Episodes
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Why a Black Man Lost His Life for Baseball in the Age of the Negro Leagues
Sisters seek details about their grandfather’s Chicago baseball team, and his killing by a white police officer in 1925.
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Escape from Chicago: How Long Would It Take to Evacuate?
The city’s cagey on estimates, but suggests you bring your best walking shoes.
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Mixed Signals: Do Chicago’s Crosswalk Buttons Actually Work?
The city’s pushing pedestrian-friendly design, but it’s left one consideration at the curb.
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Why Chicago BYOBs Like Nobody’s Business
Combine gangster-era liquor laws with a twist of modern creativity, add a dash of laid-back spirit, and you’ve got a cocktail that makes Chicago the BYOB capital of the country.
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Chicago’s Killer View: The Skyline’s Toll On Migratory Birds
Each migratory season leaves a flurry of birds dead at the feet of skyscrapers. But does that make a dent in the bird population?
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Chicago's Tornado-Proof Delusion.
Yes, tornadoes can hit Chicago. Why do so many people think otherwise?
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Jesse White: A Man of Many Portraits
Why Illinois DMVs have literally hundreds of portraits of Secretary of State Jesse White.
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Illinois has no budget, so where do state tax dollars go, anyway?
Just in time for tax deadlines, here’s how the state spends more than it takes in. It’s worse than you thought. Also, very weird.
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Little Eddie’s Field Trip: The Union Stock Yards Through the Eyes of an Eighth Grader
Back in the 1940s, Chicago school kids took local field trips that would be unthinkable today.
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Not in Your Front Yard: Why ‘For Sale’ Signs are Banned in Oak Park
The village insists a decades-old rule to fight blockbusting continues to protect a precious suburban commodity: diversity.
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Why Does Chicago Have So Many Mattress Stores?
If this retail mystery is keeping you up at night, here are answers. Plus: Have we hit peak mattress? Warning: More puns ahead!
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Why Don’t Chicago’s New Buildings Look Like its Classics?
If everybody agrees that buildings like the Tribune Tower and Wrigley Buildings are beautiful, why don’t we keep building in that style?
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The rise of Casimir Pulaski Day [Rebroadcast]
How Chicago’s Polish community won a Revolutionary War hero a holiday ... in a state he never stepped in. (Rebroadcast)
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Half Day Road and the Origins of a Semantic Slip-up
A half day from ... what? Why this suburban myth is not even half true, and why the same mistake was made again 600 miles away.
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Icebreakers of the Chicago River
How bubblers, boats, and brawn keep the city safe each winter
About this show
The Curious City podcast satisfies your questions about Chicago, the region and the people who live here. Listen here or subscribe. Find us in iTunes under "Curious City podcast."
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Curious City