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Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Ask questions, vote and discover answers about Chicago, the region and its people. From WBEZ.

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00:23:15

Traveling parties are part of a queer Chicago culture...

Curious City ·

2023/08/24

This week, we're revisiting a story from 2022 that answers a question about the history of lesbian parties in Chicago.

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00:00:00

What’s the most unexplained thing that’s happened to...

Curious City ·

2023/08/22

Last fall, a WBEZ listener told us about a haunted house in Barrington, IL, where a young boy died under tragic circumstances and his spirit seemed to remain. Do you have a similar story to share from the greater Chicago area? Maybe you’ve noticed objects moving around a room inexplicably, electronic devices turning off and on or other signs of a haunting. Perhaps you’ve dug into the history of your home or office building and found something revealing—or heard stories from your neighbors that

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00:20:28

Love, peace and Soul Train

Curious City ·

2023/08/17

Soul Train was the place of love, peace, and of course, soul. Broadcast nationally from 1971 through 2006, it was one of the longest-running TV shows in history — with the longevity of this cultural phenomenon attributed to creator and longtime host Don Cornelius. In 2011, Chicago celebrated the 40th anniversary of the show’s first nationally syndicated episode with a free concert in Millennium Park. “That was incredible,” said former WBEZ host Richard Steele, a longtime radio personality and

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00:16:00

Meet the lobster-like crustaceans invading the...

Curious City ·

2023/08/10

If you’ve ever kayaked down the Chicago River or relaxed along any of the waterways in the area, you may have encountered all sorts of creatures — an enormous snapping turtle, a stray alligator or maybe something that looks a lot like a lobster. A lobster living in Chicago water would be impossible. After all, they thrive in salt water and would not be able to survive in fresh water. But a Curious City listener swears she’s seen something lobster-like swimming around the city. So if it wasn’t a

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00:21:20

How did West Ridge become a heavily Orthodox Jewish...

Curious City ·

2023/08/04

Take a walk around California or Kedzie Avenues on Chicago’s North Side, and you’re bound to see men wearing kippot — also called skull caps — or black fedora hats. You’ll also see women with their hair covered, big families walking together and many synagogues. It’s the West Ridge neighborhood, also known as West Rogers Park, and it’s one of the most diverse areas in the city. Curious City listener Alice Henry grew up in West Ridge nearly 30 years ago, and her parents still live there now

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00:17:44

There’s no ‘New Yorkland’ or ‘Bostonland,’ so why...

Curious City ·

2023/07/28

The term “Chicagoland” is part of the region’s DNA. You’ve probably seen it plastered on car dealership billboards or grocery store coupons. Maybe you’ve even heard the weatherman refer to “sunny skies across Chicagoland.” 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 been a question on the minds of many Curious City listeners. To learn more, we looked at the origins of this term, how its meaning has changed

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00:00:00

Everything you need to know about iconic Chicago foods

Curious City ·

2023/07/20

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00:18:20

Who’s behind the so-called ‘teen takeovers’ downtown?

Curious City ·

2023/07/13

It’s summertime in Chicago and, once again, large teen gatherings are making headlines. It got one Curious City listener wondering who’s behind the social media push for these so-called “teen takeovers.” These meetups have been happening for years, and they are especially popular among Black teens. The gatherings are known as “trends,” a word that often appears on flyers, usually signaling a large meetup at a public place, like Grant Park or North Avenue Beach. But in some instances these large

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00:24:07

The unlikely rise of Malört as Chicago’s drink

Curious City ·

2023/07/06

Love it or hate it, Malört is Chicago's drink. Throwing back a shot of the bitter liquor is practically a rite of passage for residents and visitors, and if you spend long enough at any Chicago dive bar you’re likely to see patrons ordering a Chicago Handshake: the iconic pairing of a Malört shot with an Old Style beer. Malört made its debut in Chicago in the 1920s, when Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson began selling the traditional Swedish-style bitters on the Near North Side. Jeppson skirted

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00:18:39

Which dances were invented in Chicago?

Curious City ·

2023/06/29

Chicago may be known as the home of deep-dish pizza, the blues, and modern architecture.But an international dance capital? It turns out a lot of famous dances were created in the city’s clubs and on its streets. The hops, skips, twists and turns took form in just about every corner of the city.We started digging into this part of Chicago’s cultural history after we received a question from a couple of teenagers who stopped by aCurious Cityoutreach event at the Dunning branch of the Chicago Public

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00:25:52

When you die with no known next of kin, what happens...

Curious City ·

2023/06/23

On a recent afternoon, about 70 people sat quietly in the pews of the Chicago Temple Building in the Loop. They were there to remember nearly 300 people who died alone, without next of kin, in Cook County. Religious leaders from different faiths read the names of each person aloud, and the St. Sabina Youth Choir filled every corner of the room with songs. We visited the service because Curious City listener Chris Ferrigno wanted to know what happens to people who die without any known family members

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00:20:44

We went in search of the best pizza-by-the-slice in...

Curious City ·

2023/06/15

Buena Park resident Rebecca Silverman moved to Chicago from the East Coast 16 years ago. She likes to tell people Chicago’s got everything New York has — except when it comes to pizza by the slice. “The one thing I do miss about the East Coast is a place to get a slice of pizza, not a whole pie,” Rebecca said. “I haven't quite found that here yet.” So she wrote to WBEZ to ask where to find the best single slice of pizza in Chicago. We teamed up with our friends at the daily news show Reset to

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00:23:09

Why is the only Baháʼí temple in North America in...

Curious City ·

2023/06/08

The U.S. Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois is striking: it doesn’t seem like the three-tiered temple with a Renaissance dome belongs in the neighborhood of large homes where it sits. Growing up in the area, Curious City listener Annie Carroll said she’d drive by the temple at least once a week. “It never gets old. Every time you look at it, you see something completely new,” Carroll said. “It's an incredibly detailed, beautiful building.”

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00:59:42

How the ‘deadliest man alive’ stoked Chicago’s...

Curious City ·

2023/06/02

Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of violence. Floyd Webb remembers the first time he met John Keehan. It was 1964, and Webb was just 10 years old, scrubbing out garbage cans in an alley in Chicago’s Chinatown to earn pocket money. Webb was living on the other side of the expressway in the Harold Ickes housing project. On this particular day, behind a row of restaurants, Webb and his friends noticed a guy putting up posters. They’d seen him around before — he was a red-haired

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00:00:00

Curious City is spending time in West Ridge. What...

Curious City ·

2023/05/26

At Curious City, we’ve been answering your questions about Chicago, the region and its people for the last ten years. Our mission is to reach residents from all corners of the metro area with the goal of finding the answers to their questions together. A couple years ago, we looked at how many submissions we were getting from people living in every Chicago-area zip code. We wanted to reach out to communities that we didn't hear from often. We started in Pilsen, working with community

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00:04:56

De Venezuela a Chicago, la historia de una migrante...

Curious City ·

2023/05/20

Este artículo fue publicado en Inglés el 11 de mayo de 2023. Más de 8,500 migrantes, muchos originarios de Centro y Sudamérica, han llegado a Chicago desde agosto del año pasado. La gran mayoría fueron enviados en autobuses a la ciudad por funcionarios del gobierno de Texas. Se ha esperado un aumento en el número de personas que cruzan la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México desde que, el jueves 11 de mayo, cuando el gobierno federal levantó el Título 42, una política de la era de la pandemia que

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00:04:34

Who are 'community navigators' and how do they help...

Curious City ·

2023/05/19

Recently, the Curious City team has been spending time in the West Ridge neighborhood, asking residents what topics they’re interested in and what questions they have about their community. Because West Ridge is home to a lot of immigrants, a number of people we spoke with wanted to know how refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants access key resources — including health care and legal assistance — as they adjust to a new life in Chicago. More specifically, a few people asked about the role

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00:25:18

From Venezuela to Chicago, one migrant’s story of...

Curious City ·

2023/05/12

More than 8,500 migrants, many from South and Central America, have arrived in Chicago since August of last year. The vast majority were bussed to the city by government officials in Texas. The number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is expected to grow now that the federal government lifted Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that prevented people from seeking asylum at the border, on Thursday. The city and community organizations have been scrambling to set up shelters and offer basic

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00:22:17

A short statue with big importance for labor history

Curious City ·

2023/04/27

At the corner of Pulaski Road and Foster Avenue on Chicago’s Northwest Side stands a statue of labor leader Samuel Gompers, welcoming people to the park that carries his name. Cast in bronze, he strikes a dignified pose, hands assertively clasping his lapels, his eyes gazing off into the distance. At his feet are two boxes of cigars, a nod to Gompers’ roots as a cigar maker. This is a relatively new statue in Chicago, unveiled in 2007. It recognizes, among other things, the founder of the

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00:16:27

What is Swedish egg coffee?

Curious City ·

2023/04/20

Winfield, Illinois resident Elizabeth Stoffel first heard about Swedish egg coffee from a friend. Ruby, an older Swedish woman she met at church, would share stories with Stoffel about the Swedish Lutheran community she grew up with — and, in particular, a drink they used to make. “She had lots of memories about this special coffee that she would get little sips of,” said Stoffel. “But because she was a young person, she was never in charge of making it.” As Ruby’s health declined, Stoffel, who

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