Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

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

  • 8 minutes 7 seconds
    Winter Weather Tips: From Extra Gloves To Hot Potatoes
    From mail carriers to photographers, we asked people who spend a lot of time in the cold how they stay warm.
    1 January 2025, 11:00 am
  • 7 minutes 44 seconds
    Who Are The Folks At The Christmas Tree Lot?
    Pop-up tree lots sprout up on every Chicago corner during the holiday season, only to disappear. Who are the people who make these happen and what's the business like? As one operator says, "It’s fast, it’s furious and it’s over in about three and a half weeks."
    25 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 16 minutes 28 seconds
    Who’s Behind The CTA Holiday Train? Santa And The Elves!
    The CTA Holiday Train started from humble beginnings. Then a holiday celebrity and his helpers turned it into a Chicago tradition.
    18 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 20 minutes 27 seconds
    In Chicago, forget the cocktail; a beer and a shot will do
    Chicago is a city of pubs and taverns with a robust drinking culture. During the holiday season, that might mean sipping on some warm Swedish glögg, or, as we heard in our last episode, grabbing a Tom and Jerry at Miller’s Pub. But what about a Chicago-specific cocktail? “People really want us to have a cocktail,” said Liz Garibay, executive director of the Beer Culture Center. “It's like, you go to New Orleans and there's a Sazerac. You go to New York, there's Manhattan.” So is there a quintessential Chicago cocktail? Curious City host Erin Allen talks to Garibay as well as Greg Shutters, owner of Cohassett Punch Liqueur to see what they think. Garibay says either way, the city’s drinking culture is shaped by its immigrant and working class roots. We talk with Garibay and Shutters about Chicago’s drinking scene, past and present.
    12 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 7 minutes 5 seconds
    Where did the Tom & Jerry cocktail come from?
    The Tom & Jerry cocktail didn’t originate in Chicago, but this cakey drink feels very Midwestern. We get into the drunken history of this classic drink, and why it’s become a holiday tradition.
    11 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 16 minutes 23 seconds
    Beer, architecture and Lincoln Square: The lasting impact of German culture in Chicago
    If you’ve ever shown up to a bar on a Sunday afternoon or listened to a concert at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, you’ve experienced firsthand the lasting impact of German culture in the city. Last episode, we went to Christkindlmarket, one of the most prominent examples of German culture in Chicago. There are key organizations like the Goethe Institute and DANK Haus. But there are also more subtle, everyday activities we participate in that would be different had German immigrants never settled in this area, centuries ago. Curious City host Erin Allen talks to two experts on German language and culture. They discuss how it has shaped Chicago’s history and present, from the products we consume to the rights and freedoms we enjoy.
    5 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 5 minutes 7 seconds
    Christkindlmarket’s Forgotten Year
    A Curious City listener collects Christkindlmarket mugs. But there’s one mug in her collection without a year on it. We go in search of that lost year.
    4 December 2024, 11:00 am
  • 8 minutes 46 seconds
    Why is there an aviary at O'Hare Airport?
    A curious listener asked why he saw an aviary at O'Hare Airport. It turns out, it isn't an aviary at all — it’s a trap for an invasive species of bird.
    28 November 2024, 11:00 am
  • 7 minutes
    What happens to birds stuck inside the airport?
    Airplanes aren’t the only ones flying around at the airport. Birds often get stuck inside the terminal, and they can be a challenge to get out.
    27 November 2024, 11:00 am
  • 20 minutes 18 seconds
    ‘Indigenous Chicago’ project shows the city has always been a Native place
    November is National Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate and recognize the history, culture and contributions of Indigenous people in our country. If you look around Chicago, you see echoes of Native American history in names like Washtenaw, Skokie and Wabash. But Indigenous history is often presented from a settler or non-Native perspective. Today, we get into a project out of the Newberry Library called “Indigenous Chicago.” Through art, education and collaboration, its goal is to change the dominant narratives about Chicago’s history with the overarching message: Chicago is, and always has been, a Native place. It all began a few years ago with conversations within the Native community. “One of the things we heard over and over again was this issue of invisibility,” said Rose Miron, director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies. “Native community members found that there were far too many people who didn’t understand the long history of Chicago as an Indigenous place, but also didn’t realize that there was a large contemporary community here today.” “Indigenous Chicago” is a collaboration between representatives of tribal nations and includes multimedia art, oral histories, public programs, educational curriculum and an exhibition. Curious City’s Erin Allen spoke with curators Miron and Analú María López, the Ayer Librarian and assistant curator of American Indian and Indigenous Studies.
    21 November 2024, 6:00 pm
  • 12 minutes 50 seconds
    Without Native Americans, Would We Have Chicago As We Know It?
    Chicago histories usually start in 1830, but Native Americans were already settled in the region long before that. Curious City fills you in on what some history books are missing.
    20 November 2024, 11:00 am
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