The Resident Historian Podcast

KIRO Newsradio Resident Historian Feliks Banel reports LIVE from the original Dick's Drive-In in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood for this year's 19-cent hamburger day, which is also the restaurant's 71st birthday.  

History of the last decade 

All over the map

Santa does so much more than just bring toys to kiddies around the world, he also hosts an evening news program on North Pole Newsradio called "North Pole Evening News." On the final broadcast of the season before Christmas, Santa and the elves give the headlines, traffic, weather, sports and a few holiday songs, too.

Feliks Banel joined Seattle's Morning News to provide updates on some recent historical stories throughout the Puget Sound region, including the teardown of a significant Everett gazebo, Historic Fort Vancouver and more. Banel also teases the upcoming Holiday Magic festivities on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.

MOHAI's WTO Exhibit

Fort Vancouver Bicentennial

On this week’s edition of All Over The Map for Seattle’s Morning News , we visited a pocket park on Mercer Island along the shores of Lake Washington. It was here where a "rich and creamy" reminder of the island’s history was recently discovered by a pair of divers. Franklin Landing is a tiny street-end park on the west side of Mercer Island, essentially opposite Seward Park over...

It was 26 years ago this month when the iconic ferryboat Kalakala returned to the Seattle waterfront – after a long exile serving as a cannery in Alaska – to a glorious welcome home. The story of the vessel’s unlikely resurrection in November 1998 went downhill from there, of course, and the Kalakala was ultimately scrapped. However, thanks to two Seattle men, the spirit of the b...

All Over the Map: What is the future of Camp Long after the fire?

The rain was falling and the wind was blowing on November 13, 2024, very much like it had done on this day 173 years ago. As many people learned as school children in Western Washington decades ago, it was way back on the morning of November 13, 1851, when the group considered to be the founders of Seattle landed at what’s now Alki Beach in West Seattle. KIRO Newsradio interviewed Ken Workma...

A fire Monday night damaged the historic lodge at Camp Long in West Seattle. Resident historian Feliks Banel provided a report from the scene for "Seattle's Morning News."

The recent passing of a man from Seattle is shining new light on a forgotten chapter of modern Pacific Northwest mythology about a ubiquitous school accessory – which was derived from a critical piece of recreational gear. Seattle and Puget Sound are built on myths about local retailers that conquered the world. Some are true, and some are not. Take, for instance, the bogus "original" Starbu...

All Over the Map: How do you pronounce Umpqua?

Halloween has arrived and we've been collecting your Washington spooky stories about public places around Puget Sound where myths and legends have emerged over the decades about creepy goings-on and other miscellaneous things that go bump in the Puget Sound night.

In 2022, your favorite KIRO Newsradio voices presented a special live broadcast of the 1938 Orson Welles' version of "Dracula" - with a few minor updates here and there, of course.

Feliks Banel: Ghostly tales from the Northwest 

It was 100 years ago – way back in 1924, in the thick of the early roaring days of aviation history – when a giant U.S. Navy airship visited the Puget Sound and took the population by storm. This historic event is mostly forgotten now, but a local historian has found the hidden spot where history was made.

With the annual Earshot Jazz Festival now underway, the ribbon is about to be cut on a new path in downtown Seattle highlighting the history and culture of the golden age of jazz in Seattle along and near Jackson Street. Paul de Barros is a longtime local journalist and author, and one of the founders of the Jackson Street Jazz Trail . De Barros, who wrote the seminal book about Seattle’s ja...

"Unsolved Histories," from KSL Podcasts and a team led by Seattle historian Feliks Banel, is a podcast featuring three intersecting stories -- the mystery of how and why Flight 293 disappeared, an investigation into why the bureaucracy turned its back on families of the passengers, and a celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit.

The technology known as LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging, a laser-driven means of making precise measurements over large areas – has been helping scientists understand geology and natural history for many years. It turns out that LiDAR is also pretty useful for plumbing the depths of recent human history too, including a phantom lake on the Eastside.

As reported by KIRO Newsradio on last Friday’s edition of " All Over The Map ," seismic activity at Mount Adams – known as Washington’s forgotten mountain for the way it’s tucked in behind Mount Saint Helens in a rural part of the state – picked up in September and got the attention of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It’s too early to tell what it al...

All Over the Map: How did Mount Adams get its name?

Mike Lombardi, in-house Boeing historian 

On this week edition of All Over The Map, a “lightning round” of updates on a number of recent stories about local history covered by KIRO Newsradio and MyNorthwest.