away on a wooded hillside in the middle of San Francisco sits a big concrete cross. When it was built, it could be seen from miles around. Now, a thick grove of trees partially shields it from view. Over the years, Bay Curious has gotten several questions about the cross that we answer in today's episode, which first aired in 2021.

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This story was reported by Suzie Racho. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Before Silicon Valley, before the Valley of Heart’s Delight, the hills south of San Jose were home to one of the world’s richest mercury mines: New Almaden. Its quicksilver powered the California Gold Rush, but today, few traces of those boom boom days remain, other than the toxic legacy still circulating in the San Francisco Bay. In today's episode we answer three listener questions about the mine and it's history.

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This story was reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Women have dramatically influenced San Francisco Bay Area history since before the Gold Rush, but their stories are often far less well known. Rae Alexandra's new book, Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area shines a light on these untold stories, highlight these women's impact on the social, cultural and political life of the Bay Area.

*An earlier version of this episode incorrectly named the District 3 supervisor involved in naming Tien Fuh Wu Way. We regret the error.

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to ⁠https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts⁠

This story was reported by Rae Alexandra. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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There's a pervasive story that the bear on California's state flag is modeled on a real California grizzly that was kept in captivity in San Francisco in the late 1800s. But when Bay Curious listener Mark Karn started researching Monarch, the facts weren't lining up for him. He wants to know, is it really Monarch on the state flag? Or, could it be a different bear altogether?

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This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Gabriela Glueck, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is at the heart of city life. Created in 1870 when the land was mostly sand dunes, the park is now one of the crown jewels of the city by the bay and is a must-visit for anyone traveling here. World famous institutions like the Conservatory of Flowers, De Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Botanical Gardens and Japanese Tea Gardens are located in the park, but there are just as many hidden trails, magical dells and places to get lost. We explore some of the hidden delights of Golden Gate Park that even devoted locals might not know about. And, we'll tell the epic story of how this park got built in the first place.

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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