Curious City
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Curious City
Ask questions, vote and discover answers about Chicago, the region and its people. From WBEZ.
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Is that a lobster in the Chicago River?
It’s an invasive species that doesn’t seem harmful at first glance. But if they go unchecked, these little things can disrupt local ecologies.
‘Give while you live’: Who is Museum of Science and Industry founder Julius Rosenwald?
The Museum of Science and Industry was renamed in 2024 in recognition of megadonor Ken Griffin. The museum’s original founder, Julius Rosenwald, did n...
A good lake, not a Great Lake
For a brief moment in the 1990s, Lake Champlain was known as the sixth Great Lake. The lake wedged between Vermont and New York doesn’t quite measure...
Why does Chicago have so little love for the ‘Watchdog’ of the lakefront?
The name Aaron Montgomery Ward might sound familiar, either from the chain of now-defunct department stores that once bore his name or as the catalog...
Is This Your Card? A Brief History Of Chicago-style Magic
Chicago-style magic is close up, funny and usually performed at a bar or
restaurant. We learn about its history and talk to several magicians wh...
Where did the term 'Chicagoland' come from?
There’s no New York-land or Boston-land, so why does the Chicago
metropolitan area have its own unique name?
It turns out this has...
How did Hollywood Beach become Chicago’s ‘gay beach’?
The stretch of beach that starts where DuSable Lake Shore Drive ends wasn’t
always as vibrant or as ‘gay’ as it is today. Its transition was spe...
Why does Chicago use Comic Sans on some elevator inspection certificates?
Comic Sans often signals levity or sarcasm. The font is occasionally used for a key phrase in some official city elevator inspection certificates. Tha...
Does Chicago have a Filipino neighborhood?
A concentrated Filipino community area is not as easy to spot as neighborhoods like Chinatown or Little Village. In this episode, we’ll look at the lo...
Why are there helicopters flying over my neighborhood every night?
Curious City listeners wondered if helicopters they heard buzzing around
their Chicago neighborhoods at night were part of the federal governmen...
Why does Chicago have a monument named for fascist leader Italo Balbo?
There’s an ancient Roman column in Chicago hidden in plain sight near Soldier Field. It was a gift given by Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini...
Standing on history: Who built Chicago’s WPA sidewalks?
Have you ever noticed a branded stamp in the sidewalk? Keen-eyed Chicagoans
have found some that date back to Depression-era infrastructure proj...
‘This is how I speak’: The influence of the Black Chicago accent
A person’s accent can influence the way they are perceived. When it comes to broadcast journalism, the way a person talks is front and center and can...
How has the Black Chicago accent retained its Southern roots?
How have Black Chicagoans kept so many features of the Southern dialect? To
answer starts with the Great Migration.
The story of the Lady Elgin, the deadliest shipwreck in Great Lakes history
The Lady Elgin left Chicago for Milwaukee on a stormy September night in 1860 with around 400 passengers aboard. Another vessel was also out in the st...
What are Chicago area lighthouses used for?
Lighthouses were manned by keepers until automation took over. Now,
preservationists are working to restore Chicago’s most iconic one.
How early Black Chicagoans used photography to redefine their image
At the turn of the 20th century, Black photographers were starting to make
a name for themselves. Photographers like William E. Woodard, James V...
What was Chicago's first art gallery?
What was Chicago's first art gallery? Curious City investigates. Nowadays,
it’s easy to see and experience art all over Chicago. But where did i...
Chicago came under martial law after the Great Fire. Did it help?
The mayor of Chicago declared martial law after the Great Fire in 1871. The
military occupation ended days later, after the death of a civilian....
The ‘windmill capital of the world’ used to be down the road from Chicago
Suburban Batavia, just 30 miles west of Chicago, used to be known as the
windmill capital of the world. But eventually, technological advances t...
Why aren’t there wind turbines in Lake Michigan?
Strong and consistent winds that sweep across Lake Michigan could provide
significant electricity generation. But there are no wind turbines in...
No cars, no road salt: How one Midwestern community avoids salt all winter
Chicago — like so many other frigid American cities — can’t seem to kick its dependence on road salt.In our last episode, we learned how winter weathe...
How does a mild winter affect Chicago’s economy?
Each Chicago winter’s wintery-ness has big implications for your sanity and
your wallet. That led one Curious City listener to ask us if mild wi...
What was it like for women working in Hoover’s FBI?
For decades, the FBI was a man’s world. Anybody else was just living in it,
especially the administrative staff.
In the last episod...
Why did the FBI recruit girls from Catholic high schools?
For a few decades starting in the 1940s, the FBI recruited high school
girls for clerical work. A Chicago Catholic school was a go-to spot to ma...
How Ella Jenkins’ Chicago childhood shaped her iconic children’s music
From school assemblies to “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” Ella Jenkins was a rhythm specialist and children’s music pioneer. Her childhood in Chicago was h...
What's the first Chicago public school named in honor of a Black person?
Many of Chicago’s oldest schools are named after white men. The first named
after a Black person goes back to the 1930s, and it came with some c...
Why did Chicago widen Ashland Avenue?
If you pay attention to street signs in Chicago, you’ll notice imperfections and many quirks. Paul Durica of the Chicago History Museum said a coworke...
Why is Ashland Avenue sometimes Ashland Boulevard?
Ashland Avenue is one of the longest and oldest streets in Chicago, but
sometimes it’s a boulevard. Is this a misprint? Or is this part of the c...
We can’t name ‘em all, but here are some of Chicago’s greatest films
From high-speed chases to preposterous parades, Chicago dazzles on the silver screen. Last episode, we attempted to uncover the best movie ever filmed...
From ‘The Fugitive’ to ‘The Dark Knight,’ what’s the best movie filmed in Chicago?
It’s awards season. Time to look at some of the best movies filmed in
Chicago.
‘Weather is cool’: Weird Chicago weather, from northern lights to water spouts
Thanks to the powerful force that is Lake Michigan and the urban heat
island that is Chicago, the city has witnessed some unusual and extreme we...
When is it no longer ‘cooler by the lake’?
You’ve heard it in the Chicago weather forecast time and time again:
“cooler by the lake.” But how close to Lake Michigan do you need to be to f...
‘It felt like a secret’: Remembering Chicago’s Berlin nightclub
Berlin nightclub in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood closed permanently in November 2023, after four decades in business. The closure happened amid sta...
What’s the story behind Berlin nightclub’s huge mural?
The large mural hung over the main bar at Berlin. Painted in the Art Deco style, the masculine and feminine figures in the painting watched over the n...
Krampus is coming: The Christmas demon’s Chicago connection
On the morning of St. Nicholas Day, good kids rush downstairs to see what kind of gifts might be in their shoes. The bad kids? Unfortunately they migh...
“A Christmas Carol”: An amateur actor’s journey into a Chicago holiday tradition
The Christkindlmarket, the CTA holiday train and “A Christmas Carol” at the
Goodman Theatre. Chicago is full of holiday traditions. In this epis...
The first Black-owned airport in the U.S. was in Robbins, Illinois
The Robbins Airport, just southwest of Chicago, was the first Black-owned
and -operated airport in the country. Its founders were pivotal to Bla...
A museum, a mayor and a road: How Lake Shore Drive became a runway ... intentionally
Lake Shore Drive has served as a makeshift runway for emergency landings. But it’s also been an intentional runway for planned arrivals. We go back to...
How one organization is transforming Englewood’s vacant lots
The city of Chicago owns thousands of vacant lots, and more than 80 percent of those parcels are in communities where the population is at least 80 pe...