Shows / Bay Curious
Bay Curious
Bay Curious is a show about your questions – and the adventures you find when you go looking for the answers. Join host Olivia Allen-Price to explore all aspects of the San Francisco Bay Area – from the debate over "Frisco", to the dinosaurs that once roamed California, to the causes of homelessness. Whether you lived here your whole life, or just arrived, Bay Curious will deepen your understanding of this place you call home.
Episodes
- Bay Curious
The Oakland Cemetery that Doubles as a Public Park
Designed by Central Park architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery serves as both a tranquil public park for living visitors and a…
- Bay Curious
History, Dancers and...Ghosts? North Beach's Condor Club
The Condor Club has been a fixture of San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood for more than 60 years. It's also where Carol Doda first performed topless…
- Bay Curious
How the Church of Satan Was Born in San Francisco
The Bay Area has long been associated with countercultural movements — whether it was the Beats of the 1950s, the hippies of the 1960s or the Black Panthers of…
- Bay Curious
Prop 45: Faster Environmental Reviews for Certain Projects
The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires state and local agencies to consider the environmental impact of public and private projects. Prop…
- Bay Curious
Prop 44: Health Clinic Spending Requirements
Proposition 44 on the 2026 California ballot would require private non-profit health clinics serving the lowest income Californians to spend 90% of their…
- Bay Curious
Prop 43: Special Tax Voter Threshold
Proposition 43 on the 2026 California ballot would increase the vote threshold to pass new local taxes earmarked for special causes. Additional Resources: Read…
- Bay Curious
Prop 42: Bans New State Taxes on Investments and Personal Property
Proposition 42 on the 2026 California ballot prohibits new state personal property taxes and certain retroactive state taxes. Additional Resources: Read the…
- Bay Curious
Prop 41: Requires Audits of New Special Taxes
Proposition 41 on the 2026 California ballot would require more audits on the programs that are funded by special taxes. Is it good governance? Or red tape…
- Bay Curious
Prop 40: One Time Tax on Billionaires
Proposition 40 would impose a one time 5% tax on Californians whose net worth is over a billion dollars. The resulting revenue would be primarily used to…
- Bay Curious
Prop 39: Requires Voters Show ID to Cast A Ballot
Proposition 39 on the 2026 California ballot would require voters to show a valid ID when casting their ballot. Currently, voters have to show ID to register…
- Bay Curious
Prop 38: Immunology Research Bond
Proposition 38 on the 2026 California ballot would authorize the state to borrow money to fund immunology research. Additional Resources: Read the transcript…
- Bay Curious
Prop 37: Creates Middle-Income Homebuyer Program
Proposition 37 on the 2026 California ballot authorizes the state to borrow money to create a middle-income homebuyers program. Additional Resources: Read the…
- Bay Curious
Prop 5: Recall Reform
Proposition 5 on the 2026 California ballot would change the rules around recalls of elected officials. Additional Resources: Read the transcript for this…
- Bay Curious
Prop 4: Public Financing For Political Campaigns
Proposition 4 on the California 2026 ballot would repeal an earlier statewide ban on public financing programs. It would open the door for state and local…
- Bay Curious
Prop 2: The Rainy Day Fund
Proposition 2 on your 2026 California ballot would make changes to how the state's Rainy Day Fund would work. It would both allow lawmakers to set aside more…
- Bay Curious
Prop 3: Tax on High-Income Earners
California has what’s known as a “progressive tax system” – basically, the more money you make, the more you pay in income taxes. For years, California voters…
- Bay Curious
Prop 1: Affordable Housing Bond
Proposition 1 on the 2026 California ballot authorizes the state to take out an $11.25 billion bond to fund an array of affordable housing programs, including…
- Bay Curious
Bay Curious Presents: The Speaker
Nancy Pelosi is many things: Trailblazer. Lightning rod. First woman Speaker of the House. Mom of five. To some, she’s an out-of-touch elitist, to others, a…
- Bay Curious
The Best Scary Movies Set in the Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area isn't as popular of a filming location as Los Angeles or Vancouver, Canada, but there are some very creepy films that use our unique…
- 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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
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…
- Bay Curious
The Most Beautiful Taco Bell in the World
The Pacifica Taco Bell, just outside of San Francisco, is legendary for its beachfront views and retro architecture. But it could never be built today. How did…
- Bay Curious
How to Make Friends in the Bay Area
It's hard these days to make a good old fashioned friend! Especially here in the Bay Area, where there are so many demands for our time and attention. On…
- Bay Curious
Real Voices From San Francisco's Great Quake of 1906
Recently uncovered and long forgotten oral histories from Black Americans who survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire are front and center in this episode all…
- Bay Curious
The Broken Alphabet of SF's Westside Streets
On the west side of San Francisco, the streets running east-west follow a bit of a pattern. They seem to be alphabetical, starting in the middle of the…
- Bay Curious
Redevelopment in San Jose is Hard. Cambrian Park Plaza Shows Us Why.
Cambrian Park Plaza, a strip mall in San Jose, was once the heart of the neighborhood. Featuring a bowling alley, grocery store, post office, clothing stores…
- Bay Curious
George and Gracie: The Robot Voices of BART
When BART trains pull into stations, a robotic and antiquated-sounding voice announces its arrival and destination. Bay Curious listener Jimmy Tobin has long…
- Bay Curious
Overlogged and Thirsty: Bay Area Redwoods Are Struggling
Muir Woods National Monument is known for its towering redwoods because some old growth trees have been preserved there. But redwoods used to grow all over the…
- Bay Curious
The Towering Cross in the Middle of San Francisco
Tucked away on a wooded hillside in the middle of San Francisco sits a big concrete cross. When it was built, it could be seen from miles around. Now, a thick…
- Bay Curious
The Mercury Mine That Built a Boomtown Near San Jose
Before Silicon Valley, before the Valley of Heart’s Delight, the hills south of San Jose were home to one of the world’s richest mercury mines: New Almaden…
- Bay Curious
Unsung Heroines: Rebel Girls of the Bay Area
Women have dramatically influenced San Francisco Bay Area history since before the Gold Rush, but their stories are often far less well known. Rae Alexandra's…
- Bay Curious
The Bear on the California Flag
There's a pervasive story that the bear on California's state flag is modeled on a real California grizzly that was kept in captivity in San Francisco in the…
- Bay Curious
Secrets of Golden Gate Park
San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is at the heart of city life. Created in 1870 when the land was mostly sand dunes, the park is now one of the crown jewels of…
- Bay Curious
The Navy Jet Generations of SF Kids Played On
One of Aaron Van Lieu's first memories is playing on a real fighter jet in San Francisco's Carl Larsen Park. Located on 19th Avenue at Vicente Street, the jet…
- Bay Curious
Why So Many Legal Courts in S.F.?
Longtime listener Henry Lie was driving through San Francisco one day when he realized the staggering number of legal courts located in the heart of the city…
- Bay Curious
How South San Francisco Went From Industrial City to Biotech Hub
When scientists began tinkering with DNA in the 1970s, biotechnology was not welcome in leafy residential neighborhoods or many college towns. But it was…
- Bay Curious
The Eccentric Personalities Behind Sunnyside Conservatory
Mary Balmana grew up in San Francisco and has driven down Monterey Boulevard near the Glen Park neighborhood hundreds of times. She often notices a large…
- Bay Curious
The Case of the Missing Tree Frogs
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…
- Bay Curious
How Italian Is North Beach? The Surprising Stats
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…
- Bay Curious
The Rise and Fall of Bay Area Streetcars
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…
- Bay Curious
Meet the Duduk Whisperer
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…
- Bay Curious
The SF Landmark You've Never Heard of...Unless You're French
There's a blue house in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood that is constantly mobbed by French tour groups. Bay Curious listener Helen Walker wants to know…