Once Upon A Bay

Hidden behind Chevron's tank farm and built on the bones of condemned ships, Point San Pablo Harbor feels like a place that shouldn't exist. In this episode, we explore the history, characters, and unlikely revival of one of the last truly eccentric waterfront communities on San Francisco Bay. From its haunted breakwater to John Wayne, fishermen, resourceful holdouts, and occasional outlaws, this...

A small team takes on big polluters and wins. In this episode, the story of San Francisco Baykeeper, from its scrappy beginnings to a formidable force defending the Bay. Along the way, a deeper question emerges: What does it mean to be a keeper? It started with a guy they called Mad Dog… Back when San Francisco Bay was being treated like a dumping ground, one man decided to go out on the water and...

A love letter to a giant analog computer made of concrete, copper, and tidewater. Mike and Kate spend a day inside the San Francisco Bay Model, an enormous mid‑century scale model in Sausalito that once tested radical plans to dam, pave over, and reroute the Bay. Guided by long‑time Park Ranger Linda Holm of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they trace how this 1.5‑acre, hand‑sculpted “water compu...

Who pays for the growth of a world‑class city? In this episode of Once Upon a Bay , Mike and Kate sit down with historical geographer Gray Brechin, author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin . Together, they trace how gold, mercury, dirt, and long‑distance water grabs turned shared waters into real estate, wealth, and leverage for a handful of powerful landholders. From hydraulic...

Marine archaeologist Jim Delgado uncovers the shipwrecks, secrets, and human stories buried under San Francisco’s streets and waves. From Gold Rush vessels entombed beneath the Financial District to wrecks off the Marin Headlands, Jim reveals how these “unread books” preserve a hidden record of the city’s boom-and-bust beginnings.​ Along the way, we visit the buried Gold Rush ship Niantic, trace f...

A New York newspaper story leads to marriage, a life on the water, and a mission to help the world fall in love with San Francisco Bay. In 1989, a bored venture capital analyst in a New York skyscraper read a story about a man patrolling San Francisco Bay in search of polluters. She had no idea she would marry him, move onto a boat, and start a podcast with him 30 years later, In this debut episod...