Bay Curious

The Forgotten Chinese Flower Growers in the S.F. Bay Area

For much of the 20th century, swaths of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were home to seas of chrysanthemums, asters and irises. About 200 acres of chrysanthemums — rou

The Island Lighthouse Turned Romantic B&B

Just off San Pablo Point, near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, there's a tiny spec of an island with a beautiful Victorian-era building on it. East Brother Light Station

Why So Many Golf Courses in Public Parks?

Bay Curious listener Mary Newsom went on a lot of walks during the coronavirus pandemic. While hiking in the Oakland and Berkeley hills, she noticed that wildlife had com

Why Flock License Plate Readers Are So Controversial

Many Bay Area cities from Oakland to San Francisco have contracts with Flock Safety, a surveillance company that offers license plate readers that yield far more data tha

Belay On! Outdoor Rock Climbing in San Francisco

In the heart of San Francisco, near the Castro Theater and Corona Heights, there's a rock wall with a striking appearance. Listener Ravi Bhoraskar stumbled on it and wond

A Long-Awaited Refresh for S.F.'s Trash Cans

San Francisco’s trash cans have problems. From debris littering the streets around them, to the — more often than not — broken recycling compartments, these green garbage

Welcome to Anchorage 9: Where Ships Park

Stephanie Rolfs, like many Bay Area residents, has spent a lot of time looking out over the bay, watching as ships come and go. The cargo ships in particular are so big a

Got Existential Questions About AI? Try “Life, Automated”

Olivia shares the trailer for a new show. "Life, Automated" explores how to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. What does the econ

Bruce Lee's Bay Area Legacy

Bruce Lee was one of the first Asian stars in Hollywood. His path to fame wasn’t easy but it paved the way for other Asian Americans to do the same today. Bruce was a dis

The Life of Ishi, Last of His Tribe

When Ishi walked into Oroville, Calif. in 1911, newspapers around the country trumpeted the news with headlines like "Last Wild Indian." He was the last of the Yahi, a tr

The Mariners Who Guide Massive Ships Into the Bay

If you ask mariners, they’ll tell you, navigating a boat from the open ocean into the San Francisco Bay is notoriously treacherous. There’s the dense fog that can make it

The Yemeni Cafe Boom

The first Yemeni cafe opened in the Bay Area in 2022, and since then nearly 20 have opened their doors around the region. Inside you'll find coffee drinks built around fl

The Bay Area Sex-Loving Commune That's Still Going Strong

In the 1960s and 70s the San Francisco Bay Area was home to many intentional communities and co-ops. A lot of people were interested in living situations that went counte

What Happens When the Bay Area’s Beloved Ferries Break Down?

The San Francisco Bay Area has two major public ferry agencies serving the north and east bay. Together, they carried 4 million people last year. Bay Curious listener Kri

Campsites Are Hard to Get in California. Try Dispersed Camping Instead

If you aren't the type of person to wake up at 6:30am six months before you want to go camping to reserve a spot, you might be interested in dispersed camping. It's a fre

The Wetsuit: Born of San Francisco's Frigid Waters

Jack O'Neill is often credited with inventing the first wetsuit and selling it out of one of the nation's first surf shops near San Francisco's Ocean Beach. But many peop

The Brutalist Embarcadero Fountain Some Love, Many Hate

Since it was first unveiled in 1971, the 710-ton brutalist-style Vaillancourt Fountain has been a divisive piece of public art. The tangle of concrete square tubes once f

The Delightful Story Behind A Thrift Store Vinyl Find

Jess Garcia loves perusing San Francisco thrift stores for treasures. One day, she came across a vinyl record titled "In Baghdad By the Bay: Cora and Santos Beloy," which

The 24 Hour Job of Running Alameda's Bridges

Sarah Reid noticed a control booth attached to one of Alameda's many drawbridges, and wondered if people are inside, working the bridge. Turns out they are, and it's a ro

Concord's Long Road from Navy Weapons Station to Walkable Neighborhood

Suzanne Howard was playing around with Google Maps one day and zoomed in on Concord, in the east bay. She noticed a large open space near Concord High School that wasn't