Bay Curious

Our first stop is the Bay Model in Sausalito, a roughly 1.5-acre model of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system. We visit The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, which pays tribute to over 100 years of surfing in the area. Our last stop is at Musée Mécanique where we meet the owner of this vast coin-operated collection.

Additional Reading:

12 Off-Beat Museums in the Bay Area To Visit This Fall

Santa Cruz Museum Shines Light on the History of Surfing

Reported by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Bianca Taylor and Maggie Galloway. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Patricia Yollin.

Lake Tahoe is the backyard playground for many in the Bay Area, so earlier this year we asked the Bay Curious audience what questions they had about this recreational hot spot. We collaborated with TahoeLand, a podcast from Capital Public Radio, to answer them!

– Are there dead bodies at the bottom of the lake?

– What’s the story behind Tahoe Tessie?

– What does it mean to keep Tahoe blue?

– Why is keeping Tahoe blue important?

Find more reporting on how climate change is impacting Lake Tahoe by checking out the TahoeLand podcast.

Web story: Do Preserved Bodies Dwell in Lake Tahoe’s Depths?! The Truth Behind Tahoe’s Myths

Reporting by Ezra David Romero, Sally Schilling and Emily Zentner.

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran and Paul Lancour. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Pat Yollin.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org

Back in the 1960s, San Francisco had really bad television reception. By many accounts, it was the worst of any city in America.

Good reception required a clear line of sight from the broadcast tower to your TV antenna, and in hilly San Francisco this was a challenge. Broadcasters began the hunt for a location to build a very tall tower that could send a clear TV signal far and wide.

A site was selected and plans were drawn up — but not without a bounty of controversy.

Read the full web story: Sutro Tower: The Origins of an ‘Eyesore’

Video from Jessica’s trip to the top: A Trip to the Top of Sutro Tower

This episode first aired on Jan. 5, 2017. It features question asker Craig Rubens.

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Reported by Jessica Placzek.

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Adam Grossberg and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question, vote in a voting round or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.

Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

If you’re in Berkeley and wander far enough up Marin Avenue, there’s no doubt you’ll run into the Fountain at The Circle. The grand Beaux Arts fountain has become a symbol of the neighborhood and has inspired numerous paintings and drawings. It even has its own Berkeley Public Library card design.

But this fountain also symbolizes a big moment in Berkeley’s history, and how one developer’s dream almost changed California history forever.

Reported by Maggie Galloway.

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Patricia Yollin, Carly Severn and Bianca Hernandez.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.

Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

It might seem like everyone thinks their local airport is the worst of them all: the longest security lines, the worst food, the most delays.

But we in the Bay Area have good reason to complain. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2018 SFO was the third-most-delayed major airport in the U.S. in terms of arrivals, with about 26 percent of arriving flights delayed. And that’s not unique to last year. Since 2010, SFO has consistently ranked in the top four of the most delayed airports, some years dipping as low as 69 percent of flights arriving on-time.

Also, what’s the deal with the ‘O’ in SFO?

Read the full web story on airport codes here: Why the ‘O’ in San Francisco’s Airport Code, SFO?

Read the full web story on delays here: Why SFO Is Notorious For Delays

Reported by Maggie Galloway and Jessica Placzek

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Maggie Galloway, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Paul Lancour and Ryan Levi. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org

On a recent visit to San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, KQED listener Michelle Morby didn’t like what she saw. In the middle of the champagne-sipping, pre-performance throng, she spotted someone wearing jeans and white sneakers.

“That to me is completely offensive,” Morby said.

Morby is someone who likes to dress up when she goes out.

“If I got a ticket to the opera tonight, I would pull out a silk jumpsuit. I would wear it with the tallest platform sandals that I have. And I would do my makeup, and I would wear all my jewelry,” she said.

Like beauty, fashion is very much in the eye of the beholder.

So the fashion faux-pas prompted Morby to ask Bay Curious the question, “Why has the Bay Area become the Casual Capital of the World?”

Read the full web version: How the Bay Area Came to be a Hub for Casual Style

Reported by Chloe Veltman

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Maggie Galloway, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Paul Lancour and Ryan Levi. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org

After Joseph Morales, an electrician from Chicago, moved to Emeryville this past winter, he found himself wondering: What’s with all the palm trees in the Bay Area? Like Joseph, they didn’t originate here. But they’re all over the place.

Not that Joseph minds.

“They remind me of vacation,” he says, “having a good time with a cold drink and sitting under a palm tree.” Then again: “Northern California doesn’t really seem to be the ideal location for palm trees. I’m expecting hot weather and sun and beaches. And there’s just palm trees and mountains and cold water. So it just seemed weird.”

Read the full web version: Why Are There So Many Palm Trees in the Bay Area?

Reported by Daniel Potter

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Maggie Galloway, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Paul Lancour and Ryan Levi. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org

Ever had your late night revels ended abruptly by the bartender announcing last call just before 2 a.m. here in the Bay Area?

If this strikes a chord, you’re not alone.

California’s 2 a.m. last call frustrates a lot of people. KQED listener Tara Downey even gets a little embarrassed by it when out-of-town friends visit.

“I have friends that live in New York, and so when they come back here it’s a little bit of a shock to them,” she explained. “They’re kind of like ‘OK, where do we go next?’ And… there’s not really an answer for that. We go home.”

Now she wants to know why last call is so early in San Francisco compared to other big cities.

Read the full web version: Think Bay Area Nightlife Ends Early? That Could Be About to Change

Reported by Carly Severn. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Maggie Galloway, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Paul Lancour and Ryan Levi. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.

Last year, Bay Curious received the question: “How do I make friends?”

We tried reaching out to the question asker, but they never responded. However, surveys show many Americans often feel lonely, and a lot of those lonely people also feel socially isolated.

Last episode we found tips for finding potential friends. This week we talk about how to make friend crushes closer, Aristotle’s ideas about friendship and the potential role of government in addressing social isolation.

For a few tips on how to make friends closer check out the web post: Frustrated by Shallow Friendships? Here’s How to Deepen Them

Reported by Carly Severn

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Maggie Galloway, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Paul Lancour and Ryan Levi. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.

There isn’t a clear path on how to make close friends. Some people find making friends even harder than dating. They say with romantic relationships there’s at least some semblance of steps: You ask a person out, you go out again, maybe you keep going on dates, maybe one person isn’t feeling it and the relationship ends, or perhaps both people are feeling it, you talk and then make your relationship “official”.

Last year, Bay Curious received the question: “How do I make friends?”

We tried reaching out to the question asker, but they never responded.

Surveys show many Americans often feel lonely, and a lot of those lonely people also feel socially isolated.

To help our question asker, we’re going to start off with tips for finding potential friends, then next week we’ll talk about how to make them closer.

Read the full web version: How To Find New Friends

Reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Robert Speight, Katie McMurran, Maggie Galloway and Paul Lancour. Additional support from Julie Caine, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Pat Yollin and David Weir.

Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.

Ask us a question or sign up for our newsletter at BayCurious.org.