A fresh start - 7/21/17

Bay Curious listener Dave Ellis lives in the South Bay city of Saratoga. When he was a kid growing up there, he remembers loud tree frogs chorusing almost all the time. But now, even in spring when they should be loudest, he says it's eerily quiet. What's going on? Additional Resources: A South Bay Mystery: What Happened to All the Tree Frogs? Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love...

Bay Curious listener Grant Strother has been visiting San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood his whole life. He loves to get a caprese sandwich at Molinari's Deli, which has been there since the late 1800s. But he wondered, apart from the restaurants, how Italian is North Beach these days? Do Italians still live here? Or, is it all just for tourists? Additional Resources: Ciao Bella: Do Italians Still Live in San Francisco's North Beach? Read the transcript for this episode San Francisco's Love-Hate Relationship With Big Box Stores Sign up for our newsletter Got...

Commuting from East Bay cities like Berkeley and Oakland into San Francisco can be dismal. So when people learn there used to be an extensive streetcar system that crisscrossed the East Bay they want to know, what happened to it? The Key System, as it was known, could get a person from Berkeley or Oakland into San Francisco in 35-40 minutes and was a popular way to travel in the early part of the 20th century. What happened to it and were there nefarious forces contributing to its demise? Additional Resources: The Rise and Fall of Bay Area Streetcar Transit Systems Read the transcript for this episode Uncovering the Real Story Behind the 'East Bay Mystery Walls' Crows Are Crowding Your Bay Area Skies. Why? Bridge Tolls, Lane Closures and Vanity Plates: Your Bay Area Transit Questions Answered Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Dan Brekke. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While you might not recognize the name, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the haunting, almost otherworldly sound the duduk makes. This humble shepherd’s flute wandered out of the Armenian countryside and into Hollywood, making cameos on the scores of movies and shows like The Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ. The duduk was even recently synthesized on both Dune soundtracks. Audiences in the Bay Area don’t get many chances to hear the instrument live — unless they’re able to catch a performance by Santa Rosa-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian -- the duduk whisperer. Additional Resources: Meet the Duduk Whisperer: The Bay Area Armenian Folk Musician Revives Centuries of Soul Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Elize Manoukian. This story first aired on the California Report Magazine and was produced by Victoria Mauleon, Suzie Racho, Brendan Willard, Katherine Monahan, Srishti Prabha and Sasha Khokha.  Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices