Author: KQED

These days, when you see a show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, you might be lucky enough to get your very own poster for free. They’re a highly anticipated parting gift given out at the biggest shows. “The posters are artifacts, pieces of time,” says this week's question asker ,Ben Kaiser. “They’re as much [a part] of the concert as the concert.” That got him wondering: the posters of the Fillmore are so legendary, who is the person behind them? From 1985 to 2019, the answer was Arlene Owseichik. In this episode, we meet the woman behind the posters, and learn about the creative process that went into the creation of each one.

Bay Curious answers your questions about the San Francisco Bay Area each week. If you have a question you'd like us to answer, submit it at baycurious.org.

Additional Reading:

• Meet the Woman Behind Thousands of Famous Fillmore Posters
• Read the transcript of this episode
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• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Bianca Taylor. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

One of the topics we get the most questions about from our audience is transportation. Today we round up answers to a handful of your questions, including: Where does all that toll money from Bay Area bridges go? Why has one toll booth on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge been closed for years? Why are do so many of our interstates end in "80"? And: Are there more vanity plates in the Bay Area? Plus a few more! We're joined by KQED's Dan Brekke, who has been covering transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years.

Additional reading:

• You're Really, Really Curious About BART
• Why Doesn't BART Go More Places?
• When BART Was Built, People — and Houses — Had to Go
• The Tale of the Bay Bridge Troll
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest
• Episode Transcript

You can submit a question to Bay Curious.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

A Bay Area artist in Richmond has been stealthily building and placing fairy houses around his neighborhood. His creations bring ‘endless fun and fascination’ to the East Bay town. And, across the Bay Bridge, a waterfall in Golden Gate Park is sometimes an "alarming shade of green." What's going on with the water there?

Additional Reading

• Point Richmond's Fairy Houses: Miniature Worlds of Whimsy
• Ever Wondered Why Some Water in Golden Gate Park is Bright Green?
• Join us for trivia on April 1st!
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

Read the transcript for this episode.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Pauline Bartolone and Chris Hambrick. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

San Francisco's oldest lesbian bar, The Wild Side West, is in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. It's been open since 1962 and has a long history of offering sanctuary to a community that hasn't always felt welcome elsewhere. As lesbian bars around the Bay Area have been closing, the Wild Side West has survived in part because of dedicated regulars, like Timotha Doane, who has been going there for over fifty years. She just celebrated her 80th birthday at the bar!

Read the transcript for this episode.

Additional Reading:

• San Francisco's Oldest Lesbian Bar Has Been A Safe Space For More Than 60 Years
• 5 Historic Lesbian Bars We Wish Still Existed
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

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 Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Ever wonder where the internet stops and IRL begins? Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor. From internet trends to AI slop to the politics of memes, Close All Tabs covers it all.

How will AI change our jobs and lives? Is the government watching what I post? Is there life beyond TikTok? Host Morgan Sung pulls from experts, the audience, and history to add context to the trends and depth to the memes. And she’ll wrestle with as many browser tabs as it takes to explain the cultural moment we’re all collectively living.

A British sailor named Charles Lightoller visited San Francisco in the late 1800s and raved about the "'Frisco biscuit" he ate there. Carl Merritt read that in a book and wondered: "What is a Frisco biscuit?" That little question took us on a long journey for the answer.

Additional Reading:

• Ever Heard of a 'Frisco Biscuit'? Neither Had Many Maritime Historians
• Is There Treasure At the Bottom Of San Francisco Bay
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

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 Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Whether it's on the apps or in real life it can be hard to meet romantic partners. We explore what it's like to be dating right now in the Bay Area. This episode is brought to you by the team over on KQED's The Bay podcast.

Additional Reading:

• Read the transcript for this episode
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale, with support this week from Brian Douglas. The Bay episode was produced by Jessica Kariisa and Dana Cronin. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Listener Tadd Williams often sees the 16th Street Station from I-880. It's a huge, stately building in the Beaux-Arts style. It's looking a little rundown now, but it was clearly once dazzling. In today's episode, we explore how this spot was important to West Oakland's Black community and the Civil Rights Movement. And we get a promising update on it's future.

Additional Reading

• How Oakland's 16th Street Station Helped Build West Oakland and the Modern Civil Rights Movement
• Transcript of this episode
• Legacy of the Pullman Car Porters
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest
• 
  

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Reserving camp sites in California can feel sometimes feel as hard as scoring Taylor Swift concert tickets. KQED's Senior Editor for Audience News, Carly Severn, breaks down some tips and tricks so you can score a great spot this summer.

Additional Reading:

• Episode Transcript
• How to Find a Camping Spot in California (When They Always Seem to Be Booked)
• Want to Go Camping in the Bay Area This Summer? Get Your Reservations Now (Seriously)
• Camping in California? If A Bear Show Up, Here's What to Do
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Kelly O'Mara and Carly Severn. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Just off the coast of Richmond is a small island that's home to over a hundred bird species, lots of field mice, one dog and one man. The singular human resident is caretaker for Brooks Island, which is actually a nature preserve run by the East Bay Regional Parks District. This week, reporter Katherine Monahan paddles out on a special kayak tour to discover the rich history of this lonely little island in the bay.

Additional Reading

• Discovering Brooks Island, a Scenic Surprise in San Francisco Bay
• Read a transcript of this episode
• Book a kayak tour to Brooks Island
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.