Curious City

As Chicago's former grand movie palace turns 90, the question remains: What can be done to restore it? 

Illinois struggles with debt and unpaid bills, while Indiana is sitting pretty with a surplus topping $2 billion. What’s behind the fiscal gap between these two neighbors?

The faux speakeasy is popping up everywhere these days, but what made the original Prohibition saloon work?

It took decades for Chicago's first and only female mayor to land an official honor from City Council. Is there a reason it took so long? 

A concerned citizen poses questions about violence and the state’s new law allowing people to carry concealed guns. We find a surprising lack of consensus among the candidates and researchers, too.  

Now that our wicked winter’s ending, we look at whether there’s any fallout from flinging so much salt around.

This winter has felt like one for the ages, but is it really one of Chicago’s worst?  

Our animated map shows how Chicago grew from lakeside outpost to booming metropolis over the course of a century.

Daring escapes, unexpected romance and more true stories from German prisoners held in our area.

Here’s the evolution of the Lincoln Avenue motels, from sensible to seedy to retro spectacle.

The Chicago International Film Festival’s logo has intrigued movie buffs for decades. But is that Charlie Chaplin? Liza Minelli? Here’s the backstory.  

The Progressive Era activist was many things: a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a social reformer, a feminist. But what about ... a lesbian? And, just why should we know in the first place?

Curious City finds the city’s best doughnut spot, while Dunkin’s former CEO spills the secret to the chain’s growth here.  

The area’s so flat that every bunny hill seems a candidate. But it’s sweet (literally) to find the real deal.  

Sure, they pass laws and vote on city budgets. But there’s so much more. Think: Pregnancy tests and pigeon poo.

Curious City tracks down the average wages of panhandlers and street performers in Chicago.

A listener who hustles to make ends meet wants us to think about people who hustle for even less.

Sure, we have fewer industrial giants in our area these days, but if you know where to look you can find the beating heart of industry.

You’d think food blogger Louisa Chu would be stuffed after this assignment. Nope. Pass her the syrup, she says. She wants to stay and hear more stories.

In both life and death, the people who ended up at the notorious asylum and poor farm were some of Chicago’s least fortunate residents.

Our Geiger counter couldn’t detect any radiation footprint from the site of the first sustained nuclear chain reaction. (Whew!) But, was safety first and foremost when scientists ran their WWII nuclear experiment in Chicago?

A Curious Citizen’s question becomes your ticket to our multimedia playground , where you can relive the sometimes joyful, sometimes disturbing, and often unnerving stories of a Chicago amusement park.

A Chicago transplant asked what — if anything — is unique to Chicago. Answers were slippery, but our songster grabbed the best and wrote a song.

Cold War Chicago was once peppered with nuclear missiles ready to thwart a Soviet attack.

Curious Citizen Linda Rudy wondered when ground is broken for building or repairs, is anyone there to look for treasure? We catch up with local archaeologists who’ve scoured everything from construction sites, to the White City, to ... grandpa’s outhouse.