Curious City

Camp Douglas’ deadly reputation was kept in shadows but now there’s a surprising movement to bring it to light.

Being a paleta vendor may seem like a sweet life, but we learned that selling Mexican popsicles is anything but a walk on the beach.

The city deserves cred as an industrial giant, but it was also the first city of flowers, a pickle powerhouse and the heart of American celery.

Lake View once had a thriving Japanese community, but it fell victim to a push for assimilation. As one Japanese-American puts it: “You had to basically be unseen.”

A quick tour of places where residents would chill, get clean and — sometimes — get down.

On paper, Chicago is more integrated than it was a few decades ago. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

From 1912 to 1930, the famous poet and writer lived and worked in the Chicago area. Step back in time to experience Sandburg's Chicago.

A listener’s nostalgia for catching lightning bugs as a kid lead her to wonder: Are there any left these days? Our experts say they’re around, just really, really fickle.

Here’s why you shouldn’t take that "sand between your toes" experience for granted!

Chicago's notorious light pollution hides the stars, but here's where you have a fighting chance to peek at the heavens.

Forty years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to find an otter in Illinois, never mind Chicago. Today, could they be here to stay?

A multi-generational panel talks about what the neighborhood means to them and where they see its future.

We look at eight building features and what each reveals about how society and urban life has changed over the years.

Engineers once compared Chicago’s soggy soil to jelly cake. How did they build a forest of skyscrapers on it?

Most aldermen almost always vote with the mayor, but that's starting to change.

In the past decade the city paid out nearly $3 million drivers whose cars were damaged by poor road conditions. Is asphalt to blame?

Political activism and businesses helped shape the city's gay neighborhood, but there's a debate about its future .

When a flight gets cancelled, it's not only travel plans that get trashed.

Was there ever a Nazi neighborhood in Chicago? In this special Curious City mini-documentary and online presentation (complete with archival photos and video) , we tell the story of how an infamous neo-Nazi group settled in the Marquette Park neighborhood and used it as a home base to gain attention and promote its political agenda. The story of the group’s rise and fall on Chicago’s Southwest Sid...

Scabby the Rat is now common on picket lines around the world, but the balloon started in Chicago’s historically blue-collar suburbs.

Officials say the Jane Addams Tollway will soon be faster, safer and smarter. But will it deliver?

Medical calls outnumber fire calls 20 to one in Chicago. So why does the city own so many more fire trucks than ambulances?

Tom Skilling explains why most TV meteorologists don't talk about climate change, but should.

There are plenty, but let's just say they're not ready for a nuclear apocalypse.

A prospective Chicago parent wants to know where he could be within door-knocking distance of other families with kids. So we mapped them.