Curious City

<p dir="ltr">How generation after generation of Polish families made the city into a 'Poland elsewhere.'</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/-qA5RqGShko" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>A Grabowski team of demographA Grabowski team of demographers help us test the city’s claim of having the most Poles outside Poland.ers help us test the city’s claim of having the most Poles outside Poland.A Grabowski team of demographers help us test the city’s claim of having the most Poles outside Poland.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/6S1uH0VtAv0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>From Chicago Heights to Mount Prospect, here’s why Chicago suburb names flat out lie about their elevation.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/VbAVa_OcgAI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>How Chicago became the alley capital of the country and why so much of the rest of the region is conspicuously alley-free.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/ZZucbXsvl9s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The lowdown on how the fountain shoots water so high, and why it was built to impress in the first place.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/JhAHVhq9GhY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>A list of meaty, messy and often obscure city originals that's meant to get you out of your comfort zone.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/OSIVyFwPH_k" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Ever see this rusty old freighter off the Bishop Ford Expressway? Its backstory says a lot about the Great Lakes shipping industry.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/7zP7dOf5miM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>There are plenty, but let’s just say they’re not ready for a nuclear apocalypse.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/KX8KW_zwOLg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Poverty touches all races in Chicago, but it's more visible among blacks and Latinos. Here's why that happens and why it matters.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/QREW5M9wmkI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>From teenage mischief to possible drug markets, a search for the real reasons sneakers end up on power lines.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/OvqCgku9vaw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Chicago’s notorious light pollution hides the stars, but here’s where you have a fighting chance to peek at the heavens.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/g8wnMIwoffk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The DuSable Museum says — creepy or not — its Harold Washington robot will teach you a thing or two about the city’s first African-American mayor.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/ikq8CXcQInA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The program is no sham, but a good number of recyclables still head to landfills.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/qk4914QmpUM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<div id="text-only">How often do the dead make way for planes, parks and other local development? More than you'd think.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/OgODDnnzu4g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Living near the CTA means life in a rattling fishbowl, but some Chicagoans adapt.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/_BkXdofqcgw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Unsung urban planning hero Edward Brennan tamed a chaotic 19th-century street-numbering system.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/2nwS52waP6w" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>We start an era-by-era search for the district’s ‘golden age’ and wonder: Could it be right now?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/Wh0T2zfJu4o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The city rode high when ‘His Airness’ played for the Bulls. But what did he leave behind?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/PZW5JAppb5U" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p><a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/curious-city/chicagos-forgotten-civil-war-prison-camp/2aea8281-878c-436f-8311-62747b7be31f" target="">Camp Douglas’ deadly reputation was kept in shadows but now there’s a surprising movement to bring it to light</a>.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/FymfNvwIx2I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">Engineers once compared Chicago’s soggy soil to jelly cake. How did they build a forest of skyscrapers on it?</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/WAo1dNTrcAo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>How Chicago’s Polish community won a Revolutionary War hero a holiday ... in a state he never stepped in.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/yl39WugQ7C8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Sure, the timing’s awful for campaigning and voting, but it wasn’t some trick concocted by the Democratic Machine. In fact, it was meant to empower voters.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/Dgj1PEQqHQ4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>A Chinese developer wants to alter the city skyline and break a dry spell in a field we once dominated.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/kAfuZXow_Sg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Let our info about the Let our info about the worst hours, days and seasons for road congestion steer you clear from a traffic-induced personal hell. </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/VHO4s4c8mDo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The Chicago suburbs of Romeoville and Joliet were once named Romeo and Juliet. We explored why.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/iH4uOE-Qzk4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>What associations do you make with Chicago? Da Bears? Shady politics? Wacky weather? If you feel that list is getting stale, here’s a list of new ones to consider!</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/KxMFBZO_WEg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>A state task force likes the idea, but one former officer says the proposed job description could be a bit too much.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/rWWlEF62drE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Our case study: The U of C, where a private force polices 65,000 Chicagoans on and off campus.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/Z6ahHnMx1c8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>What makes these notable ghost stories tick? Even if you don’t believe them, you’ll never forget them.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/eDFcaLGKUeo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">How a modest congregation at Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist built and maintained an improbably cool concrete oasis in such an improbable location. </p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/0XWzYn60Vlo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Historians consider our “what-if” scenario about a city that escaped the 1871 blaze. Would the Loop be a livable neighborhood? Would the skyline be so strident? And would there be such a thing as the Chicago spirit?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/4DHE0Pc5BT8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">As Chicago's former grand movie palace turns 90, the question remains: What can be done to restore it? </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/lLtjOucds1Q" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Illinois struggles with debt and unpaid bills, while Indiana is sitting pretty with a surplus topping $2 billion. What’s behind the fiscal gap between these two neighbors?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/ZheS9AymTC8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The faux speakeasy is popping up everywhere these days, but what made the original Prohibition saloon work?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/KNL-Hj_zTno" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>It took decades for Chicago's first and only female mayor to land an official honor from City Council. Is there a reason it took so long? </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/cy7x8_sDHXE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">A concerned citizen poses questions about violence and the state’s new law allowing people to carry concealed guns. We find a surprising lack of consensus among the candidates and researchers, too.</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/6hoICuKQU_8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p><font><font>Now that our wicked winter’s ending, we look at whether there’s any fallout from flinging so much salt around.</font></font></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/KhUKkJYMO4o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">This winter has felt like one for the ages, but is it really one of Chicago’s worst?</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/rS5ztsHQeRo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Our animated map shows how Chicago grew from lakeside outpost to booming metropolis over the course of a century.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/vTR0zF5zBZI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Daring escapes, unexpected romance and more true stories from German prisoners held in our area.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/u4jcXUu-F6k" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Here’s the evolution of the Lincoln Avenue motels, from sensible to seedy to retro spectacle.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/AzqU-sFDwjw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">The Chicago International Film Festival’s logo has intrigued movie buffs for decades. But is that Charlie Chaplin? Liza Minelli? Here’s the backstory.</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/W9GOYaqT4Nw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>The Progressive Era activist was many things: a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a social reformer, a feminist. But what about ... a lesbian? And, just why should we know in the first place?</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/ZISM0294VQU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Curious City finds the city’s best doughnut spot, while Dunkin’s former CEO spills the secret to the chain’s growth here.</p><p> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/5t1EEF6SzM8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p dir="ltr">The area’s so flat that every bunny hill seems a candidate. But it’s sweet (literally) to find the real deal.</p><div> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/VFoW8LX2Jkk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Sure, they pass laws and vote on city budgets. But there’s so much more. Think: Pregnancy tests and pigeon poo.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/AMnb1OcW3sA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Curious City tracks down the average wages of panhandlers and street performers in Chicago.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/-DbEs6FsgoA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>A listener who hustles to make ends meet wants us to think about people who hustle for even less.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/FRTq9qtYC0c" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>Sure, we have fewer industrial giants in our area these days, but if you know where to look you can find the beating heart of industry.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/ly0Rsrhcvg0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

<p>You’d think food blogger Louisa Chu would be stuffed after this assignment. Nope. Pass her the syrup, she says. She wants to stay and hear more stories.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CuriousCityPodcast/~4/mLq5Q4aLReI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>