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 a fast food chain end up with such prime real estate? In this episode we explore it's origins, and how policy about California's coastline has evolved. Additional Resources: It’s the Most Beautiful Taco Bell in the World. Here’s Why It Could Never Be Built Today Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Gabriela Glueck. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 today's show, we hear some of your experiences with making friends in the Bay Area, and follow one listener as she tries to meet new friends in San Jose. This episode originally aired on The Bay podcast. Be sure to subscribe! Additional Resources: Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Jessica Kariisa. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. The Bay is made by Alan Montecillo, Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Jessica Kariisa. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 about the stories history forgot. Given the racism of the day, how did the Black community recover from the devastation of the Great Quake? And how do people remember those moments when the earth shook and fire consumed the city? Additional Resources: Stunning Archival Photos of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire Read the transcript for this episode "We Were Here" by tanea lunsford lynx San Francisco's Historic 'Relief Cottages,' Built After the 1906 Earthquake, Are Hidden in Plain Sight Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Richmond and going south, across Golden Gate Park, and into the Sunset District. Except, there are some anomalies in the pattern. Most of the names seem to be Spanish, but not all, and most of the alphabet is represented, but not all. What's going on? Additional Resources: From Anza to Yorba: The Messy History Behind the Richmond and Sunset’s Street Names Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 and more, it had everything nearby residents might need. But it's faded significantly since it's heyday in the 1960s-1980s. Now the smattering of stores that are there are on short term leases, and may storefronts sit empty. On today's show, we explore the fight to redevelop this space, and the market conditions that have made moving forward a challenge. It's the story of one neighborhood, yes. But it's also the story of San Jose, and in many ways the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Additional Resources: Cambrian Park Plaza, a Beloved San Jose Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When BART trains pull into stations, a robotic and antiquated-sounding voice announces its arrival and destination. Bay Curious listener Jimmy Tobin has long been baffled by these voices. They're hard to understand, he says, and why is it that in the cities pioneering AI and synthesized speech models our own trains are nearly unintelligible? Additional Resources: In a Tech Hub Like the Bay Area, Why Do BART Announcements Sound So Ancient? Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Ana De Almeida Amaral. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 San Francisco Bay Area until they were logged for their timber just after the Gold Rush. Most of what we see in places like Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland are second growth trees, ones that have grown since that time. After the 1906 earthquake and fire was another period of intense logging. Timbermen worked their way up the coast to provide the lumber that would rebuild San Francisco. Bay Curious listener Christy Dundon wants to know just how much of our old growth forests were devestated. Additional Resources: The Bay Area's Famous Redwood Trees Are Struggling Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by (insert reporter name). Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 grove of trees partially shields it from view. Over the years, Bay Curious has gotten several questions about the cross that we answer in today's episode, which first aired in 2021. Additional Resources: Why There's a Cross on San Francisco's Highest Peak Read the episode transcript Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Suzie Racho. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Its quicksilver powered the California Gold Rush, but today, few traces of those boom boom days remain, other than the toxic legacy still circulating in the San Francisco Bay. In today's episode we answer three listener questions about the mine and it's history. Additional Resources: New Almaden: The Mercury Mine That Built a Boomtown South of San José Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 new book, Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area shines a light on these untold stories, highlight these women's impact on the social, cultural and political life of the Bay Area. *An earlier version of this episode incorrectly named the District 3 supervisor involved in naming Tien Fuh Wu Way. We regret the error. Additional Resources: ⁠Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area⁠ ⁠Read the transcript for this episode⁠ ⁠Get tickets for Bay Curious Trivia night April 8th⁠ KQED's Rebel Girls Series ⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠ Got a question you want answered? ⁠Ask⁠! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to ⁠https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts⁠ This story was reported by Rae Alexandra. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices