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"title": "Foghorns: Who Presses The Play Button?",
"headTitle": "Foghorns: Who Presses The Play Button? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, a foggy day can be a good excuse for some guilt-free time indoors. If you live near the water, days like that bring something else: foghorns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the topic of a question we got at Bay Curious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco residents Andy MacKinnon and Jen Liu live in the Sunset District near Ocean Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From their apartment, MacKinnon says, “We can see the fog rolling in off the ocean and creeping up the street until our house is completely engulfed by fog. And shortly after that happens, we start hearing foghorns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11275302 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Jen Liu and Andy MacKinnon. This pair is bay curious about fog horns.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jen Liu and Andy MacKinnon. This pair is curious about foghorns. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Andy MacKinnon)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes they can hear three foghorns all at once, and it’s hard to figure out where they’re coming from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MacKinnon and Liu have a boatload of questions about the sounds that help vessels navigate safely through the water. They want to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Where are these foghorns?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How many of them are there?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Why do we still use them despite technologies like radar and GPS?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Who or what turns them on?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>Let’s find some answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/303438492″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where are the foghorns and how many are there? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We start on Yerba Buena Island, right in the middle of the Bay Bridge, with U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood of the Aids to Navigation Team San Francisco. One aspect of his job is maintaining foghorns, lights and other signals that are essentially the road signs of the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275301\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood poses with a map of sound signals across the San Francisco Bay.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood poses with a map of sound signals across the San Francisco Bay. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sherwood shows me a map listing these aids to navigation — things like buoys, signs and foghorns. Sherwood counts 11 foghorns that the Coast Guard operates in the bay, and roughly 20 more operated by other entities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have horns located at Point Bonita, Yerba Buena Island, Alcatraz Island, Angel Island,” he says. They’re not only on islands, but also at bridges and lighthouses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each foghorn has a distinct sound and plays at a different interval, which is intentional. Sherwood says that in low visibility it’s possible to figure out which point of land is closest if you learn the sounds of each foghorn well enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood also shows me around a Coast Guard parking lot. It looks like an island of misfit toys, with several 20-foot-long metal buoys on their sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11275307 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt='A buoy with a bell on it awaits repair in this \"buoy depot\" next to a U.S. Coast Guard building on Yerba Buena Island.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A buoy with a bell on it awaits repair in this ‘buoy depot’ next to a U.S. Coast Guard building on Yerba Buena Island. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sherwood calls this area a “buoy depot.” Here, the Coast Guard repairs buoys to put them back out in the water. The buoys are important instruments in the orchestra of the sea. Foghorns make music, but buoys do as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood says some buoys have huge bells that sound off when swayed by rough waves. Others have gongs — made of stacks of metal plates. And there are also whistles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood says that if we think we’ve never heard these before, it’s more likely that we don’t recognize them or know to listen for them. Some of these noises could be making their way to MacKinnon’s and Liu’s apartment, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why do we still use foghorns if we now have sophisticated navigational systems?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To answer this one, I go to Vallejo, right by the Carquinez Bridge, to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csum.edu/web/mycampus/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California State University Maritime Academy\u003c/a>. It’s an institution that teaches students the ways of the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275476\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Training Ship Golden Bear's Captain Harry Bolton looks out from the ship's bridge.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Training Ship Golden Bear Capt. Harry Bolton looks out from the ship’s bridge. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Harry Bolton is the captain of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csum.edu/web/about/tsgb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United States Training Ship Golden Bear\u003c/a>. He shows me two large computers in the ship’s bridge, which is like a command center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bolton says the ship’s radar and electronic navigation systems use the latest technology. But not all boats are equipped with it. Smaller vessels especially may still need foghorns to guide them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We sound the fog signals, so that if they don’t have this equipment they can avoid hitting us,” Bolton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says all these sounds, including the simpler technologies, are redundant, and together they make the bay a safer place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275485\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The smoke stack of the Training Ship Golden Bear is adorned with a foghorn and a golden grizzly bear. The over 10,000-ton ship serves as a training vessel for students attending California State University Maritime Academy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The smokestack of the Training Ship Golden Bear is adorned with a foghorn and a golden grizzly bear. The over 10,000-ton ship serves as a training vessel for students attending California State University Maritime Academy. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So when it seems to MacKinnon and Liu that a foghorn is like a moving target, it’s because it might actually be a horn coming from a ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who or what turns on the foghorns?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, a lot of foghorns are automatic. Angel Island, for example, has a sensor that detects particulates in the air. When there are enough particles, the foghorn goes off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some foghorns, even some very important ones, require a human to flip a switch or press a button.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This brings us to our final stop: the Golden Gate Bridge. Our guide is operating engineer Mario Territo with the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengate.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the bridge opened in the 1930s, he says, there were a lot of complaints from people who lived in San Francisco because they were being kept awake by the foghorns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They run 149 decibels,” Territo says. That’s nine decibels louder than the point at which a person starts to feel pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Territo says they redirected the foghorns more toward the center of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then the Alcatraz prisoners were complaining that it was interrupting their sleep,” he says. Those complaints were largely ignored, however, and the foghorns stayed that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I meet Territo with the goal of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge foghorns. They’re frequent favorites with some nautical experts because of their design: The horns run on compressed air, while more modern ones are electric. I also want to get a sense of just how loud these are, and find out who turns them on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get to two out of the five foghorns on the bridge, we have to go down 240 feet through a secret door that, if you’ve ever walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, you have passed and likely not noticed. Then we squeeze into a phone booth-size elevator inside the South Tower of the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we scramble out onto a concrete platform, we’re just 40 feet above the bay waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275755\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275755\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"A rare view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the concrete base of its South Tower.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-160x240.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-240x360.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-375x563.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-520x780.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rare view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the concrete base of its South Tower. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As you can see, we’re on the South Tower Pier,” Territo says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to two orange tanks on the concrete platform. They are each about the size of a four-door car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had an original air tank for the foghorns that was put in here in 1937 and it rusted out about a year ago,” he says. They’ve replaced both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The foghorns work by pushing compressed air through the noisemakers. This air is pumped to the tanks from a building right by the bridge toll booths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one end of the platform where we stand, there, in all of its international-orange glory, is a 4-foot-long foghorn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275759\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Territo, operating engineer for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District, shows off this international-orange foghorn.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mario Territo, operating engineer for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District, shows off this international-orange foghorn. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We shove neon earplugs into our ears. Territo radios engineers to blow the foghorns. The way they operate something very old is through something very new: a touch-screen monitor. While it’s not foggy in the slightest, they do it. For me. For you. For Andy MacKinnon and Jen Liu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Territo summarizes the feeling best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re standing next to it,” he says, “it vibrates your bones.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Our listeners asked a boatload of questions about foghorns. We've got answers.",
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"title": "Foghorns: Who Presses The Play Button? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, a foggy day can be a good excuse for some guilt-free time indoors. If you live near the water, days like that bring something else: foghorns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the topic of a question we got at Bay Curious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco residents Andy MacKinnon and Jen Liu live in the Sunset District near Ocean Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From their apartment, MacKinnon says, “We can see the fog rolling in off the ocean and creeping up the street until our house is completely engulfed by fog. And shortly after that happens, we start hearing foghorns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11275302 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Jen Liu and Andy MacKinnon. This pair is bay curious about fog horns.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23654_Andy-and-Jen-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jen Liu and Andy MacKinnon. This pair is curious about foghorns. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Andy MacKinnon)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes they can hear three foghorns all at once, and it’s hard to figure out where they’re coming from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MacKinnon and Liu have a boatload of questions about the sounds that help vessels navigate safely through the water. They want to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Where are these foghorns?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How many of them are there?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Why do we still use them despite technologies like radar and GPS?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Who or what turns them on?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>Let’s find some answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/303438492″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/303438492″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where are the foghorns and how many are there? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We start on Yerba Buena Island, right in the middle of the Bay Bridge, with U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood of the Aids to Navigation Team San Francisco. One aspect of his job is maintaining foghorns, lights and other signals that are essentially the road signs of the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275301\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood poses with a map of sound signals across the San Francisco Bay.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23653_John-Sherwood-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer John Sherwood poses with a map of sound signals across the San Francisco Bay. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sherwood shows me a map listing these aids to navigation — things like buoys, signs and foghorns. Sherwood counts 11 foghorns that the Coast Guard operates in the bay, and roughly 20 more operated by other entities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have horns located at Point Bonita, Yerba Buena Island, Alcatraz Island, Angel Island,” he says. They’re not only on islands, but also at bridges and lighthouses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each foghorn has a distinct sound and plays at a different interval, which is intentional. Sherwood says that in low visibility it’s possible to figure out which point of land is closest if you learn the sounds of each foghorn well enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood also shows me around a Coast Guard parking lot. It looks like an island of misfit toys, with several 20-foot-long metal buoys on their sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11275307 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt='A buoy with a bell on it awaits repair in this \"buoy depot\" next to a U.S. Coast Guard building on Yerba Buena Island.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23619_IMG_6321-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A buoy with a bell on it awaits repair in this ‘buoy depot’ next to a U.S. Coast Guard building on Yerba Buena Island. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sherwood calls this area a “buoy depot.” Here, the Coast Guard repairs buoys to put them back out in the water. The buoys are important instruments in the orchestra of the sea. Foghorns make music, but buoys do as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood says some buoys have huge bells that sound off when swayed by rough waves. Others have gongs — made of stacks of metal plates. And there are also whistles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherwood says that if we think we’ve never heard these before, it’s more likely that we don’t recognize them or know to listen for them. Some of these noises could be making their way to MacKinnon’s and Liu’s apartment, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why do we still use foghorns if we now have sophisticated navigational systems?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To answer this one, I go to Vallejo, right by the Carquinez Bridge, to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csum.edu/web/mycampus/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California State University Maritime Academy\u003c/a>. It’s an institution that teaches students the ways of the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275476\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Training Ship Golden Bear's Captain Harry Bolton looks out from the ship's bridge.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23616_IMG_6304-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Training Ship Golden Bear Capt. Harry Bolton looks out from the ship’s bridge. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Harry Bolton is the captain of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.csum.edu/web/about/tsgb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United States Training Ship Golden Bear\u003c/a>. He shows me two large computers in the ship’s bridge, which is like a command center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bolton says the ship’s radar and electronic navigation systems use the latest technology. But not all boats are equipped with it. Smaller vessels especially may still need foghorns to guide them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We sound the fog signals, so that if they don’t have this equipment they can avoid hitting us,” Bolton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says all these sounds, including the simpler technologies, are redundant, and together they make the bay a safer place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275485\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The smoke stack of the Training Ship Golden Bear is adorned with a foghorn and a golden grizzly bear. The over 10,000-ton ship serves as a training vessel for students attending California State University Maritime Academy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23617_IMG_6306-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The smokestack of the Training Ship Golden Bear is adorned with a foghorn and a golden grizzly bear. The over 10,000-ton ship serves as a training vessel for students attending California State University Maritime Academy. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So when it seems to MacKinnon and Liu that a foghorn is like a moving target, it’s because it might actually be a horn coming from a ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who or what turns on the foghorns?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, a lot of foghorns are automatic. Angel Island, for example, has a sensor that detects particulates in the air. When there are enough particles, the foghorn goes off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some foghorns, even some very important ones, require a human to flip a switch or press a button.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This brings us to our final stop: the Golden Gate Bridge. Our guide is operating engineer Mario Territo with the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengate.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the bridge opened in the 1930s, he says, there were a lot of complaints from people who lived in San Francisco because they were being kept awake by the foghorns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They run 149 decibels,” Territo says. That’s nine decibels louder than the point at which a person starts to feel pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Territo says they redirected the foghorns more toward the center of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then the Alcatraz prisoners were complaining that it was interrupting their sleep,” he says. Those complaints were largely ignored, however, and the foghorns stayed that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I meet Territo with the goal of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge foghorns. They’re frequent favorites with some nautical experts because of their design: The horns run on compressed air, while more modern ones are electric. I also want to get a sense of just how loud these are, and find out who turns them on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get to two out of the five foghorns on the bridge, we have to go down 240 feet through a secret door that, if you’ve ever walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, you have passed and likely not noticed. Then we squeeze into a phone booth-size elevator inside the South Tower of the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we scramble out onto a concrete platform, we’re just 40 feet above the bay waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275755\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275755\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"A rare view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the concrete base of its South Tower.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-160x240.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-240x360.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-375x563.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut-520x780.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23442_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs04-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rare view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the concrete base of its South Tower. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As you can see, we’re on the South Tower Pier,” Territo says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to two orange tanks on the concrete platform. They are each about the size of a four-door car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had an original air tank for the foghorns that was put in here in 1937 and it rusted out about a year ago,” he says. They’ve replaced both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The foghorns work by pushing compressed air through the noisemakers. This air is pumped to the tanks from a building right by the bridge toll booths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one end of the platform where we stand, there, in all of its international-orange glory, is a 4-foot-long foghorn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11275759\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11275759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Territo, operating engineer for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District, shows off this international-orange foghorn.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2017/01/RS23587_161219_GGFoghorns_bhs09-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mario Territo, operating engineer for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District, shows off this international-orange foghorn. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We shove neon earplugs into our ears. Territo radios engineers to blow the foghorns. The way they operate something very old is through something very new: a touch-screen monitor. While it’s not foggy in the slightest, they do it. For me. For you. For Andy MacKinnon and Jen Liu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Territo summarizes the feeling best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re standing next to it,” he says, “it vibrates your bones.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Aren't There Any Strip Clubs in the East Bay?",
"headTitle": "Why Aren’t There Any Strip Clubs in the East Bay? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem> In the 1960s, San Francisco was in the midst of a sexual revolution. Officials across the bay in Oakland wanted none of it. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listener Alicia Gallo was out with friends one night, and they couldn’t find any strip clubs to go to in the East Bay. She got to thinking, San Francisco has plenty of them. She remembers going to one in S.F. for a friend’s birthday party back in college. Stumped, she asked Bay Curious, “Why aren’t there any strip clubs in the East Bay?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Are There Really None?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like Alicia Gallo, I couldn’t find any strip clubs in the East Bay. But I did find strippers. After asking around a bit, I met an Oakland club promoter named Trina McQueen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When I came to Oakland there was no strip clubs,” McQueen says. “So my girlfriend and I and all of her friends brought it to Oakland. That was in 1991. And it shot off the roof.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">McQueen’s dancers work at Club BNB, an LGBT bar in downtown Oakland. They dance and strip — but not all the way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11048013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11048013 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Promoter Trina McQueen emcees on stage at Club BnB while her dancers perform.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Promoter Trina McQueen emcees onstage at Club BNB while her dancers perform. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a reason her dancers don’t disrobe beyond their pasties and G-strings. It’s against the law for dancers to go nude in Oakland, or anywhere in Alameda County.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My show is not a nude show,” McQueen says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/302386770″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘No Breasts or Private Parts’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www2.municode.com/library/ca/oakland/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT9PUPEMOWE_CH9.28NUDA\">Chapter 9.28 of the Oakland Municipal Code\u003c/a>, it’s a misdemeanor for women to expose their breasts “while participating in any live act, demonstration, or exhibition in any public place.” Even simulating that nipple with a pasty is questionable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Every female is guilty of a misdemeanor who, while participating in any live act, demonstration, or exhibition in any public place, place open to the public, or place open to public view, or while serving food or drink or both to any customer:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A. Exposes any portion of either breast below a straight line so drawn that both nipples and all portions of both breasts which have a different pigmentation than that of the main portion of the breasts are below such straight line; or\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B. Employs any device or covering which is intended to simulate such portions of the breast below such line; or\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>C. Wears any type of clothing so that any portion of such part of the breast may be observed.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Another section \u003ca href=\"https://www2.municode.com/library/ca/oakland/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT9PUPEMOWE_CH9.28NUDA_9.28.040PRAGDIPRPA\">prohibits the display of “private parts”\u003c/a> for women or men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oakland City Council passed this ordinance in 1970. But why? For the answer, you need to cross the Bay to San Francisco, where commercial sex was booming, says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Josh Sides, the Whitsett Professor of California History at Cal State Northridge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11048059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11048059\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"A plaque hangs outside the Condor Club in San Francisco.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plaque hangs outside the Condor Club in San Francisco’s North Beach. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Carol Doda Goes Topless For the First Time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the 1960s, people watched dancers perform in pasties and swimsuits at go-go bars on Broadway in North Beach.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On June 19, 1964, at the Condor Club, a cocktail waitress named Carol Doda tossed aside her pasties and did The Swim dance in a topless monokini.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11034913\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 266px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11034913 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-400x396.jpg\" alt=\"Carol Doda acquitted on indecency charge, 1965. \" width=\"266\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-400x396.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-32x32.jpg 32w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-50x50.jpg 50w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-64x64.jpg 64w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-96x96.jpg 96w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-128x128.jpg 128w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511.jpg 561w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carol Doda acquitted on indecency charge, 1965. \u003ccite>(United Press International)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doda, who’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/11/legendary-san-francisco-stripper-carol-doda-dies/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">now deceased\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, said in a 1997 KRON-TV \u003ca href=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/227176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documentary \u003c/a>that the audience was captivated.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They were lined up around the corner. It’s like they had never seen bare breasts before in their lives,” she said. Baring her nipples was a big deal, she added — “the greatest thing since sliced bread.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doda’s dance sparked a sexual revolution of its own. There was an explosion of adult bookstores, erotic massage parlors and porn theaters, particularly in the North Beach and Tenderloin neighborhoods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sides says San Francisco went from having no topless clubs in 1964 to having about 40 within a year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“San Francisco became the sort of example that every city wanted to avoid,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Smut Capital of America\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1969, local and state lawmakers started to crack down on obscenity and indecency. Dianne Feinstein was running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that year, and she pointed to “the growth of obscenity” as one of the things ruining the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11034916\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 243px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-11034916\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-400x703.jpg\" alt=\"An ad for a topless bar in the Oakland Tribune during the topless and bottomless craze in 1969.\" width=\"243\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-400x703.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-800x1407.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357.jpg 816w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An ad for a topless bar in the Oakland Tribune during the topless and bottomless craze in 1969. \u003ccite>(Oakland Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In September 1969, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the \u003ca href=\"http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-318-5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Quimby-Walsh Act.\u003c/a> The law allowed cities and counties to regulate how waiters, waitresses and entertainers dress in bars and restaurants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Jan. 22, 1970, Oakland passed an ordinance prohibiting “exposure of portions of the human body in specified places.” City officials had been waiting for Reagan to sign the Quimby-Walsh Act so they could stifle the topless — and emerging bottomless — craze.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To this day, that ordinance is what keeps strip clubs out of Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We get quite a bit of interest of individuals wanting to start strip clubs in Oakland, but unfortunately the city’s policies and regulations don’t allow that at this time,” says Juno Thomas, Small Business Assistance Center coordinator for the Oakland Economic and Workforce Development Department.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>We Don’t Want You Here!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The ban over all of Alameda County means there’s also no legal strip clubs in cities like Hayward, Emeryville or Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities in the East Bay use zoning rules to discourage strip clubs and restrict where they try to open. That’s how it’s done in Contra Costa County — home to the cities of Richmond and Walnut Creek. In fact, zoning is the most common way municipalities deal with strip clubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for McQueen, she’s hoping Oakland will change its rules to match San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t feel like my dancers that live in Oakland need to go make their money in San Francisco,” McQueen says. “I just feel like they need to be able to make their money where they live.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, she’ll just keep doing her thing — pasties and G-strings — in Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> team take on? Submit it!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem> In the 1960s, San Francisco was in the midst of a sexual revolution. Officials across the bay in Oakland wanted none of it. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listener Alicia Gallo was out with friends one night, and they couldn’t find any strip clubs to go to in the East Bay. She got to thinking, San Francisco has plenty of them. She remembers going to one in S.F. for a friend’s birthday party back in college. Stumped, she asked Bay Curious, “Why aren’t there any strip clubs in the East Bay?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Are There Really None?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like Alicia Gallo, I couldn’t find any strip clubs in the East Bay. But I did find strippers. After asking around a bit, I met an Oakland club promoter named Trina McQueen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When I came to Oakland there was no strip clubs,” McQueen says. “So my girlfriend and I and all of her friends brought it to Oakland. That was in 1991. And it shot off the roof.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">McQueen’s dancers work at Club BNB, an LGBT bar in downtown Oakland. They dance and strip — but not all the way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11048013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11048013 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Promoter Trina McQueen emcees on stage at Club BnB while her dancers perform.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20483_160729_CLUBNBDancers_bhs02-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Promoter Trina McQueen emcees onstage at Club BNB while her dancers perform. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a reason her dancers don’t disrobe beyond their pasties and G-strings. It’s against the law for dancers to go nude in Oakland, or anywhere in Alameda County.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My show is not a nude show,” McQueen says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/302386770″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/302386770″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘No Breasts or Private Parts’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www2.municode.com/library/ca/oakland/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT9PUPEMOWE_CH9.28NUDA\">Chapter 9.28 of the Oakland Municipal Code\u003c/a>, it’s a misdemeanor for women to expose their breasts “while participating in any live act, demonstration, or exhibition in any public place.” Even simulating that nipple with a pasty is questionable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Every female is guilty of a misdemeanor who, while participating in any live act, demonstration, or exhibition in any public place, place open to the public, or place open to public view, or while serving food or drink or both to any customer:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A. Exposes any portion of either breast below a straight line so drawn that both nipples and all portions of both breasts which have a different pigmentation than that of the main portion of the breasts are below such straight line; or\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B. Employs any device or covering which is intended to simulate such portions of the breast below such line; or\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>C. Wears any type of clothing so that any portion of such part of the breast may be observed.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Another section \u003ca href=\"https://www2.municode.com/library/ca/oakland/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT9PUPEMOWE_CH9.28NUDA_9.28.040PRAGDIPRPA\">prohibits the display of “private parts”\u003c/a> for women or men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Oakland City Council passed this ordinance in 1970. But why? For the answer, you need to cross the Bay to San Francisco, where commercial sex was booming, says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Josh Sides, the Whitsett Professor of California History at Cal State Northridge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11048059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11048059\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"A plaque hangs outside the Condor Club in San Francisco.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/RS20385_160721_condorplaque_bhs02-qut-1-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plaque hangs outside the Condor Club in San Francisco’s North Beach. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Carol Doda Goes Topless For the First Time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the 1960s, people watched dancers perform in pasties and swimsuits at go-go bars on Broadway in North Beach.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On June 19, 1964, at the Condor Club, a cocktail waitress named Carol Doda tossed aside her pasties and did The Swim dance in a topless monokini.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11034913\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 266px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11034913 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-400x396.jpg\" alt=\"Carol Doda acquitted on indecency charge, 1965. \" width=\"266\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-400x396.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-32x32.jpg 32w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-50x50.jpg 50w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-64x64.jpg 64w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-96x96.jpg 96w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511-128x128.jpg 128w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Doda-e1469758914511.jpg 561w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carol Doda acquitted on indecency charge, 1965. \u003ccite>(United Press International)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doda, who’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/11/legendary-san-francisco-stripper-carol-doda-dies/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">now deceased\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, said in a 1997 KRON-TV \u003ca href=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/227176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documentary \u003c/a>that the audience was captivated.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They were lined up around the corner. It’s like they had never seen bare breasts before in their lives,” she said. Baring her nipples was a big deal, she added — “the greatest thing since sliced bread.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doda’s dance sparked a sexual revolution of its own. There was an explosion of adult bookstores, erotic massage parlors and porn theaters, particularly in the North Beach and Tenderloin neighborhoods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sides says San Francisco went from having no topless clubs in 1964 to having about 40 within a year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“San Francisco became the sort of example that every city wanted to avoid,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Smut Capital of America\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1969, local and state lawmakers started to crack down on obscenity and indecency. Dianne Feinstein was running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that year, and she pointed to “the growth of obscenity” as one of the things ruining the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11034916\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 243px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-11034916\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-400x703.jpg\" alt=\"An ad for a topless bar in the Oakland Tribune during the topless and bottomless craze in 1969.\" width=\"243\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-400x703.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357-800x1407.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/RS20464_Topless-qut-e1469757250357.jpg 816w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An ad for a topless bar in the Oakland Tribune during the topless and bottomless craze in 1969. \u003ccite>(Oakland Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In September 1969, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the \u003ca href=\"http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-318-5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Quimby-Walsh Act.\u003c/a> The law allowed cities and counties to regulate how waiters, waitresses and entertainers dress in bars and restaurants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Jan. 22, 1970, Oakland passed an ordinance prohibiting “exposure of portions of the human body in specified places.” City officials had been waiting for Reagan to sign the Quimby-Walsh Act so they could stifle the topless — and emerging bottomless — craze.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To this day, that ordinance is what keeps strip clubs out of Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We get quite a bit of interest of individuals wanting to start strip clubs in Oakland, but unfortunately the city’s policies and regulations don’t allow that at this time,” says Juno Thomas, Small Business Assistance Center coordinator for the Oakland Economic and Workforce Development Department.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>We Don’t Want You Here!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The ban over all of Alameda County means there’s also no legal strip clubs in cities like Hayward, Emeryville or Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities in the East Bay use zoning rules to discourage strip clubs and restrict where they try to open. That’s how it’s done in Contra Costa County — home to the cities of Richmond and Walnut Creek. In fact, zoning is the most common way municipalities deal with strip clubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for McQueen, she’s hoping Oakland will change its rules to match San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t feel like my dancers that live in Oakland need to go make their money in San Francisco,” McQueen says. “I just feel like they need to be able to make their money where they live.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, she’ll just keep doing her thing — pasties and G-strings — in Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Sutro Tower: The Origins of an 'Eyesore'",
"headTitle": "Sutro Tower: The Origins of an ‘Eyesore’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>When Sutro Tower was first proposed in San Francisco, nearly everybody hated it. How did it get built? \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em> This question comes from Craig Rubens, who wanted to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is the story behind the construction and approval of Sutro Tower?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in the 1960s, San Francisco had \u003cem>really \u003c/em>bad television reception. By many accounts, it was the worst of any city in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good reception required a clear line of sight from the broadcast tower to your TV antenna, and in hilly San Francisco this was a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadcasters began the hunt for a location to build a very tall tower that could send a clear TV signal far and wide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ABC already had a 588-foot tower on top of Mount Sutro, and it started lobbying for the new tower to be built there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10566922\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 481px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10566922\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png\" alt=\"Early design renderings of Sutro Tower included a restaurant at the top.\" width=\"481\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png 481w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1-400x533.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Early design renderings of Sutro Tower included a restaurant at the top. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Christine Linnenbach.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Designs were drawn up, and ABC started showing off a tower that looked like a sleek golden Seattle Space Needle. It even included a restaurant at the top.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Scared Into Silence\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>ABC invited residents around Mount Sutro to discuss the plans during two meetings. Initially, neighbors had concerns over safety, property values and the city skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the people were told was very simply this: Either you go away and you let us build our tower, or we will make sure the open space around Mount Sutro is torn down and all of the green belt is removed,” says Christine Linnenbach, a lawyer who has fought Sutro Tower Inc. in court and whose childhood home is a few blocks from the tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Linnenbach says ABC delivered an ultimatum: a tower and a park or no tower and no park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors didn’t know that this was an empty threat. The park was already included in the city’s plan for a green belt. But their fear of losing the park caused residents to keep quiet, and ABC used the “lack of neighborhood opposition” to help push the Mount Sutro site through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/131040168?title=0&byline=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Getting Government Approval\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Among the loudest opponents of Sutro Tower was the San Francisco Chronicle. Lawyers representing the paper fought the tower at hearings in front of the San Francisco Planning Commission and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper argued Sutro Tower would ruin the skyline, and it questioned the logic of placing a tower within striking distance of an elementary school, reservoirs and hundreds of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Chronicle wasn’t an impartial observer. The paper had its own television station and wanted to see the tower built on San Bruno Mountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the Federal Aviation Authority rejected the proposal because it was too close to the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1966, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the site at Mount Sutro, passing the decision on to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supervisors voted 6-to-4 against building the tower, but two more votes were needed to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision was final; a tower would be built on Mount Sutro.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Designing the Tower\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Leading up to construction, the tower’s design underwent huge changes by Los Angeles architecture firm \u003ca href=\"http://www.acmartin.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AC Martin and Associates\u003c/a>. It became more skeletal-looking with a broader top and waist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567235\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10567235 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002-400x510.png\" alt=\"Later architectural drawings of the tower show the red and white stripes we've come to know today. \" width=\"400\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002-400x510.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002.png 481w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Later architectural drawings of the tower show the red-and-white stripes we’ve come to know today. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Christine Linnenbach)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Dausman, general manager of Sutro Tower, says the architect’s decision to taper the center was entirely aesthetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the engineers since then want to shoot him. It made it a more difficult structure to maintain, and it is a more difficult structure to keep perfectly upright and in a great condition,” says Dausman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major change was the color. Original plans showed a tower with a golden hue, but aviation regulations required the tower be painted alternating stripes of red and white to ward off possible plane collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Construction\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>By the 1970s, public interest in Sutro Tower had ebbed and few news outlets were reporting on it. The tower’s fiercest opponent, the Chronicle, had warmed to the tower after its television station became a partner in building it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10567312\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"By the time the public was largely aware the tower was being built, it was too late to stop construction.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By the time the public was largely aware the tower was being built, it was too late to stop construction. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When construction finally began in 1971, the local media were silent. Television stations involved had made a gentleman’s agreement not to report on the tower. Some called it a media blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their defense, the four stations, KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KRON, claimed it was so that nobody would have the jump on advertising the new tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an editorial that ran in the San Rafael Daily Independent Journal suggested the group was silent because they knew the tower would be unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Fun Facts about Sutro Tower\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The legs are anchored in 15 million pounds of cement.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The tower is composed of 3.5 million pounds of steel.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>It is 977 feet tall. The highest point is 1811 feet above sea level.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Construction cost $4 million in 1971.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The tower hasn’t been painted in over 20 years. “The biggest problem with painting is that we also painted a lot of the neighbors’ houses and cars. … The crew is as careful as they can be, but they’re 700, 800, 900 feet in the air, and a drip goes a long way,” says Dausman.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>When bulldozers began taking out trees on top of Mount Sutro, KQED Newsroom reporter Tom De Vries and cameraman Charles Rudnick hiked up to the construction site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started taking pictures and a man came running out of the work office, running towards us saying, ‘You can’t film here! There’s an agreement!’ … Well, the story just got way better,” says De Vries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED-TV ran the story, sparking new efforts to stop the tower by University of San Francisco law students and two San Francisco Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None were successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Final Touches\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sutro Tower beamed out its first transmission on July 4, 1973.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In designing the tower, engineers realized that the antennas would sway in strong winds, so they added girders and a network of cables to keep it in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, one of the byproducts was that wind would rush through these newly created guide wires, and the whole tower would sound like a moaning harp,” says Linnenbach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cables have since been redesigned and are not as loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10567311 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Reporter Jessica Placzek and Sutro Tower Spokesman Dave Hyams near the top of the tower.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reporter Jessica Placzek and Sutro Tower spokesman Dave Hyams near the top of the tower. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Sutro Tower Today\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dausman says he understands people who consider the tower an eyesore. If it were up to him, the tower wouldn’t even be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the wrong place for a broadcast tower to serve all of the Bay Area as it has emerged in the last 40 years,” Dausman says. “It’s not really in the center.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks the ideal spot would be somewhere in Hayward. But at this point, the tower is isn’t going anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days Sutro Tower is used for more than just television. Emergency responders, traffic control, taxi dispatchers, law enforcement and radio all use the structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many residents have come to love Sutro Tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find the icon in boutiques and even tattooed onto people’s bodies. Newcomers use the tower’s prominence to navigate the city, while other San Franciscans profess to love the structure that many tourists find ugly and strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fog swirls in around the foot of the tower, people describe it as a ship sailing atop the clouds, a ladder to the blue skies always just out of reach in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10568088\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10568088 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-800x450.jpeg\" alt=\"sutro in the clouds\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-400x225.jpeg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-1440x810.jpeg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-1180x664.jpeg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-960x540.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sutro Tower in the fog. \u003ccite>(Olivia Allen-Price/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>When Sutro Tower was first proposed in San Francisco, nearly everybody hated it. How did it get built? \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em> This question comes from Craig Rubens, who wanted to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is the story behind the construction and approval of Sutro Tower?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in the 1960s, San Francisco had \u003cem>really \u003c/em>bad television reception. By many accounts, it was the worst of any city in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good reception required a clear line of sight from the broadcast tower to your TV antenna, and in hilly San Francisco this was a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadcasters began the hunt for a location to build a very tall tower that could send a clear TV signal far and wide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ABC already had a 588-foot tower on top of Mount Sutro, and it started lobbying for the new tower to be built there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10566922\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 481px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10566922\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png\" alt=\"Early design renderings of Sutro Tower included a restaurant at the top.\" width=\"481\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1.png 481w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro1-400x533.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Early design renderings of Sutro Tower included a restaurant at the top. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Christine Linnenbach.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Designs were drawn up, and ABC started showing off a tower that looked like a sleek golden Seattle Space Needle. It even included a restaurant at the top.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Scared Into Silence\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>ABC invited residents around Mount Sutro to discuss the plans during two meetings. Initially, neighbors had concerns over safety, property values and the city skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the people were told was very simply this: Either you go away and you let us build our tower, or we will make sure the open space around Mount Sutro is torn down and all of the green belt is removed,” says Christine Linnenbach, a lawyer who has fought Sutro Tower Inc. in court and whose childhood home is a few blocks from the tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Linnenbach says ABC delivered an ultimatum: a tower and a park or no tower and no park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors didn’t know that this was an empty threat. The park was already included in the city’s plan for a green belt. But their fear of losing the park caused residents to keep quiet, and ABC used the “lack of neighborhood opposition” to help push the Mount Sutro site through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/131040168?title=0&byline=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Getting Government Approval\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Among the loudest opponents of Sutro Tower was the San Francisco Chronicle. Lawyers representing the paper fought the tower at hearings in front of the San Francisco Planning Commission and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper argued Sutro Tower would ruin the skyline, and it questioned the logic of placing a tower within striking distance of an elementary school, reservoirs and hundreds of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Chronicle wasn’t an impartial observer. The paper had its own television station and wanted to see the tower built on San Bruno Mountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the Federal Aviation Authority rejected the proposal because it was too close to the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1966, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the site at Mount Sutro, passing the decision on to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supervisors voted 6-to-4 against building the tower, but two more votes were needed to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision was final; a tower would be built on Mount Sutro.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Designing the Tower\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Leading up to construction, the tower’s design underwent huge changes by Los Angeles architecture firm \u003ca href=\"http://www.acmartin.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AC Martin and Associates\u003c/a>. It became more skeletal-looking with a broader top and waist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567235\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10567235 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002-400x510.png\" alt=\"Later architectural drawings of the tower show the red and white stripes we've come to know today. \" width=\"400\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002-400x510.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/image002.png 481w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Later architectural drawings of the tower show the red-and-white stripes we’ve come to know today. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Christine Linnenbach)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eric Dausman, general manager of Sutro Tower, says the architect’s decision to taper the center was entirely aesthetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the engineers since then want to shoot him. It made it a more difficult structure to maintain, and it is a more difficult structure to keep perfectly upright and in a great condition,” says Dausman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major change was the color. Original plans showed a tower with a golden hue, but aviation regulations required the tower be painted alternating stripes of red and white to ward off possible plane collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Construction\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>By the 1970s, public interest in Sutro Tower had ebbed and few news outlets were reporting on it. The tower’s fiercest opponent, the Chronicle, had warmed to the tower after its television station became a partner in building it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10567312\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"By the time the public was largely aware the tower was being built, it was too late to stop construction.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5882-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By the time the public was largely aware the tower was being built, it was too late to stop construction. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When construction finally began in 1971, the local media were silent. Television stations involved had made a gentleman’s agreement not to report on the tower. Some called it a media blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their defense, the four stations, KTVU, KPIX, KGO and KRON, claimed it was so that nobody would have the jump on advertising the new tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an editorial that ran in the San Rafael Daily Independent Journal suggested the group was silent because they knew the tower would be unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Fun Facts about Sutro Tower\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The legs are anchored in 15 million pounds of cement.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The tower is composed of 3.5 million pounds of steel.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>It is 977 feet tall. The highest point is 1811 feet above sea level.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Construction cost $4 million in 1971.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The tower hasn’t been painted in over 20 years. “The biggest problem with painting is that we also painted a lot of the neighbors’ houses and cars. … The crew is as careful as they can be, but they’re 700, 800, 900 feet in the air, and a drip goes a long way,” says Dausman.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>When bulldozers began taking out trees on top of Mount Sutro, KQED Newsroom reporter Tom De Vries and cameraman Charles Rudnick hiked up to the construction site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started taking pictures and a man came running out of the work office, running towards us saying, ‘You can’t film here! There’s an agreement!’ … Well, the story just got way better,” says De Vries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED-TV ran the story, sparking new efforts to stop the tower by University of San Francisco law students and two San Francisco Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None were successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Final Touches\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sutro Tower beamed out its first transmission on July 4, 1973.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In designing the tower, engineers realized that the antennas would sway in strong winds, so they added girders and a network of cables to keep it in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, one of the byproducts was that wind would rush through these newly created guide wires, and the whole tower would sound like a moaning harp,” says Linnenbach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cables have since been redesigned and are not as loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10567311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10567311 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Reporter Jessica Placzek and Sutro Tower Spokesman Dave Hyams near the top of the tower.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/JV0A5854-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reporter Jessica Placzek and Sutro Tower spokesman Dave Hyams near the top of the tower. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Sutro Tower Today\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dausman says he understands people who consider the tower an eyesore. If it were up to him, the tower wouldn’t even be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the wrong place for a broadcast tower to serve all of the Bay Area as it has emerged in the last 40 years,” Dausman says. “It’s not really in the center.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks the ideal spot would be somewhere in Hayward. But at this point, the tower is isn’t going anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days Sutro Tower is used for more than just television. Emergency responders, traffic control, taxi dispatchers, law enforcement and radio all use the structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many residents have come to love Sutro Tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find the icon in boutiques and even tattooed onto people’s bodies. Newcomers use the tower’s prominence to navigate the city, while other San Franciscans profess to love the structure that many tourists find ugly and strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fog swirls in around the foot of the tower, people describe it as a ship sailing atop the clouds, a ladder to the blue skies always just out of reach in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10568088\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10568088 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-800x450.jpeg\" alt=\"sutro in the clouds\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-400x225.jpeg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-1440x810.jpeg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-1180x664.jpeg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/sutro-in-the-clouds-960x540.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sutro Tower in the fog. \u003ccite>(Olivia Allen-Price/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Does San Jose Deserve the Nickname 'Man Jose'?",
"headTitle": "Does San Jose Deserve the Nickname ‘Man Jose’? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>The Big Apple, Sin City, the Big Easy — all famous nicknames for American cities. But have you heard of Man Jose? This week we explore if San Jose should be called Man Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listener Paul Schindler asked Bay Curious: “Does San Jose really deserve the nickname Man Jose?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you look at just the top-level census numbers, there are roughly the same number of men and women living in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Break those numbers down further, though, and you’ll find a \u003cem>big\u003c/em> difference among single people in their 20s and 30s. According to the \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B12002&geo_ids=16000US0668000&primary_geo_id=16000US0668000#valueType%7Cestimate\">2015 American Community Survey\u003c/a>, in this group there were roughly 134 men for every 100 women in San Jose. That’s a big disparity!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/299994983″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been this way for a while. In 2000, San Jose had more single guys than the entire state of Alaska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The region is dominated by technology companies, and men tend to major in those kinds of degrees, like engineering or computer science, at higher rates than women,” says Marianne Cooper, a Stanford professor at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. “It seems they are coming out here for the jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens when there are more single men?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2015, \u003ca href=\"http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648715-distorted-sex-ratios-birth-generation-ago-are-changing-marriage-and-damaging-societies-asias\">China\u003c/a> had 116 boys born for every 100 girls, and the Indian state of \u003ca href=\"http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648715-distorted-sex-ratios-birth-generation-ago-are-changing-marriage-and-damaging-societies-asias\">Haryana\u003c/a> had an overall population of 114 males for every 100 females. Some claim that these imbalanced gender ratios will lead to large numbers of unmarried men in impoverished areas, causing spikes in violence and crime. Others argue these claims are \u003ca href=\"http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/10/gender_ratios_and_violence_a_surplus_of_men_in_society_does_not_cause_more.html\">oversimplified\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristine Kilanski is a sociologist at Stanford studying boomtowns with distorted gender ratios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we look at working-class men, we hold assumptions about them and how they treat women. We don’t have the same assumptions about how middle-class men treat women. We know that workplace harassment is commonplace in the tech industry and the oil and gas industry,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kilanski lived in an oil boomtown for her research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s all these discourses about how putting a lot men together creates a lot of fights,” says Kilanski. “And there were a lot of fights in the bars. But I also saw men shopping in packs to get their groceries. They were living very much in family formations away from their homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because San Jose’s single male population is largely employed and high-earning, it doesn’t receive the same kind of criticism as impoverished areas of China or oil boomtowns. Sometimes the gender disparity in San Jose is even viewed positively. In 2014,\u003ca href=\"http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/the-best-and-worst-cities-for-women-looking-to-marry/\"> the Pew Research Center\u003c/a> wrote that San Jose is the best place to go for women looking to marry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses have sprung up to cater to the dating needs of these well-to-do single guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Andersen is the founder and CEO of\u003ca href=\"http://www.linxdating.com/\"> Linx Dating\u003c/a>, a matchmaking service in the heart of Silicon Valley. Her beautiful office is in Ansel Adams’ old studio. Anderson got her start as a matchmaker after noticing the gender ratios while living in Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re looking for good guys, come to Silicon Valley to find them,” says Andersen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11231400\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11231400 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/IMG_3876-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Amy Anderson of Linx Dating\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amy Andersen of Linx Dating \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You could use Tinder to find a partner, but Andersen is for those who seek committed partnerships and might even be willing to move for it. She sets up couples across the Peninsula and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I get a lot of emails from women based down in Los Angeles. These women are professionals, and these women are really crying out. They write me and say, ‘Amy, do you represent any gainfully employed men?’ They are looking for a guy who isn’t a wannabe actor or part-time model,” says Andersen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other companies play the numbers in more extreme ways. \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/shipped-to-california.html\">One dating service\u003c/a> flew a plane full of single women from New York to meet Bay Area guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLrnA85zm5w]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the dating scene like?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After talking to two dozen young people on the street, most had not heard the nickname Man Jose, but a number of them had noticed the distorted sex ratios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Probably when you’re at the bars you see the most males,” said local fitness instructor Justin Sweat. “They’re like vultures out there sometimes. When it’s like a 2-to-1 ratio, they’re definitely competing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely feel that way. I don’t really notice it when I’m walking around, but when we are out at night I definitely feel like there’s a ton of guys trying to hit on us,” said resident Rachel Cucciara.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Does having more single men in San Jose mean there is a thriving gay scene?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With large numbers of young single men, you might think that the local gay scene would be poppin’. But Larry, a bartender at Mac’s Club, says it’s quite the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With all the gay people here, no one really is out,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac’s Club is one of the oldest gay bars in San Jose, and attracts patrons of all ages. Larry’s been bartending there for almost 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [gay guys] are out, they’re in San Francisco and not here. I don’t know why it’s like that. And it hasn’t always been like that, but more so lately. One time there was more than 10 bars, now there’s only two, maybe three. … It’s shrunk quite a bit,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Splash, a gay bar down the street, the bar’s average patron is in his late 20s or early 30s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bar manager Andrew Rulloda says, “San Jose is where you build your family. I’ve come to find it’s a lot easier to make friends here. We’re never seeing different people, because everyone here knows each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to use the term Man Jose all the time,” says Rulloda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Podcast Credits: Reported by Jessica Placzek. Produced and edited by Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The Big Apple, Sin City, the Big Easy — all famous nicknames for American cities. But have you heard of Man Jose? This week we explore if San Jose should be called Man Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listener Paul Schindler asked Bay Curious: “Does San Jose really deserve the nickname Man Jose?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you look at just the top-level census numbers, there are roughly the same number of men and women living in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Break those numbers down further, though, and you’ll find a \u003cem>big\u003c/em> difference among single people in their 20s and 30s. According to the \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B12002&geo_ids=16000US0668000&primary_geo_id=16000US0668000#valueType%7Cestimate\">2015 American Community Survey\u003c/a>, in this group there were roughly 134 men for every 100 women in San Jose. That’s a big disparity!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/299994983″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/299994983″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been this way for a while. In 2000, San Jose had more single guys than the entire state of Alaska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The region is dominated by technology companies, and men tend to major in those kinds of degrees, like engineering or computer science, at higher rates than women,” says Marianne Cooper, a Stanford professor at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. “It seems they are coming out here for the jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens when there are more single men?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2015, \u003ca href=\"http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648715-distorted-sex-ratios-birth-generation-ago-are-changing-marriage-and-damaging-societies-asias\">China\u003c/a> had 116 boys born for every 100 girls, and the Indian state of \u003ca href=\"http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21648715-distorted-sex-ratios-birth-generation-ago-are-changing-marriage-and-damaging-societies-asias\">Haryana\u003c/a> had an overall population of 114 males for every 100 females. Some claim that these imbalanced gender ratios will lead to large numbers of unmarried men in impoverished areas, causing spikes in violence and crime. Others argue these claims are \u003ca href=\"http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/10/gender_ratios_and_violence_a_surplus_of_men_in_society_does_not_cause_more.html\">oversimplified\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristine Kilanski is a sociologist at Stanford studying boomtowns with distorted gender ratios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we look at working-class men, we hold assumptions about them and how they treat women. We don’t have the same assumptions about how middle-class men treat women. We know that workplace harassment is commonplace in the tech industry and the oil and gas industry,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kilanski lived in an oil boomtown for her research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s all these discourses about how putting a lot men together creates a lot of fights,” says Kilanski. “And there were a lot of fights in the bars. But I also saw men shopping in packs to get their groceries. They were living very much in family formations away from their homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because San Jose’s single male population is largely employed and high-earning, it doesn’t receive the same kind of criticism as impoverished areas of China or oil boomtowns. Sometimes the gender disparity in San Jose is even viewed positively. In 2014,\u003ca href=\"http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/the-best-and-worst-cities-for-women-looking-to-marry/\"> the Pew Research Center\u003c/a> wrote that San Jose is the best place to go for women looking to marry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Businesses have sprung up to cater to the dating needs of these well-to-do single guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Andersen is the founder and CEO of\u003ca href=\"http://www.linxdating.com/\"> Linx Dating\u003c/a>, a matchmaking service in the heart of Silicon Valley. Her beautiful office is in Ansel Adams’ old studio. Anderson got her start as a matchmaker after noticing the gender ratios while living in Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re looking for good guys, come to Silicon Valley to find them,” says Andersen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11231400\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11231400 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/IMG_3876-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Amy Anderson of Linx Dating\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amy Andersen of Linx Dating \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You could use Tinder to find a partner, but Andersen is for those who seek committed partnerships and might even be willing to move for it. She sets up couples across the Peninsula and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I get a lot of emails from women based down in Los Angeles. These women are professionals, and these women are really crying out. They write me and say, ‘Amy, do you represent any gainfully employed men?’ They are looking for a guy who isn’t a wannabe actor or part-time model,” says Andersen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other companies play the numbers in more extreme ways. \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/shipped-to-california.html\">One dating service\u003c/a> flew a plane full of single women from New York to meet Bay Area guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/sLrnA85zm5w'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/sLrnA85zm5w'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the dating scene like?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After talking to two dozen young people on the street, most had not heard the nickname Man Jose, but a number of them had noticed the distorted sex ratios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Probably when you’re at the bars you see the most males,” said local fitness instructor Justin Sweat. “They’re like vultures out there sometimes. When it’s like a 2-to-1 ratio, they’re definitely competing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely feel that way. I don’t really notice it when I’m walking around, but when we are out at night I definitely feel like there’s a ton of guys trying to hit on us,” said resident Rachel Cucciara.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Does having more single men in San Jose mean there is a thriving gay scene?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With large numbers of young single men, you might think that the local gay scene would be poppin’. But Larry, a bartender at Mac’s Club, says it’s quite the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With all the gay people here, no one really is out,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac’s Club is one of the oldest gay bars in San Jose, and attracts patrons of all ages. Larry’s been bartending there for almost 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [gay guys] are out, they’re in San Francisco and not here. I don’t know why it’s like that. And it hasn’t always been like that, but more so lately. One time there was more than 10 bars, now there’s only two, maybe three. … It’s shrunk quite a bit,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Splash, a gay bar down the street, the bar’s average patron is in his late 20s or early 30s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bar manager Andrew Rulloda says, “San Jose is where you build your family. I’ve come to find it’s a lot easier to make friends here. We’re never seeing different people, because everyone here knows each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to use the term Man Jose all the time,” says Rulloda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you’ve walked past Adobe’s corporate headquarters in downtown San Jose, you may have spotted them: four big orange LED lights that look like flat-head screws, turning in apparently random patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week’s Bay Curious question comes from listener Geoff Morgan, who wanted to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do the turning wheels on the top of the Adobe building mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To start with, it helps to know Adobe makes computer software for people who work with words, pictures and sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the core of our DNA, really, is art and technology,” says Siri Lackovic, the company’s senior brand strategist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why you’ll find clever art installations all over their office towers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbkhD0SDyI8]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siri is one of the two people on the planet who know the whole story behind the glowing orange orbs Geoff noticed. The other person, of course, is the guy who came up with the concept, New York artist \u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com/benrubin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Rubin.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hope is that someone would look up and say: ‘What is that?’ ” Ben says. “What is that thing trying to say, you know? What is its message?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name of this installation is San Jose Semaphore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Semaphore, by definition, is really a form of visual communication,” Siri explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Way back when, the only way to communicate surreptitiously over a short distance — say, from land to a ship — would be to rely on flag bearers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would hold up the flag, and depending on the position of the flag, would let them know if it was safe to come in, or better to stay put,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This resonates with Geoff, the KQED listener who asked the question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually was in the Navy, and so I remember people communicating with flags, and it was always interesting to me because it looked very official, but a lot of times, they were talking about the latest baseball scores from ship to ship and things like that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, the short story on San Jose Semaphore is that it’s an art installation. The \u003cem>long\u003c/em> story stretches back to artist Ben Rubin’s childhood in Boston during the 1970s. Back then, he owned a Heathkit shortwave radio. Sometimes, when he turned it on, he’d hear the strangest things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These sort of clicks and beeps and mechanized announcements,” Ben says. “Who could not listen to an encrypted message and not wonder what it says, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As NPR reported in a 2000 feature for the “Lost and Found Sound” series, these were \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP5J9-D7_jw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">numbers stations\u003c/a>, shortwave radio broadcasts that historians believe transmitted messages to spies stationed around the world, starting in World War I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To the average listener, the letters, numbers and songs broadcast on the stations sound random. But if you have the key to decode the gobbledygook — it’s a message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXPqUU6fI0]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ben was fascinated by these numbers stations. So when it came time for college, he got a bachelor’s degree in computer science and semiotics, the study of signs and symbols. After graduation, he starting making art inspired by his studies. Now he makes media installations using technology, sound, images and physical structures — like the piece on the top of Adobe’s building in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Silicon Valley Loves A Challenge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Each of these orange discs can assume four positions: horizontal, left-leaning diagonal, vertical, right-leaning diagonal. Four positions, plus four discs, means there are 256 possible combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every 7.2 seconds, those wheels turn to a new configuration of sort of positions. Then they rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they’re in that resting position, that actually is a word or a letter,” Siri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those of us who think with our ears better than with our eyes, Ben made an audio version of the code that plays on \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/transmission.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adobe\u003c/a>’s website. Here’s a sample …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/294475506″ params=”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true” width=”100%” height=”20″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using just the audio alone, you could solve the code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somebody could,” Siri says. “I don’t know if I could have guessed that, but yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know about you, but this seems way too complicated for a person of average intelligence to crack. In fact, the technology Ben Rubin is using is a variation on state-of-the-art World War II cryptography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, it \u003cem>did\u003c/em> take a genius to figure out: Alan Turing, a pioneer of modern-day computing and the subject of that movie, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://theimitationgamemovie.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Imitation Game.”\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In World War II, the Germans developed something called “the enigma machine,” a diabolical typewriter with several rotating discs in the back. Every time you pressed, say, an “a,” a different letter popped up on the paper. Totally confusing. The messages are almost impossible to crack, unless you \u003cem>also\u003c/em> have an enigma machine, and directions so that your rotating discs are set up the exact same way they are at headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Because Some of You Are Seriously Curious\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcX7iO_XCFA]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with San Jose Semaphore, Ben isn’t using an enigma machine, and neither are you. So he has to include the key to decode the message in the transmission. Periodically, the discs will flash a line, which, when decoded, says something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>START MESSAGE TRANSMISSION 2-4-1: ROTUNDA\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nor\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>START MESSAGE TRANSMISSION 2-2-6: FACTION\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It always begins with “Start message transmission.” And then three numbers. And then a word. This is followed by chunks of text that make no sense unless you realize that the “start message” line is actually a header — a key — with the information necessary to decode the paragraph that follows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the way that the German enigma operators needed, at the beginning of each day, to establish certain settings in the machine,” Ben says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, just for fun, Ben added another confusing element, inspired by the fact planes headed to and from San Jose International Airport fly incessantly over downtown. Every time an airplane passes close by Adobe’s office towers, the orange discs spin wildly for a bit, before returning to their regularly scheduled programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”mL8GtpojMBuTzckG7Fn18oAuKY06lOyE”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as complicated as all of this sounds, the code was cracked within a month of installation by Bob Mayo and Mark Snesrud, two scientists who were in town for a conference. They spotted the semaphore and became obsessed. They wrote an entire \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/pdf/decoding.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scientific paper\u003c/a> explaining how they broke the code. The first sentence they decoded was …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The beginning of that performance was clear enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All they had to do then was plug that sentence in to Google, and presto: It’s a line from Thomas Pynchon’s \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_of_Lot_49\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Crying of Lot 49.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a novel that [Pynchon] wrote in the late ’60s that’s set in a kind of proto-Silicon Valley part of California,” Ben says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The message was the entire book, from end to end, which took about three months to transmit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was both impressed and disappointed that it had fallen so quickly,” Ben laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he came up with a second code (a tougher code!) that hasn’t been cracked in four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get a lot of, ‘I think it says: Buy Adobe products,’ ” Siri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think ‘Beam me up, Scotty,’ was probably the funniest one,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope, it’s not that either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honestly, folks: If the first code was “The Crying of Lot 49,” the second code is not going to be so obvious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to know who knows what the code is?” Siri teases. “Only two people in the world — the artist and then one other person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, she won’t give it up. But she does drop a hint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t need to be a book. It could just be a series of words put together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is our listener, Geoff, going to try to crack the code?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to leave that to greater minds than me. But I can’t wait to see who cracks it. I think this will be great,” he laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take a crack at decoding \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/transmission.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Jose Semaphore’s new message\u003c/a>. And let us know if you solve it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This podcast features music by Yusuke Tsutsumi (“Untitled 9”) and Eric & Ryan Kilkenny (“Bongo Avenger”).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the Bay Curious team take on? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Submit it!\u003c/a> Be sure to subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>f you’ve walked past Adobe’s corporate headquarters in downtown San Jose, you may have spotted them: four big orange LED lights that look like flat-head screws, turning in apparently random patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week’s Bay Curious question comes from listener Geoff Morgan, who wanted to know:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do the turning wheels on the top of the Adobe building mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To start with, it helps to know Adobe makes computer software for people who work with words, pictures and sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the core of our DNA, really, is art and technology,” says Siri Lackovic, the company’s senior brand strategist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why you’ll find clever art installations all over their office towers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pbkhD0SDyI8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pbkhD0SDyI8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siri is one of the two people on the planet who know the whole story behind the glowing orange orbs Geoff noticed. The other person, of course, is the guy who came up with the concept, New York artist \u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com/benrubin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Rubin.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hope is that someone would look up and say: ‘What is that?’ ” Ben says. “What is that thing trying to say, you know? What is its message?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name of this installation is San Jose Semaphore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Semaphore, by definition, is really a form of visual communication,” Siri explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Way back when, the only way to communicate surreptitiously over a short distance — say, from land to a ship — would be to rely on flag bearers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would hold up the flag, and depending on the position of the flag, would let them know if it was safe to come in, or better to stay put,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This resonates with Geoff, the KQED listener who asked the question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually was in the Navy, and so I remember people communicating with flags, and it was always interesting to me because it looked very official, but a lot of times, they were talking about the latest baseball scores from ship to ship and things like that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, the short story on San Jose Semaphore is that it’s an art installation. The \u003cem>long\u003c/em> story stretches back to artist Ben Rubin’s childhood in Boston during the 1970s. Back then, he owned a Heathkit shortwave radio. Sometimes, when he turned it on, he’d hear the strangest things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These sort of clicks and beeps and mechanized announcements,” Ben says. “Who could not listen to an encrypted message and not wonder what it says, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As NPR reported in a 2000 feature for the “Lost and Found Sound” series, these were \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP5J9-D7_jw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">numbers stations\u003c/a>, shortwave radio broadcasts that historians believe transmitted messages to spies stationed around the world, starting in World War I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To the average listener, the letters, numbers and songs broadcast on the stations sound random. But if you have the key to decode the gobbledygook — it’s a message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/QnXPqUU6fI0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/QnXPqUU6fI0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ben was fascinated by these numbers stations. So when it came time for college, he got a bachelor’s degree in computer science and semiotics, the study of signs and symbols. After graduation, he starting making art inspired by his studies. Now he makes media installations using technology, sound, images and physical structures — like the piece on the top of Adobe’s building in San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Silicon Valley Loves A Challenge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Each of these orange discs can assume four positions: horizontal, left-leaning diagonal, vertical, right-leaning diagonal. Four positions, plus four discs, means there are 256 possible combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every 7.2 seconds, those wheels turn to a new configuration of sort of positions. Then they rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they’re in that resting position, that actually is a word or a letter,” Siri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those of us who think with our ears better than with our eyes, Ben made an audio version of the code that plays on \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/transmission.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adobe\u003c/a>’s website. Here’s a sample …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”20″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/294475506″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/294475506″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using just the audio alone, you could solve the code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somebody could,” Siri says. “I don’t know if I could have guessed that, but yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know about you, but this seems way too complicated for a person of average intelligence to crack. In fact, the technology Ben Rubin is using is a variation on state-of-the-art World War II cryptography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, it \u003cem>did\u003c/em> take a genius to figure out: Alan Turing, a pioneer of modern-day computing and the subject of that movie, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://theimitationgamemovie.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Imitation Game.”\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In World War II, the Germans developed something called “the enigma machine,” a diabolical typewriter with several rotating discs in the back. Every time you pressed, say, an “a,” a different letter popped up on the paper. Totally confusing. The messages are almost impossible to crack, unless you \u003cem>also\u003c/em> have an enigma machine, and directions so that your rotating discs are set up the exact same way they are at headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Because Some of You Are Seriously Curious\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/mcX7iO_XCFA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/mcX7iO_XCFA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with San Jose Semaphore, Ben isn’t using an enigma machine, and neither are you. So he has to include the key to decode the message in the transmission. Periodically, the discs will flash a line, which, when decoded, says something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>START MESSAGE TRANSMISSION 2-4-1: ROTUNDA\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nor\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>START MESSAGE TRANSMISSION 2-2-6: FACTION\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It always begins with “Start message transmission.” And then three numbers. And then a word. This is followed by chunks of text that make no sense unless you realize that the “start message” line is actually a header — a key — with the information necessary to decode the paragraph that follows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the way that the German enigma operators needed, at the beginning of each day, to establish certain settings in the machine,” Ben says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, just for fun, Ben added another confusing element, inspired by the fact planes headed to and from San Jose International Airport fly incessantly over downtown. Every time an airplane passes close by Adobe’s office towers, the orange discs spin wildly for a bit, before returning to their regularly scheduled programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as complicated as all of this sounds, the code was cracked within a month of installation by Bob Mayo and Mark Snesrud, two scientists who were in town for a conference. They spotted the semaphore and became obsessed. They wrote an entire \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/pdf/decoding.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scientific paper\u003c/a> explaining how they broke the code. The first sentence they decoded was …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The beginning of that performance was clear enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All they had to do then was plug that sentence in to Google, and presto: It’s a line from Thomas Pynchon’s \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_of_Lot_49\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Crying of Lot 49.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a novel that [Pynchon] wrote in the late ’60s that’s set in a kind of proto-Silicon Valley part of California,” Ben says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The message was the entire book, from end to end, which took about three months to transmit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was both impressed and disappointed that it had fallen so quickly,” Ben laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he came up with a second code (a tougher code!) that hasn’t been cracked in four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get a lot of, ‘I think it says: Buy Adobe products,’ ” Siri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think ‘Beam me up, Scotty,’ was probably the funniest one,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope, it’s not that either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honestly, folks: If the first code was “The Crying of Lot 49,” the second code is not going to be so obvious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to know who knows what the code is?” Siri teases. “Only two people in the world — the artist and then one other person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, she won’t give it up. But she does drop a hint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t need to be a book. It could just be a series of words put together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is our listener, Geoff, going to try to crack the code?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to leave that to greater minds than me. But I can’t wait to see who cracks it. I think this will be great,” he laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take a crack at decoding \u003ca href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/sjsemaphore/transmission.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Jose Semaphore’s new message\u003c/a>. And let us know if you solve it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This podcast features music by Yusuke Tsutsumi (“Untitled 9”) and Eric & Ryan Kilkenny (“Bongo Avenger”).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the Bay Curious team take on? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Submit it!\u003c/a> Be sure to subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Much Truth Is There to Those 'Speed Enforced by Aircraft' Signs?",
"headTitle": "How Much Truth Is There to Those ‘Speed Enforced by Aircraft’ Signs? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>We’ve all seen the signs along the freeway warning us of eyes in the sky looking for speeders. A Bay Curious listener wanted to find out if someone really was up there ready to hand out tickets.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]E[/dropcap]very time Aaron Perry-Zucker drives down I-5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles, he sees the signs: “Speed enforced by aircraft.” But he’s never seen an aircraft issue a ticket, and he can’t imagine how that even would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It never really made sense,” he said. “It didn’t seem believable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Perry-Zucker asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are there \u003cem>really\u003c/em> helicopters and airplanes patrolling Bay Area traffic? How do they ticket someone from the air?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[audio src=\"https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/bay-curious/2016/12/SpeedLimitpodcastmastered.mp3\" Image=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter-1920x1280.jpg\" Title=\"How Much Truth Is There to Those 'Speed Enforced by Aircraft' Signs?\" program=\"Bay Curious\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, he speculated, are the signs simply an exaggeration meant to deter speeding motorists — without any real aircraft on patrol?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Andrews says those signs are \u003cem>definitely\u003c/em> real. And he should know. He’s been a California Highway Patrol pilot for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t necessarily set up as many specific speed enforcement details as we did 10 or 15 years ago, predominantly because of the advent of Lidar,” said Andrews. (Lidar lets officers use lasers to pinpoint the speed of a vehicle.) “But there are still circumstances where we are definitely valuable, where traditional ground enforcement may not work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easier from above, for example, to see drag racing or drivers crossing the double yellow.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Patrolling from Above\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To find out how it all works, I climbed into one of the two helicopters that serve the CHP Golden Gate Division, which oversees all nine Bay Area counties. The air enforcement office also has two small airplanes at its headquarters at Napa County Airport — but that’s it for the fleet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975832\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10975832 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Things are cramped inside the helicopter.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Things are cramped inside the helicopter. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each aircraft has a pilot and paramedic on board, both CHP officers. That makes for cramped quarters in the back, where I stuff myself in between emergency equipment: oxygen tanks, a stretcher and medical supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as soon as we’re flying over I-580, it’s easy to see that Andrews is right. From up high, you can quickly get the lay of the land and spot speeding cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also get nauseous really quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we fly, radio calls come in from different voices and agencies. I can’t decipher them all, but Andrews points out a red car that officers have identified over the radio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy to see. It stands out when someone’s going considerably faster,” he said. Pilots once used binoculars to spot the cars, but now the aircraft are equipped with high-definition cameras. Despite the technology, they still rely first and foremost on their eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After spotting a suspected speeder, Andrews has to confirm that the car is, in fact, speeding. It’s not a high-tech process. He simply flies low above the car at either the same speed or slower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On most freeways in the state, Caltrans has measured and painted perpendicular white lines every mile on the side of the road. You can see them from the helicopter window, or if you look closely when you drive by. Those are used to calculate speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrews starts his stopwatch when he flies over one and stops it when he hits the next. He knows the helicopter’s ground speed. And, since he’s flying the same speed or slower than the car below, he can tell if the car is speeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975829\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10975829\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png\" alt=\"CHP helicopters fly low over the roadways to spot lawbreakers.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1218\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-400x254.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-800x508.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-1180x749.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-960x609.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CHP helicopters fly low over the roadways to spot lawbreakers. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The officers in the air don’t actually land and issue tickets. That might cause a traffic accident. Instead, they radio down to another officer in a more ground-friendly vehicle, who then pulls over the offender. Typically, that officer is waiting and ready to go at a predetermined location. Both officers’ names are on the ticket and both must appear in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP press officer Daniel Hill said they once ticketed a motorcyclist who was caught racing through the streets. He got all the way home and was then surprised when an officer knocked on his door 20 minutes later. Helicopters had been watching him from the air and captured him on camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But How Common Is It … Really?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Highway Patrol used to rely heavily on this system of helicopters and small airplanes to monitor traffic, but these days aircraft enforcement has gone out of style. Budget cuts have rolled back the number of CHP aircraft and their total flying time. The small planes used to go on speed patrol once or twice a day. Now, they simply monitor speed while on general patrol for other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It never was cost-effective for [helicopters] to go out and loiter over a section of freeway,” said Andrews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speed enforcement by aircraft has become especially rare in the last decade, since radar and Lidar devices made it possible for officers on the ground to catch speeders more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Radar, which uses Doppler waves, sends that signal out across all lanes of traffic — feeding back whatever are the fastest and slowest speeds on the road. But it’s the relatively new precision of Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging, utilizing laser technology, that has truly been a game changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill said it is impossible to say exactly how many tickets are issued each year by aircraft. That kind of data isn’t tracked in their database. But he admits it’s not many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are around 1 million traffic tickets issued annually in the Golden Gate District, so I asked: Is the number that comes from aircraft 10 or 10,000?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s closer to 10,” said Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as long as there’s any chance it could happen, those “speed enforced by aircraft” signs aren’t just a scare tactic. They legally have to be posted, no matter how remote the possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Fighting Back\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“In the Bay Area, the only place I’ve ever dealt with it is out on 280,” said John Stanko, a traffic defense attorney in the Bay Area for the last 20 years. He’s defended a few clients who were ticketed by aircraft in that area, and said it’s most common in rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s possible to fight an aircraft-issued ticket, just as it’s possible to fight a regular one.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Things That Must Happen for a Ticket to Hold Up in Court\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The speedometers in CHP cars must be calibrated every three months. Radar and Lidar devices must also be checked before each patrol.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Officers must complete three days of radar training, in addition to Lidar and visual estimation training. To be certified, they have to accurately estimate within 5 mph the speed of multiple cars during a test.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>To use radar or Lidar for ticketing on non-highway roads, there also must be an up-to-date traffic and engineering survey for that road on file. Those surveys determine the 85th percentile of speed for all cars driving on that road. The speed limit then has to be set within the nearest 5 mph increment of that 85th percentile. You can see how on surface roads, where almost everyone drives significantly faster than the current posted speed limit, this can be problematic, Stanko pointed out.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If officials want to set the speed limit higher than the 85th percentile, they have to “justify where they set the speed,” said Stanko, meaning arguments must be made for unique or unsafe conditions.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Again, both the air and ground officers have to appear in court if you choose to take the issue to court. Stanko also objects to the calculation of speed using a stopwatch from the helicopter and believes it’s more challenging for officers to identify a driver from the air, or to prove that they have the right person once the officer on the ground writes the ticket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of arguments against these tickets,” he said, though he acknowledges they can be hard to win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There also have to be signs posted at specific heights and sizes — those signs that our question-asker, Aaron Perry-Zucker, sees on Highway 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why Fly At All?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If budgets are tight and speed enforcement by air is rare, then why use the aircraft at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re patrolling the whole Bay Area,” Andrews said in the helicopter. “We’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” The CHP aircraft can respond to incidents that local police or agencies don’t have the resources for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entire time we’re in the helicopter, Andrews keeps saying “anything can happen” when he’s on patrol, and you never know what’s coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m skeptical. How much can happen on a brief speed enforcement helicopter ride? What can they \u003cem>really \u003c/em>do on patrol from up here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then a call comes in over the radio. It involves codes and numbers and the stilted shorthand of emergency personnel and law enforcement, but I do catch a few details: 10-year-old male down, possible hit-and-run, juvenile on bike hit by a car, med-evac requested, someone is en route.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975831\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10975831 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-800x530.png\" alt=\"Andrews and a hospital medic discuss the situation on the roof of John Muir Medical Center.\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-800x530.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-400x265.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-1180x781.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-960x636.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrews and a hospital medic discuss the situation on the roof of John Muir Medical Center. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Andrews responds: This is CHP, we’re closer than whoever’s already been called, one minute out and available. Wave us in if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly we’re descending into a parking lot in Richmond as the paramedic leans out the open helicopter door to guide Andrews into the painted asphalt circle that serves as a landing pad — while I try not to throw up and make things worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chairs and equipment are quickly pulled out and rearranged, and a boy — conscious and without any obvious major injuries — is strapped to a stretcher across the floor of the helicopter. I wedge myself back behind the pilot’s seat and within 25 minutes from when the call came in, we’ve delivered him to the roof of the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After it’s over and we’re back at the CHP’s air enforcement office at Napa County Airport, I ask about a sign on the wall: “Speed enforced by drone.” It was a joke made by a Marin resident and gifted to the office. But don’t worry, said Andrews: “I don’t believe that’s ever going to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drones capable of monitoring traffic would be even less cost-effective than helicopters, he said, and a drone wouldn’t be able to med-evac anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>We’ve all seen the signs along the freeway warning us of eyes in the sky looking for speeders. A Bay Curious listener wanted to find out if someone really was up there ready to hand out tickets.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">E\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>very time Aaron Perry-Zucker drives down I-5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles, he sees the signs: “Speed enforced by aircraft.” But he’s never seen an aircraft issue a ticket, and he can’t imagine how that even would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It never really made sense,” he said. “It didn’t seem believable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Perry-Zucker asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are there \u003cem>really\u003c/em> helicopters and airplanes patrolling Bay Area traffic? How do they ticket someone from the air?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, he speculated, are the signs simply an exaggeration meant to deter speeding motorists — without any real aircraft on patrol?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Andrews says those signs are \u003cem>definitely\u003c/em> real. And he should know. He’s been a California Highway Patrol pilot for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t necessarily set up as many specific speed enforcement details as we did 10 or 15 years ago, predominantly because of the advent of Lidar,” said Andrews. (Lidar lets officers use lasers to pinpoint the speed of a vehicle.) “But there are still circumstances where we are definitely valuable, where traditional ground enforcement may not work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easier from above, for example, to see drag racing or drivers crossing the double yellow.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Patrolling from Above\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To find out how it all works, I climbed into one of the two helicopters that serve the CHP Golden Gate Division, which oversees all nine Bay Area counties. The air enforcement office also has two small airplanes at its headquarters at Napa County Airport — but that’s it for the fleet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975832\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10975832 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Things are cramped inside the helicopter.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter5-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Things are cramped inside the helicopter. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each aircraft has a pilot and paramedic on board, both CHP officers. That makes for cramped quarters in the back, where I stuff myself in between emergency equipment: oxygen tanks, a stretcher and medical supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as soon as we’re flying over I-580, it’s easy to see that Andrews is right. From up high, you can quickly get the lay of the land and spot speeding cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also get nauseous really quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we fly, radio calls come in from different voices and agencies. I can’t decipher them all, but Andrews points out a red car that officers have identified over the radio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy to see. It stands out when someone’s going considerably faster,” he said. Pilots once used binoculars to spot the cars, but now the aircraft are equipped with high-definition cameras. Despite the technology, they still rely first and foremost on their eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After spotting a suspected speeder, Andrews has to confirm that the car is, in fact, speeding. It’s not a high-tech process. He simply flies low above the car at either the same speed or slower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On most freeways in the state, Caltrans has measured and painted perpendicular white lines every mile on the side of the road. You can see them from the helicopter window, or if you look closely when you drive by. Those are used to calculate speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrews starts his stopwatch when he flies over one and stops it when he hits the next. He knows the helicopter’s ground speed. And, since he’s flying the same speed or slower than the car below, he can tell if the car is speeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975829\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10975829\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png\" alt=\"CHP helicopters fly low over the roadways to spot lawbreakers.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1218\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-400x254.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-800x508.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-1180x749.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter2-960x609.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CHP helicopters fly low over the roadways to spot lawbreakers. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The officers in the air don’t actually land and issue tickets. That might cause a traffic accident. Instead, they radio down to another officer in a more ground-friendly vehicle, who then pulls over the offender. Typically, that officer is waiting and ready to go at a predetermined location. Both officers’ names are on the ticket and both must appear in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP press officer Daniel Hill said they once ticketed a motorcyclist who was caught racing through the streets. He got all the way home and was then surprised when an officer knocked on his door 20 minutes later. Helicopters had been watching him from the air and captured him on camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>But How Common Is It … Really?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Highway Patrol used to rely heavily on this system of helicopters and small airplanes to monitor traffic, but these days aircraft enforcement has gone out of style. Budget cuts have rolled back the number of CHP aircraft and their total flying time. The small planes used to go on speed patrol once or twice a day. Now, they simply monitor speed while on general patrol for other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It never was cost-effective for [helicopters] to go out and loiter over a section of freeway,” said Andrews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speed enforcement by aircraft has become especially rare in the last decade, since radar and Lidar devices made it possible for officers on the ground to catch speeders more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Radar, which uses Doppler waves, sends that signal out across all lanes of traffic — feeding back whatever are the fastest and slowest speeds on the road. But it’s the relatively new precision of Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging, utilizing laser technology, that has truly been a game changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill said it is impossible to say exactly how many tickets are issued each year by aircraft. That kind of data isn’t tracked in their database. But he admits it’s not many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are around 1 million traffic tickets issued annually in the Golden Gate District, so I asked: Is the number that comes from aircraft 10 or 10,000?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s closer to 10,” said Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as long as there’s any chance it could happen, those “speed enforced by aircraft” signs aren’t just a scare tactic. They legally have to be posted, no matter how remote the possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Fighting Back\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“In the Bay Area, the only place I’ve ever dealt with it is out on 280,” said John Stanko, a traffic defense attorney in the Bay Area for the last 20 years. He’s defended a few clients who were ticketed by aircraft in that area, and said it’s most common in rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s possible to fight an aircraft-issued ticket, just as it’s possible to fight a regular one.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Things That Must Happen for a Ticket to Hold Up in Court\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The speedometers in CHP cars must be calibrated every three months. Radar and Lidar devices must also be checked before each patrol.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Officers must complete three days of radar training, in addition to Lidar and visual estimation training. To be certified, they have to accurately estimate within 5 mph the speed of multiple cars during a test.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>To use radar or Lidar for ticketing on non-highway roads, there also must be an up-to-date traffic and engineering survey for that road on file. Those surveys determine the 85th percentile of speed for all cars driving on that road. The speed limit then has to be set within the nearest 5 mph increment of that 85th percentile. You can see how on surface roads, where almost everyone drives significantly faster than the current posted speed limit, this can be problematic, Stanko pointed out.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If officials want to set the speed limit higher than the 85th percentile, they have to “justify where they set the speed,” said Stanko, meaning arguments must be made for unique or unsafe conditions.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Again, both the air and ground officers have to appear in court if you choose to take the issue to court. Stanko also objects to the calculation of speed using a stopwatch from the helicopter and believes it’s more challenging for officers to identify a driver from the air, or to prove that they have the right person once the officer on the ground writes the ticket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of arguments against these tickets,” he said, though he acknowledges they can be hard to win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There also have to be signs posted at specific heights and sizes — those signs that our question-asker, Aaron Perry-Zucker, sees on Highway 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why Fly At All?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If budgets are tight and speed enforcement by air is rare, then why use the aircraft at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re patrolling the whole Bay Area,” Andrews said in the helicopter. “We’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” The CHP aircraft can respond to incidents that local police or agencies don’t have the resources for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entire time we’re in the helicopter, Andrews keeps saying “anything can happen” when he’s on patrol, and you never know what’s coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m skeptical. How much can happen on a brief speed enforcement helicopter ride? What can they \u003cem>really \u003c/em>do on patrol from up here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then a call comes in over the radio. It involves codes and numbers and the stilted shorthand of emergency personnel and law enforcement, but I do catch a few details: 10-year-old male down, possible hit-and-run, juvenile on bike hit by a car, med-evac requested, someone is en route.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10975831\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10975831 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-800x530.png\" alt=\"Andrews and a hospital medic discuss the situation on the roof of John Muir Medical Center.\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-800x530.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-400x265.png 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-1180x781.png 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/helicopter4-960x636.png 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrews and a hospital medic discuss the situation on the roof of John Muir Medical Center. \u003ccite>(Kelly O'Mara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Andrews responds: This is CHP, we’re closer than whoever’s already been called, one minute out and available. Wave us in if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly we’re descending into a parking lot in Richmond as the paramedic leans out the open helicopter door to guide Andrews into the painted asphalt circle that serves as a landing pad — while I try not to throw up and make things worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chairs and equipment are quickly pulled out and rearranged, and a boy — conscious and without any obvious major injuries — is strapped to a stretcher across the floor of the helicopter. I wedge myself back behind the pilot’s seat and within 25 minutes from when the call came in, we’ve delivered him to the roof of the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After it’s over and we’re back at the CHP’s air enforcement office at Napa County Airport, I ask about a sign on the wall: “Speed enforced by drone.” It was a joke made by a Marin resident and gifted to the office. But don’t worry, said Andrews: “I don’t believe that’s ever going to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drones capable of monitoring traffic would be even less cost-effective than helicopters, he said, and a drone wouldn’t be able to med-evac anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "what-happens-to-san-franciscos-recycling-once-it-leaves-the-curb",
"title": "What Happens to San Francisco's Recycling Once It Leaves the Curb?",
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"headTitle": "What Happens to San Francisco’s Recycling Once It Leaves the Curb? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Take a trip to Recology’s Recycle Central, where San Francisco’s waste is sorted and sent off for processing. This week on\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>, we answer a question from Noe Valley resident Charlie Spiegel, who wondered where his recycling ends up.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]C[/dropcap]harlie Spiegel is one of those people obsessed with getting recycling right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like the peanut butter canister. If I throw this into the recycling — this plastic thing that’s got peanut butter in it — I have no idea what they do with it,” he says, as he stands in the kitchen of his Noe Valley home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s pulling empty glass and plastic containers out of his dishwasher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do you really wash these things?” I ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh yeah, yeah,” he says. “And then they come out melted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlie has \u003cem>a lot\u003c/em> of questions when it comes to recycling. Like what happens to stuff that can’t be recycled that gets mixed up in the blue bins? Does he need to continue washing his plastics and jars? And what do those numbers on the bottom of his plastics mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/15/quiz-test-your-recycling-i-q/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Take Our Recycling Quiz\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Test your recycling I.Q. to see how well you know San Francisco’s recycling rules.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/aside>\n\u003ch2>Is Rinsing Recyclables Necessary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The answers to all of Charlie’s questions were at Recology’s recycling center at Pier 96 near Hunters Point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the 200,000-square-foot warehouse, I meet Robert Reed, a project manager for Recology. He takes me to an open room called the tipping floor, where the recycling trucks first dump their contents after they leave your neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55yXRsIX30A\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plastic water bottles, cardboard Amazon boxes, plastic bags and soup containers are corralled by tractors into colossal 30-foot mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six hundred tons of material come through the tipping floor each day, says Robert. That’s equivalent to the weight of 38 Muni buses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I bring up Charlie’s first question: Do people need to rinse their recyclables?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Definitely don’t recycle:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plastic Bags:\u003c/strong> They clog up Recology’s machines so toss them in the trash.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Wire Coat Hangers:\u003c/strong> These also damage the machines, so throw them out.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Greasy pizza boxes:\u003c/strong> The greasy bottom is compostable, the clean top can be recycled.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Styrofoam:\u003c/strong> This isn’t recyclable anywhere so make sure it ends up in the garbage.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>He says a \u003cem>half-full\u003c/em> jar of peanut butter would be too much, but their equipment is prepared to handle some residue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Recology does ask people to \u003ca href=\"https://www.recology.com/faq/do-i-have-to-rinse-jars-bottles-and-cans/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rinse out\u003c/a> their plastics because it can pose a problem for \u003cem>paper\u003c/em> products in single-stream recycling. If the food residue gets onto paper in your bin, it could make that paper non-recyclable. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How The Recycling Is Sorted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We leave the tipping floor, and follow the recyclables as they are scooped onto conveyor belts moving up toward a second floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayanna Banks is hand-sorting the material as it comes down the conveyer belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got here at 3:45 a.m.,” she says. “It’s a hard shift because you gotta get used to waking up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s dusty and loud at the plant — so loud, you can’t hear a person 5 feet away from you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799481 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-800x446.jpg\" alt=\"Ayanna_sorting_star\" width=\"800\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-800x446.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-400x223.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-768x428.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1440x803.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1920x1071.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1180x658.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-960x535.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayanna Banks has seen some pretty unusual stuff come through the line — like car bumpers and a bank safe. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Ayanna has her headphones and there’s one type of music that keeps her going — gospel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s mostly what I listen to in the morning, keep my spirits up,” laughs Ayanna, who says she likes to sing along, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayanna removes aluminum and cardboard from the paper, and separates out the trash, which is tossed into a chute for the landfill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paper goes straight to a high-density bailer, and plastics head toward one of the coolest machines in the whole warehouse — an optical sorter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799479\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799479 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-400x499.jpg\" alt=\"Sorting_star\" width=\"400\" height=\"499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-400x499.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-800x997.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-768x957.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-960x1197.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star.jpg 1014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some parts of the recycling process are done by hand. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You can see how it hits certain items with a puff of air,” says Robert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The machine works like a human eyeball, visually sorting the plastics by color and type. As the plastics approach the end of the conveyor belt, the machine shoots puffs of air at each item to direct it toward a bin of similar plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they’re baled and sent to Central California, where they’ll be turned into new products, like new recycling bins or water bottles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>And What About Those Numbers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Charlie’s final question was about those hard-to-decode numbers on the bottom of most plastics. Robert says those matter at other recycling plants, but not here in San Francisco. Recology can process any hard plastics it receives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Even if they’re melted.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reporting Back to Charlie\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I returned to Charlie’s house, I opened my laptop and played a video we took of the recycling process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wow, labor intensive, my God they’re picking out stuff as they go … wow,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked if it’s what he imagined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing the volumes they’re going through,” says Charlie. “And it’s amazing to me how labor intensive it is, ‘cuz I just had no idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I told him that food residue isn’t an issue, he was elated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He can finally stop melting his plastic jars in the dishwasher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An earlier version of this story said Recology users did not need to rinse out plastic recyclables. Recology has since updated its guidelines to ask users to rinse food residue from plastics to avoid contaminating paper recyclables.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want KQED’s Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799483 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-800x448.jpg\" alt=\"Wall of aluminum_star\" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-800x448.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-400x224.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-768x430.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-960x538.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star.jpg 989w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An eddy-current separator repels aluminum cans off the line. They are then baled and sent to foundries in Tennessee. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Take a trip to Recology’s Recycle Central, where San Francisco’s waste is sorted and sent off for processing. This week on\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>, we answer a question from Noe Valley resident Charlie Spiegel, who wondered where his recycling ends up.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">C\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>harlie Spiegel is one of those people obsessed with getting recycling right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like the peanut butter canister. If I throw this into the recycling — this plastic thing that’s got peanut butter in it — I have no idea what they do with it,” he says, as he stands in the kitchen of his Noe Valley home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s pulling empty glass and plastic containers out of his dishwasher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do you really wash these things?” I ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh yeah, yeah,” he says. “And then they come out melted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlie has \u003cem>a lot\u003c/em> of questions when it comes to recycling. Like what happens to stuff that can’t be recycled that gets mixed up in the blue bins? Does he need to continue washing his plastics and jars? And what do those numbers on the bottom of his plastics mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/15/quiz-test-your-recycling-i-q/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Take Our Recycling Quiz\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Test your recycling I.Q. to see how well you know San Francisco’s recycling rules.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/aside>\n\u003ch2>Is Rinsing Recyclables Necessary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The answers to all of Charlie’s questions were at Recology’s recycling center at Pier 96 near Hunters Point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the 200,000-square-foot warehouse, I meet Robert Reed, a project manager for Recology. He takes me to an open room called the tipping floor, where the recycling trucks first dump their contents after they leave your neighborhood.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/55yXRsIX30A'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/55yXRsIX30A'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Plastic water bottles, cardboard Amazon boxes, plastic bags and soup containers are corralled by tractors into colossal 30-foot mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six hundred tons of material come through the tipping floor each day, says Robert. That’s equivalent to the weight of 38 Muni buses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I bring up Charlie’s first question: Do people need to rinse their recyclables?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch2>Definitely don’t recycle:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plastic Bags:\u003c/strong> They clog up Recology’s machines so toss them in the trash.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Wire Coat Hangers:\u003c/strong> These also damage the machines, so throw them out.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Greasy pizza boxes:\u003c/strong> The greasy bottom is compostable, the clean top can be recycled.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Styrofoam:\u003c/strong> This isn’t recyclable anywhere so make sure it ends up in the garbage.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>He says a \u003cem>half-full\u003c/em> jar of peanut butter would be too much, but their equipment is prepared to handle some residue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Recology does ask people to \u003ca href=\"https://www.recology.com/faq/do-i-have-to-rinse-jars-bottles-and-cans/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rinse out\u003c/a> their plastics because it can pose a problem for \u003cem>paper\u003c/em> products in single-stream recycling. If the food residue gets onto paper in your bin, it could make that paper non-recyclable. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How The Recycling Is Sorted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We leave the tipping floor, and follow the recyclables as they are scooped onto conveyor belts moving up toward a second floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayanna Banks is hand-sorting the material as it comes down the conveyer belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got here at 3:45 a.m.,” she says. “It’s a hard shift because you gotta get used to waking up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s dusty and loud at the plant — so loud, you can’t hear a person 5 feet away from you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799481 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-800x446.jpg\" alt=\"Ayanna_sorting_star\" width=\"800\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-800x446.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-400x223.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-768x428.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1440x803.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1920x1071.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-1180x658.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Ayanna_sorting_star-960x535.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayanna Banks has seen some pretty unusual stuff come through the line — like car bumpers and a bank safe. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Ayanna has her headphones and there’s one type of music that keeps her going — gospel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s mostly what I listen to in the morning, keep my spirits up,” laughs Ayanna, who says she likes to sing along, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayanna removes aluminum and cardboard from the paper, and separates out the trash, which is tossed into a chute for the landfill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paper goes straight to a high-density bailer, and plastics head toward one of the coolest machines in the whole warehouse — an optical sorter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799479\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799479 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-400x499.jpg\" alt=\"Sorting_star\" width=\"400\" height=\"499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-400x499.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-800x997.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-768x957.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star-960x1197.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Sorting_star.jpg 1014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some parts of the recycling process are done by hand. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You can see how it hits certain items with a puff of air,” says Robert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The machine works like a human eyeball, visually sorting the plastics by color and type. As the plastics approach the end of the conveyor belt, the machine shoots puffs of air at each item to direct it toward a bin of similar plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they’re baled and sent to Central California, where they’ll be turned into new products, like new recycling bins or water bottles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>And What About Those Numbers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Charlie’s final question was about those hard-to-decode numbers on the bottom of most plastics. Robert says those matter at other recycling plants, but not here in San Francisco. Recology can process any hard plastics it receives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Even if they’re melted.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reporting Back to Charlie\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I returned to Charlie’s house, I opened my laptop and played a video we took of the recycling process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wow, labor intensive, my God they’re picking out stuff as they go … wow,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked if it’s what he imagined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing the volumes they’re going through,” says Charlie. “And it’s amazing to me how labor intensive it is, ‘cuz I just had no idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I told him that food residue isn’t an issue, he was elated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He can finally stop melting his plastic jars in the dishwasher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An earlier version of this story said Recology users did not need to rinse out plastic recyclables. Recology has since updated its guidelines to ask users to rinse food residue from plastics to avoid contaminating paper recyclables.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want KQED’s Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10799483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10799483 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-800x448.jpg\" alt=\"Wall of aluminum_star\" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-800x448.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-400x224.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-768x430.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star-960x538.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/Wall-of-aluminum_star.jpg 989w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An eddy-current separator repels aluminum cans off the line. They are then baled and sent to foundries in Tennessee. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Did the Emptying of Mental Hospitals Contribute to Homelessness?",
"headTitle": "Did the Emptying of Mental Hospitals Contribute to Homelessness? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>After patients were released from mental hospitals, there wasn’t always a place for them to go. On this week’s episode, we explore if deinstitutionalization was a factor in the Bay Area’s homeless crisis.\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\"> Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, we asked for your questions on homelessness. More than 1,300 of you responded and we answered many of your questions \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/06/28/homelessness-youve-got-questions-weve-got-answers/\">in our first round of reporting\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was one topic that kept coming up again and again as we sorted your questions. This week on the podcast, we answer listener Debbie Ow’s question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the situation as bad as it is because of the closure of mental health facilities in our state?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Click the red play button above for the full story, and look below for a timeline of deinstitutionalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Deinstitutionalization: A History\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1833\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Worcester State Hospital opens in Massachusetts as the first mental hospital fully supported by state funds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209885\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 550px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11209885 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester.jpg\" alt=\"Worcester State Asylum in Worcester, Massachusetts, dated 1905.\" width=\"550\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-160x101.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-240x152.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-375x237.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-520x329.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Worcester State Asylum in Worcester, Massachusetts, dated 1905. \u003ccite>(Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1860\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Twenty-eight of the 33 existing U.S. states have state psychiatric hospitals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1939-1945\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> During World War II conscientious objectors enter state psychiatric hospitals to replace doctors who were sent away for the war effort. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1946 \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/lobotomist-bedlam-1946/\">Life Magazine\u003c/a> publishes photos depicting the horrors inside the hospitals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1954\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325thorazine.html\"> Chlorpromazine\u003c/a>, marketed as Thorazine, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It’s the first anti-psychotic drug widely used to treat the symptoms of mental illness. For many, it brought hope that some patients could live among the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209886\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11209886 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg\" alt='\"Bedlam 1946\" spread from Life Magazine.' width=\"800\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-160x108.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-240x162.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-375x253.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-520x351.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Bedlam 1946’ spread from Life Magazine. \u003ccite>(The Jerry Cooke Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1955\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients inside public mental hospitals nationwide peaks at 560,000.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1959\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients in California state mental hospitals peaks at\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/30/science/how-release-of-mental-patients-began.html?pagewanted=all\"> 37,000\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11210398\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11210398\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r.jpg\" alt=\"President John. F. Kennedy\" width=\"250\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-160x197.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-240x295.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-375x462.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President John. F. Kennedy \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1963\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President John F. Kennedy signs \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9546\">the Community Mental Health Act\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients from the state toward the federal government. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">JFK wanted to create a network of community mental health centers where mentally ill people could live in the community while receiving care. JFK could have been inspired to act because his \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">younger sister, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2016/08/15/rosemary-kennedy-the-tragic-story-of-why-jfks-sister-disappeared-from-public-view/\">Rosemary\u003c/a>, was mentally disabled, received a lobotomy and spent her life hidden away. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a month after signing the new legislation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx\">JFK is assassinated\u003c/a>. The community mental health centers never receive stable funding, and even 15 years later less than half the promised centers are built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209904\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 588px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11209904\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM.png\" alt=\"The Community Mental Health Act of 1963.\" width=\"588\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM.png 588w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-160x127.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-240x191.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-375x298.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-520x413.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Community Mental Health Act of 1963.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1965\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The U.S. Congress establishes \u003ca href=\"http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/imd/imd-medicaid-mentally-ill.html\">Medicaid and Medicare\u003c/a>. Mentally disabled people living in the community are eligible for benefits but those in psychiatric hospitals are excluded. By encouraging patients to be discharged, state legislators could shift the cost of care for mentally ill patients to the federal government. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1967\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1967\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Reagan signs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lacourt.org/division/mentalhealth/MH0017.aspx\">Lanterman-Petris-Short Act\u003c/a> and ends the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”. Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo’s criminal justice system doubles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1969\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1973\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to 7,000.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1980\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President Jimmy Carter signs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=45228\">Mental Health Systems Act\u003c/a> to improve on Kennedy’s dream.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11210068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11210068 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-800x508.jpg\" alt=\"President Ronald Reagan\" width=\"800\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-800x508.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-160x102.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-960x609.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-240x152.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-375x238.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-520x330.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952.jpg 983w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Ronald Reagan \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1981\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President Reagan repeals Carter’s legislation with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/national-institute-mental-health-nimh\">Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.\u003c/a> This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients back to the states. The legislation creates block grants for the states, but federal spending on mental illness declines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>2004\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that \u003ca href=\"http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/backgrounders/how%20many%20individuals%20with%20serious%20mental%20illness%20are%20in%20jails%20and%20prisons%20final.pdf\">10 percent\u003c/a> of state prisoners have symptoms that meet criteria for a psychotic disorder.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>2015\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In \u003ca href=\"http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Francisco%20Homeless%20Count%20%20Report_0.pdf\">the San Francisco Homeless Count\u003c/a>, 55 percent of people experiencing chronic homelessness report they have emotional or psychiatric conditions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>After patients were released from mental hospitals, there wasn’t always a place for them to go. On this week’s episode, we explore if deinstitutionalization was a factor in the Bay Area’s homeless crisis.\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\"> Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your questions about the Bay Area.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, we asked for your questions on homelessness. More than 1,300 of you responded and we answered many of your questions \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/06/28/homelessness-youve-got-questions-weve-got-answers/\">in our first round of reporting\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was one topic that kept coming up again and again as we sorted your questions. This week on the podcast, we answer listener Debbie Ow’s question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the situation as bad as it is because of the closure of mental health facilities in our state?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Click the red play button above for the full story, and look below for a timeline of deinstitutionalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Deinstitutionalization: A History\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1833\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Worcester State Hospital opens in Massachusetts as the first mental hospital fully supported by state funds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209885\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 550px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11209885 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester.jpg\" alt=\"Worcester State Asylum in Worcester, Massachusetts, dated 1905.\" width=\"550\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-160x101.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-240x152.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-375x237.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/worchester-520x329.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Worcester State Asylum in Worcester, Massachusetts, dated 1905. \u003ccite>(Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1860\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Twenty-eight of the 33 existing U.S. states have state psychiatric hospitals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1939-1945\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> During World War II conscientious objectors enter state psychiatric hospitals to replace doctors who were sent away for the war effort. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1946 \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/lobotomist-bedlam-1946/\">Life Magazine\u003c/a> publishes photos depicting the horrors inside the hospitals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1954\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325thorazine.html\"> Chlorpromazine\u003c/a>, marketed as Thorazine, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It’s the first anti-psychotic drug widely used to treat the symptoms of mental illness. For many, it brought hope that some patients could live among the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209886\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11209886 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg\" alt='\"Bedlam 1946\" spread from Life Magazine.' width=\"800\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-160x108.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-240x162.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-375x253.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-520x351.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Bedlam 1946’ spread from Life Magazine. \u003ccite>(The Jerry Cooke Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1955\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients inside public mental hospitals nationwide peaks at 560,000.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1959\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients in California state mental hospitals peaks at\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/30/science/how-release-of-mental-patients-began.html?pagewanted=all\"> 37,000\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11210398\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11210398\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r.jpg\" alt=\"President John. F. Kennedy\" width=\"250\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-160x197.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-240x295.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/3a53304r-375x462.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President John. F. Kennedy \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1963\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President John F. Kennedy signs \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9546\">the Community Mental Health Act\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients from the state toward the federal government. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">JFK wanted to create a network of community mental health centers where mentally ill people could live in the community while receiving care. JFK could have been inspired to act because his \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">younger sister, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2016/08/15/rosemary-kennedy-the-tragic-story-of-why-jfks-sister-disappeared-from-public-view/\">Rosemary\u003c/a>, was mentally disabled, received a lobotomy and spent her life hidden away. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a month after signing the new legislation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx\">JFK is assassinated\u003c/a>. The community mental health centers never receive stable funding, and even 15 years later less than half the promised centers are built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11209904\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 588px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11209904\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM.png\" alt=\"The Community Mental Health Act of 1963.\" width=\"588\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM.png 588w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-160x127.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-240x191.png 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-375x298.png 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-07-at-3.45.57-PM-520x413.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Community Mental Health Act of 1963.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1965\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The U.S. Congress establishes \u003ca href=\"http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/imd/imd-medicaid-mentally-ill.html\">Medicaid and Medicare\u003c/a>. Mentally disabled people living in the community are eligible for benefits but those in psychiatric hospitals are excluded. By encouraging patients to be discharged, state legislators could shift the cost of care for mentally ill patients to the federal government. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1967\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1967\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Reagan signs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lacourt.org/division/mentalhealth/MH0017.aspx\">Lanterman-Petris-Short Act\u003c/a> and ends the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”. Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo’s criminal justice system doubles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1969\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1973\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to 7,000.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1980\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President Jimmy Carter signs the \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=45228\">Mental Health Systems Act\u003c/a> to improve on Kennedy’s dream.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11210068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11210068 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-800x508.jpg\" alt=\"President Ronald Reagan\" width=\"800\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-800x508.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-160x102.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-960x609.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-240x152.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-375x238.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952-520x330.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/RonaldReagan-e1481161333952.jpg 983w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Ronald Reagan \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>1981\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> President Reagan repeals Carter’s legislation with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/national-institute-mental-health-nimh\">Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.\u003c/a> This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients back to the states. The legislation creates block grants for the states, but federal spending on mental illness declines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>2004\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that \u003ca href=\"http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/backgrounders/how%20many%20individuals%20with%20serious%20mental%20illness%20are%20in%20jails%20and%20prisons%20final.pdf\">10 percent\u003c/a> of state prisoners have symptoms that meet criteria for a psychotic disorder.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>2015\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In \u003ca href=\"http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Francisco%20Homeless%20Count%20%20Report_0.pdf\">the San Francisco Homeless Count\u003c/a>, 55 percent of people experiencing chronic homelessness report they have emotional or psychiatric conditions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Where Did the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Come From?",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>The busy streets of San Francisco seem like the last place you’d find wild parrots. And yet, there they are. How’d they get here? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week on the podcast, we answer listener Colleen McClowry’s question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where did all of the parrots of San Francisco come from? I think they’re probably not native to the city. I’m interested to know how they got there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What Are They?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The wild parrots in and around San Francisco are called cherry-headed conures. At one point, a mitred conure joined the flock and bred with the cherry heads. Now the flock is dotted with hybrids. There are a couple ways to differentiate the breeds. Cherry heads have slightly smaller bodies and a red helmet pattern on their heads, whereas mitred conures have a more blotchy pattern of red and feet that are a slightly darker hue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185798\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11185798 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-800x1204.jpg\" alt=\"A wild conure in San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1204\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-800x1204.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-1020x1535.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-1180x1776.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-960x1445.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-240x361.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-375x564.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-520x782.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o.jpg 1563w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild conure in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Ingrid Taylar/flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Where Are They From?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The cherry-headed conures come from a small territory spanning Ecuador and Peru. The mitred conures originated from a large territory ranging from Peru through Bolivia down to northern Argentina.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Did They Get Here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They were brought here to be sold as pets in the exotic pet trade. The U.S. was the largest importer of birds in the world before the government banned the trade of wild exotic birds in 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Did They Get Out?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The founders of the wild flock of conures either escaped or were released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a number of theories. A commonly held belief is that the parrots were released by a woman who was having a psychotic break and subsequently burned down the pet store where they were housed. This is partially true. A pet store did burn down in Pasadena, but the woman was an employee of sound mind simply trying to save the birds. The parrots in San Francisco most likely weren’t released from the fire in Pasadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More likely, the San Francisco conures escaped or were purposely released by pet owners. The conures can live for decades, and they’re loud and demanding pets, so not everyone is suited to caring for them. While some may have escaped, Jamie Yorck, the owner of the now-closed Spectrum Exotic Birds, believes that a few owners may simply have left a window open hoping their birds would join the wild flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185801\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11185801 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A wild conure found around San Francisco's Embarcadero.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild conure found around San Francisco’s Embarcadero. \u003ccite>(Dan_H/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Do They Talk?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While these conures are capable of\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXKQDFp5V8\"> learning\u003c/a> a word or two, they aren’t the best imitators of human speech. More prone to screeching, cherry-headed conures don’t have the vocal skills of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAp6X0zZfx0\">African Grey\u003c/a> or the memory of a blue parakeet (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Ij-DHHwMs\">one supposedly learned over 1,700 words\u003c/a>). What our wild conures do have is their own dialect. The flock has its own system of calls and responses, distinct from conure populations found elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where Is Their Territory?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They can be found from the Ferry Building in San Francisco all the way south to Brisbane and Sunnyvale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telegraph Hill is a misnomer,” says the author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.markbittner.net/wild_parrots_book.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill,”\u003c/a> Mark Bittner. “Even [when I wrote the book] the parrots were going as far as Mission Dolores. I’ll be correcting that for the rest of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185790\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11185790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Bittner with two rescued conures.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Bittner with two rescued conures. \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Where Do They Sleep?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The conures sleep in holes they find in trees. They don’t build nests. Bittner says the conures prefer the Canary Island date palm.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What Do They Eat?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Turns out seeds are junk food to the conures. A healthy diet for the parrots might include fruits, vegetables, berries, stems, flowers and blossoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Many Are There?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hard to say, exactly. \u003ca href=\"http://www.mickaboo.org/\">Mickaboo\u003c/a>, a parrot rescue organization, estimates there are more than 300 conures roosting in the Bay Area. However, the health of the wild flock is under threat. Many of the adolescent conures have contracted a strange unnamed disease that affects their balance and has them flying into windows. Many of the parrots will die from this illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11187243\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11187243\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/Mickaboo2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Chloe Redon and John Graziano run Mickaboo, a parrot rescue organization.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chloe Redon and John Graziano run Mickaboo, a parrot rescue organization. \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The busy streets of San Francisco seem like the last place you’d find wild parrots. And yet, there they are. How’d they get here? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week on the podcast, we answer listener Colleen McClowry’s question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where did all of the parrots of San Francisco come from? I think they’re probably not native to the city. I’m interested to know how they got there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What Are They?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The wild parrots in and around San Francisco are called cherry-headed conures. At one point, a mitred conure joined the flock and bred with the cherry heads. Now the flock is dotted with hybrids. There are a couple ways to differentiate the breeds. Cherry heads have slightly smaller bodies and a red helmet pattern on their heads, whereas mitred conures have a more blotchy pattern of red and feet that are a slightly darker hue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185798\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11185798 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-800x1204.jpg\" alt=\"A wild conure in San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1204\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-800x1204.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-1020x1535.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-1180x1776.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-960x1445.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-240x361.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-375x564.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o-520x782.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/3630710620_dd9e0dd0f2_o.jpg 1563w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild conure in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Ingrid Taylar/flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Where Are They From?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The cherry-headed conures come from a small territory spanning Ecuador and Peru. The mitred conures originated from a large territory ranging from Peru through Bolivia down to northern Argentina.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Did They Get Here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They were brought here to be sold as pets in the exotic pet trade. The U.S. was the largest importer of birds in the world before the government banned the trade of wild exotic birds in 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Did They Get Out?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The founders of the wild flock of conures either escaped or were released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a number of theories. A commonly held belief is that the parrots were released by a woman who was having a psychotic break and subsequently burned down the pet store where they were housed. This is partially true. A pet store did burn down in Pasadena, but the woman was an employee of sound mind simply trying to save the birds. The parrots in San Francisco most likely weren’t released from the fire in Pasadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More likely, the San Francisco conures escaped or were purposely released by pet owners. The conures can live for decades, and they’re loud and demanding pets, so not everyone is suited to caring for them. While some may have escaped, Jamie Yorck, the owner of the now-closed Spectrum Exotic Birds, believes that a few owners may simply have left a window open hoping their birds would join the wild flock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185801\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11185801 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A wild conure found around San Francisco's Embarcadero.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/355558918_81506fb084_o-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild conure found around San Francisco’s Embarcadero. \u003ccite>(Dan_H/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Do They Talk?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While these conures are capable of\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXKQDFp5V8\"> learning\u003c/a> a word or two, they aren’t the best imitators of human speech. More prone to screeching, cherry-headed conures don’t have the vocal skills of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAp6X0zZfx0\">African Grey\u003c/a> or the memory of a blue parakeet (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Ij-DHHwMs\">one supposedly learned over 1,700 words\u003c/a>). What our wild conures do have is their own dialect. The flock has its own system of calls and responses, distinct from conure populations found elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where Is Their Territory?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They can be found from the Ferry Building in San Francisco all the way south to Brisbane and Sunnyvale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telegraph Hill is a misnomer,” says the author of \u003ca href=\"http://www.markbittner.net/wild_parrots_book.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill,”\u003c/a> Mark Bittner. “Even [when I wrote the book] the parrots were going as far as Mission Dolores. I’ll be correcting that for the rest of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11185790\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11185790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Bittner with two rescued conures.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-960x720.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/IMG_3604-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Bittner with two rescued conures. \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Where Do They Sleep?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The conures sleep in holes they find in trees. They don’t build nests. Bittner says the conures prefer the Canary Island date palm.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What Do They Eat?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Turns out seeds are junk food to the conures. A healthy diet for the parrots might include fruits, vegetables, berries, stems, flowers and blossoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Many Are There?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hard to say, exactly. \u003ca href=\"http://www.mickaboo.org/\">Mickaboo\u003c/a>, a parrot rescue organization, estimates there are more than 300 conures roosting in the Bay Area. However, the health of the wild flock is under threat. Many of the adolescent conures have contracted a strange unnamed disease that affects their balance and has them flying into windows. Many of the parrots will die from this illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11187243\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11187243\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/11/Mickaboo2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Chloe Redon and John Graziano run Mickaboo, a parrot rescue organization.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chloe Redon and John Graziano run Mickaboo, a parrot rescue organization. \u003ccite>(Jessica Placzek/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-origins-of-hella",
"title": "The Origins of 'Hella'",
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"headTitle": "The Origins of ‘Hella’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Long associated with the Bay Area, the word ‘hella’ has gained widespread use. But how was the word born? Ventura Albor asked \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How is it that “hella” became synonymous with the Bay?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ventura’s question was inspired by his college days at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11178097\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11178097\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A UC Berkeley student poses for photos wearing a 'Hella Kitty' shirt from Pure 510, a local custom t-shirt business in Oakland, California.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A UC Berkeley student poses for photos wearing a ‘Hella Kitty’ shirt from Pure 510, a local custom t-shirt business in Oakland, California. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“L.A. folks would [home] in on it right away and be like, ‘Oh you’re from the Bay Area?’ ” he says. “I never really thought of it, I just thought everyone said hella.” \u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hella: A Linguistic Boundary\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many Bay Area residents and Californians believe that hella — and its G-rated equivalent “hecka” — are Bay Area slang. The words, which mean “very” or “a lot of,” can be used multiple ways. You can say “I’m hella stoked” or “There were hella people at that party last night,” or even, “I was doing it for hella days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, conducted a study in which people indicated their perceptions of how people talk in certain areas of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>A Guide to Bay Area Slang\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hella\u003c/strong> – very, really, extremely; many, a lot; in an extraordinary or impressive manner.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“That jacket’s hella dope!”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Hyphy\u003c/strong> – hyper, excited\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“I’m from the Bay where we hyphy and go dumb. From the soil where them rappers be getting their lingo from.” – E-40\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Off the chain\u003c/strong> – super fun, exciting, great\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“This party tonight’s gonna be off the chain!”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Fa sheezy/fo shizzle\u003c/strong> – for sure\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Saturday is off the heezy fo’sheezy.” – Jermaine Dupri\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Janky\u003c/strong> – poor quality, inferior, weird\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Ugh, this umbrella is hella janky.”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Baller\u003c/strong> (n)/\u003cstrong>ballin’\u003c/strong> (v) – a ball player, or someone who’s winning “the game” (of life).\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Wanna be a baller, shot caller, 20-inch blades on the impala” – Lil’ Troy\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Hella was the most frequently cited word, and 78.4 percent of the people who mentioned it in the study said it was Northern California slang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For Southern Californians in particular, hella represents a crucial shibboleth separating the two major regions of the state,” says Bucholtz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s true for Southern California transplant Bree DeRobbio, now living in San Jose. She remembers the first time she heard someone say hella.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My reaction was ‘Oh my God, they really do say it.’ And I was amazed at all the different applications the word has,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Dictionary Says WHAT?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are at least two origin stories for hella: One places it in Toronto (yes, Canada) and the other in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More on Oakland later, but first — Toronto? I mean, really?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hella made its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002, and the dictionary says the word was first used in a 1987 article in the Toronto Star:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“The horse went hella whoopin’ down the trail, trailing 50 feet or more of the best Berkley Trilene Monofilament line.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>(Sidenote: That part about the best Berkley Trilene Monofilament line refers to a type of fishing line — no relation to Berkeley, Calif.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, hella is identified as Northern American slang that was probably shortened from “helluva” or “hellacious.” But English-language historian Michael Adams says hella’s grammatical usage doesn’t quite align with what the Oxford English Dictionary says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really skeptical of that etymology that hella comes from helluva because we don’t use hella grammatically in the same way that we would use helluva,” Adams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Adams means is you can’t get “hella cute” from “helluva cute,” or say, “My dad’s a hella cook,” even though you could say, “My dad’s a helluva cook.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also has an explanation for why hella didn’t come from hellacious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10649553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10649553\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Someone turned Fell Street in San Francisco into Hella Street. (kyle rw/Flickr)\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-1440x958.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-960x639.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Someone turned Fell Street in San Francisco into Hella Street. (kyle rw/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The suffix from hellacious is ‘—acious,’ like tenacious, and if you’re going to break a word, you’re usually going to break a word where there’s a boundary between its parts,” Adams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to this theory, the natural break for hellacious would make it “hell-aysh,” not hella.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>From Oakland Teens to the Rest of the World\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley linguist Geoff Nunberg traces hella back a few more years, to Oakland, from two early citations in a 1987 \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=k-NIAQAAMAAJ&q=Second+Class+Finish:+The+Effects+of+Rituals+and+Routines+of+a+Working-class+High+School,+Volume+2&dq=Second+Class+Finish:+The+Effects+of+Rituals+and+Routines+of+a+Working-class+High+School,+Volume+2&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI6OGT39u2xwIVUFaICh3jbQDI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dissertation\u003c/a> of a Berkeley student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10650083\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10650083 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1440x1080.jpg\" alt=\"Some in Oakland have embraced the word. Mayor Libby Schaaf often used it while campaigning, saying 'I hella love Oakland' and 'It is hella time for leadership in Oakland.'\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some in Oakland have embraced the word. Mayor Libby Schaaf often used it while campaigning, saying ‘I hella love Oakland’ and ‘It is hella time for leadership in Oakland.’ \u003ccite>(cplbasilisk/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Hella emerged somewhere in Northern California around the late 1970s, and although it spread to other places, it’s still associated with this region,” says Nunberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, slang spreads from black English to white English and not in the other direction, which is why Nunberg says he suspects it started in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phrases like “cool” and “tell it like it is” are good examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ ‘Cool’ was adopted by white hipsters and beatniks in the early ‘50s before spreading to teen slang. ‘Tell it like it is’ was used by black writers in the early ’60s and quickly became part of general white English,” he says.[aside tag='bay-curious' label='Looking for More Bay Curious?']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lines up with what multimedia producer Sean Kennedy, an Oakland native, recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remembers saying hella with the kids on his Pop Warner football team and at King Estates Junior High School in the late ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very rarely in the African-American or black community do we pick up other people’s language and use them,” he says. “It’s usually the language we create and other people use them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that time, hip-hop and street culture gained widespread popularity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was used in a manner of explaining, ‘That looked hella good— that looked good’—something that was clean, or somebody acting crazy, ‘You’re hella crazy,’ ” Kennedy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Bay Area Punks Debate Hella Vs. Hell Of\u003c/h3>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>“Hell of Dumb” by the Mr. T. Experience\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"369\" height=\"277\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-R_TW_ZqHw4\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In early years, Bay Area youth debated whether the slang word was hella or actually “hell of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Berkeley, the debate could get quite heated, says punk rocker Frank Portman. In 1997, he wrote a song called “Hell of Dumb,” poking fun at the issue with his band the Mr. T. Experience. He thinks the hella vs. hell of debate goes back to 1983.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was always very clear that it was hell of. It was not hella and if anyone ever said hella, which sometimes people did, they would always correct you with the attitude of a school marm correcting your grammar,” Portman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hella Now\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Since those early days, widespread use of hell of, hellacious and helluva has dwindled — leaving hella to stand alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>Cartman uses hella in South Park\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"369\" height=\"208\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/7pohEb7DUac\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Hella got a national audience in the South Park episode “Spookyfish,” from the second season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cartman taunts Stan and Kyle by singing, “You guys are hella stupid, you guys are hella lame, you guys are hella dumb hella, hella, hella.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word may be one of Northern California’s most notorious cultural exports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’re welcome, world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the Bay Curious team take on? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Submit it!\u003c/a> Be sure to subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Long associated with the Bay Area, the word ‘hella’ has gained widespread use. But how was the word born? Ventura Albor asked \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How is it that “hella” became synonymous with the Bay?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ventura’s question was inspired by his college days at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11178097\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11178097\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A UC Berkeley student poses for photos wearing a 'Hella Kitty' shirt from Pure 510, a local custom t-shirt business in Oakland, California.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS21661_161026_HellaShirt_bhs02-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A UC Berkeley student poses for photos wearing a ‘Hella Kitty’ shirt from Pure 510, a local custom t-shirt business in Oakland, California. \u003ccite>(Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“L.A. folks would [home] in on it right away and be like, ‘Oh you’re from the Bay Area?’ ” he says. “I never really thought of it, I just thought everyone said hella.” \u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hella: A Linguistic Boundary\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many Bay Area residents and Californians believe that hella — and its G-rated equivalent “hecka” — are Bay Area slang. The words, which mean “very” or “a lot of,” can be used multiple ways. You can say “I’m hella stoked” or “There were hella people at that party last night,” or even, “I was doing it for hella days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, conducted a study in which people indicated their perceptions of how people talk in certain areas of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>A Guide to Bay Area Slang\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hella\u003c/strong> – very, really, extremely; many, a lot; in an extraordinary or impressive manner.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“That jacket’s hella dope!”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Hyphy\u003c/strong> – hyper, excited\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“I’m from the Bay where we hyphy and go dumb. From the soil where them rappers be getting their lingo from.” – E-40\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Off the chain\u003c/strong> – super fun, exciting, great\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“This party tonight’s gonna be off the chain!”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Fa sheezy/fo shizzle\u003c/strong> – for sure\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Saturday is off the heezy fo’sheezy.” – Jermaine Dupri\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Janky\u003c/strong> – poor quality, inferior, weird\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Ugh, this umbrella is hella janky.”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Baller\u003c/strong> (n)/\u003cstrong>ballin’\u003c/strong> (v) – a ball player, or someone who’s winning “the game” (of life).\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>“Wanna be a baller, shot caller, 20-inch blades on the impala” – Lil’ Troy\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Hella was the most frequently cited word, and 78.4 percent of the people who mentioned it in the study said it was Northern California slang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For Southern Californians in particular, hella represents a crucial shibboleth separating the two major regions of the state,” says Bucholtz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s true for Southern California transplant Bree DeRobbio, now living in San Jose. She remembers the first time she heard someone say hella.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My reaction was ‘Oh my God, they really do say it.’ And I was amazed at all the different applications the word has,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Dictionary Says WHAT?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are at least two origin stories for hella: One places it in Toronto (yes, Canada) and the other in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More on Oakland later, but first — Toronto? I mean, really?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hella made its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002, and the dictionary says the word was first used in a 1987 article in the Toronto Star:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“The horse went hella whoopin’ down the trail, trailing 50 feet or more of the best Berkley Trilene Monofilament line.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>(Sidenote: That part about the best Berkley Trilene Monofilament line refers to a type of fishing line — no relation to Berkeley, Calif.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, hella is identified as Northern American slang that was probably shortened from “helluva” or “hellacious.” But English-language historian Michael Adams says hella’s grammatical usage doesn’t quite align with what the Oxford English Dictionary says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really skeptical of that etymology that hella comes from helluva because we don’t use hella grammatically in the same way that we would use helluva,” Adams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Adams means is you can’t get “hella cute” from “helluva cute,” or say, “My dad’s a hella cook,” even though you could say, “My dad’s a helluva cook.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also has an explanation for why hella didn’t come from hellacious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10649553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10649553\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Someone turned Fell Street in San Francisco into Hella Street. (kyle rw/Flickr)\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-1440x958.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16365_223475127_786d4ee142_o-qut-960x639.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Someone turned Fell Street in San Francisco into Hella Street. (kyle rw/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The suffix from hellacious is ‘—acious,’ like tenacious, and if you’re going to break a word, you’re usually going to break a word where there’s a boundary between its parts,” Adams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to this theory, the natural break for hellacious would make it “hell-aysh,” not hella.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>From Oakland Teens to the Rest of the World\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley linguist Geoff Nunberg traces hella back a few more years, to Oakland, from two early citations in a 1987 \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=k-NIAQAAMAAJ&q=Second+Class+Finish:+The+Effects+of+Rituals+and+Routines+of+a+Working-class+High+School,+Volume+2&dq=Second+Class+Finish:+The+Effects+of+Rituals+and+Routines+of+a+Working-class+High+School,+Volume+2&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI6OGT39u2xwIVUFaICh3jbQDI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dissertation\u003c/a> of a Berkeley student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10650083\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10650083 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1440x1080.jpg\" alt=\"Some in Oakland have embraced the word. Mayor Libby Schaaf often used it while campaigning, saying 'I hella love Oakland' and 'It is hella time for leadership in Oakland.'\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/RS16362_6312711130_5e7518b922_o-qut-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some in Oakland have embraced the word. Mayor Libby Schaaf often used it while campaigning, saying ‘I hella love Oakland’ and ‘It is hella time for leadership in Oakland.’ \u003ccite>(cplbasilisk/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Hella emerged somewhere in Northern California around the late 1970s, and although it spread to other places, it’s still associated with this region,” says Nunberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, slang spreads from black English to white English and not in the other direction, which is why Nunberg says he suspects it started in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phrases like “cool” and “tell it like it is” are good examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ ‘Cool’ was adopted by white hipsters and beatniks in the early ‘50s before spreading to teen slang. ‘Tell it like it is’ was used by black writers in the early ’60s and quickly became part of general white English,” he says.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lines up with what multimedia producer Sean Kennedy, an Oakland native, recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remembers saying hella with the kids on his Pop Warner football team and at King Estates Junior High School in the late ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very rarely in the African-American or black community do we pick up other people’s language and use them,” he says. “It’s usually the language we create and other people use them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that time, hip-hop and street culture gained widespread popularity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was used in a manner of explaining, ‘That looked hella good— that looked good’—something that was clean, or somebody acting crazy, ‘You’re hella crazy,’ ” Kennedy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Bay Area Punks Debate Hella Vs. Hell Of\u003c/h3>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>“Hell of Dumb” by the Mr. T. Experience\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"369\" height=\"277\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-R_TW_ZqHw4\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In early years, Bay Area youth debated whether the slang word was hella or actually “hell of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Berkeley, the debate could get quite heated, says punk rocker Frank Portman. In 1997, he wrote a song called “Hell of Dumb,” poking fun at the issue with his band the Mr. T. Experience. He thinks the hella vs. hell of debate goes back to 1983.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was always very clear that it was hell of. It was not hella and if anyone ever said hella, which sometimes people did, they would always correct you with the attitude of a school marm correcting your grammar,” Portman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hella Now\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Since those early days, widespread use of hell of, hellacious and helluva has dwindled — leaving hella to stand alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignleft\">\n\u003ch3>Cartman uses hella in South Park\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"369\" height=\"208\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/7pohEb7DUac\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Hella got a national audience in the South Park episode “Spookyfish,” from the second season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cartman taunts Stan and Kyle by singing, “You guys are hella stupid, you guys are hella lame, you guys are hella dumb hella, hella, hella.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word may be one of Northern California’s most notorious cultural exports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’re welcome, world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want to see the Bay Curious team take on? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Submit it!\u003c/a> Be sure to subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Sometimes the noise on BART is so loud you can hardly think. Why such a racket? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering \u003cem>your\u003c/em> questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED listener Eric Bauer wanted to know something most Bay Area BART passengers have probably wondered about at one point or another in their commute: Why are the trains so loud?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They scream like banshees,” Eric said. “One should probably use hearing protection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, Eric, you’ll be happy to know there is a plan in the works to dampen BART’s signature wail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/293466182″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news is the fix is tied to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/cars/delivery-plan\"> rollout of new BART train cars\u003c/a>, which will begin late this year and won’t be done until 2021. So until then, you might want to keep some earplugs on hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, on to the business of what causes that banshee scream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2592px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11030324 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop.jpg\" alt=\"BART workers refurbish cars at the Hayward Shop.\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1936\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop.jpg 2592w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2592px) 100vw, 2592px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART workers refurbish cars at the Hayward shop. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To find out why the trains are so loud, I took a trip to the BART maintenance shop in Hayward to meet Henry Kolesar, BART’s chief vehicle engineer. Not only does he know every little sound his train cars make, but he can imitate them startlingly well. The man has spent a \u003cem>lot\u003c/em> of time in and around BART trains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I arrived, Kolesar was sitting at his desk behind a stack of engineering reports. The one on top was a sound test of the BART system done a few years ago. First off, Kolesar explained, the trains make all kinds of noises, and not all of them are unpleasant. Believe it or not, some of the sounds are actually music to an engineer’s ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The trains make quite a few different sounds. Some of them are music to the ears of engineers.’ \u003ccite>Henry Kolesar, BART chief vehicle engineer\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>BART makes three main sounds that passengers hear. There is a nasally electronic hum some of the trains make as they are braking. This is the sound of BART saving energy, Kolesar says. As some of the newer train cars brake, they convert mechanical energy into electric energy that can be used to run the BART trains. As they do this, the train cars make this kind of “nnneeoooowwww” sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other two sounds fall squarely into the unpleasant category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first comes from wheels running on rails that have become worn and bumpy — “corrugated,” to use the technical term. When BART trains go over corrugated rail, they make a low-pitched, continuous “uuunnnhhh.” It sounds like some blend of a confused “uhhh” and the buzzer noise when someone answers incorrectly on one of those old daytime game shows from the ’80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030326\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11030326\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-800x1071.jpg\" alt=\"The wheel design leads to the wail and other unpleasant noises.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-800x1071.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-400x536.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-1920x2571.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-1180x1580.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-960x1285.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wheel design leads to the wail and other unpleasant noises. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART actually has a big machine that grinds down the bumps on corrugated track, eliminating some of the noise. This explains why sometimes a portion of the BART system makes loud uuunnnhhh sounds one day and doesn’t make a peep the next. You aren’t crazy — they just smoothed out the track at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there is the infamous squealing banshee wail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This happens when the trains go around turns, and it is most pronounced in tunnels, where the sound waves bounce back into the train and drill into passengers’ ears. Kolesar did not imitate this sound. It falls a wee bit out of his natural vocal range, he said. But KQED listeners were not afraid to give the banshee squeal a shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked listeners for their impressions of the sound, and we got some accurate and unexpected descriptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was compared to a baby seal calling for its mom, a 10-year-old slowly releasing air from a balloon at a birthday party, the high-pitched, long-lasting “goal scream” of a soccer commentator, the soundtrack from the trippy, space/time travel scene in \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6JNQwPWE0\">\u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>\u003c/a> (which, at times, is eerily spot on), and my personal favorite: all of the happy emojis that ever existed, put in a blender, desperately crying for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can hear a little montage below of what KQED listeners think the BART wail sounds like. Thanks to everyone out there who contributed, and to Meghan Mund and Lucas Waldron for recording their ear-splitting BART squeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/246643779″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now hold on a minute. Kolesar does not agree with the categorization of BART as loud. He says BART is rather quiet — that is, if you consider how fast it goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People say BART cars are loud, but it’s all relative,” Kolesar says. \u003ca href=\"http://www.bart.gov/about/history/facts\">BART averages 35 mph\u003c/a>, which is much faster than trains in most cities. New York’s subway goes about half as fast on average — 17 mph. And as anyone who has taken the A train can tell you, New York subway cars are not known to be silent types.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, Kolesar says BART’s banshee wail is not a mistake. It isn’t the result of some design mishap. It came from a conscious engineering choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineers had to make a trade-off back when they started building BART more than 50 years ago. They decided to make the wheels solid axle — or connected — so that they rotate at the same rate. Kolesar says that makes the trains quiet on the straightaways, which constitute a majority of BART’s tracks. But because of the design, one of the wheels ends up getting dragged against the rail on turns, which causes that high-pitched squeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030322\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 502px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-11030322\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-800x598.jpg\" alt=\"The wheels are designed to be quiet on straightaways but squeal in turns.\" width=\"502\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wheels are designed to be quiet on straightaways but squeal in turns. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So one wheel has to be sliding while the other is rolling,” Kolesar says. “Or they both have to be slightly sliding, because they are turning at different speeds going around that bend. It just makes noise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there is a plan to make BART quieter. New train cars will have tapered wheels that drag less on the rail. That will help a little. But there’s a bigger change coming with the new cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kolesar says the “the doors are the key.” No matter what you do, the wheels will always squeal a little. The current doors let in lots of that sound, but the new trains will have better insulated doors that could make the trains two or three times as quiet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2592px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11030323 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar.jpg\" alt=\"Henry Kolesar shows where the wheel rubs on the rail to make the wail.\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1936\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar.jpg 2592w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2592px) 100vw, 2592px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Kolesar shows where the wheel rubs on the rail to make the wail. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Again, we’ve got to wait a few years to enjoy that kind of relative quiet. All the old squealing cars won’t be replaced until around 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After then, should you grow nostalgic for the BART wail, you could always hear an approximation by watching \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for right now, commuters like Eric will have to endure the BART wail, or as I like to think about it: happy emojis going into the old blender.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want the Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Sometimes the noise on BART is so loud you can hardly think. Why such a racket? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering \u003cem>your\u003c/em> questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED listener Eric Bauer wanted to know something most Bay Area BART passengers have probably wondered about at one point or another in their commute: Why are the trains so loud?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They scream like banshees,” Eric said. “One should probably use hearing protection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, Eric, you’ll be happy to know there is a plan in the works to dampen BART’s signature wail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/293466182″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/293466182″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news is the fix is tied to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/cars/delivery-plan\"> rollout of new BART train cars\u003c/a>, which will begin late this year and won’t be done until 2021. So until then, you might want to keep some earplugs on hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, on to the business of what causes that banshee scream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2592px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11030324 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop.jpg\" alt=\"BART workers refurbish cars at the Hayward Shop.\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1936\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop.jpg 2592w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Shop-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2592px) 100vw, 2592px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART workers refurbish cars at the Hayward shop. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To find out why the trains are so loud, I took a trip to the BART maintenance shop in Hayward to meet Henry Kolesar, BART’s chief vehicle engineer. Not only does he know every little sound his train cars make, but he can imitate them startlingly well. The man has spent a \u003cem>lot\u003c/em> of time in and around BART trains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I arrived, Kolesar was sitting at his desk behind a stack of engineering reports. The one on top was a sound test of the BART system done a few years ago. First off, Kolesar explained, the trains make all kinds of noises, and not all of them are unpleasant. Believe it or not, some of the sounds are actually music to an engineer’s ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The trains make quite a few different sounds. Some of them are music to the ears of engineers.’ \u003ccite>Henry Kolesar, BART chief vehicle engineer\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>BART makes three main sounds that passengers hear. There is a nasally electronic hum some of the trains make as they are braking. This is the sound of BART saving energy, Kolesar says. As some of the newer train cars brake, they convert mechanical energy into electric energy that can be used to run the BART trains. As they do this, the train cars make this kind of “nnneeoooowwww” sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other two sounds fall squarely into the unpleasant category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first comes from wheels running on rails that have become worn and bumpy — “corrugated,” to use the technical term. When BART trains go over corrugated rail, they make a low-pitched, continuous “uuunnnhhh.” It sounds like some blend of a confused “uhhh” and the buzzer noise when someone answers incorrectly on one of those old daytime game shows from the ’80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030326\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11030326\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-800x1071.jpg\" alt=\"The wheel design leads to the wail and other unpleasant noises.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-800x1071.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-400x536.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-1920x2571.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-1180x1580.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel-960x1285.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Wheel.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wheel design leads to the wail and other unpleasant noises. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>BART actually has a big machine that grinds down the bumps on corrugated track, eliminating some of the noise. This explains why sometimes a portion of the BART system makes loud uuunnnhhh sounds one day and doesn’t make a peep the next. You aren’t crazy — they just smoothed out the track at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, there is the infamous squealing banshee wail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This happens when the trains go around turns, and it is most pronounced in tunnels, where the sound waves bounce back into the train and drill into passengers’ ears. Kolesar did not imitate this sound. It falls a wee bit out of his natural vocal range, he said. But KQED listeners were not afraid to give the banshee squeal a shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked listeners for their impressions of the sound, and we got some accurate and unexpected descriptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was compared to a baby seal calling for its mom, a 10-year-old slowly releasing air from a balloon at a birthday party, the high-pitched, long-lasting “goal scream” of a soccer commentator, the soundtrack from the trippy, space/time travel scene in \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6JNQwPWE0\">\u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>\u003c/a> (which, at times, is eerily spot on), and my personal favorite: all of the happy emojis that ever existed, put in a blender, desperately crying for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can hear a little montage below of what KQED listeners think the BART wail sounds like. Thanks to everyone out there who contributed, and to Meghan Mund and Lucas Waldron for recording their ear-splitting BART squeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”450″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/246643779″&visual=true&”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/246643779″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now hold on a minute. Kolesar does not agree with the categorization of BART as loud. He says BART is rather quiet — that is, if you consider how fast it goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People say BART cars are loud, but it’s all relative,” Kolesar says. \u003ca href=\"http://www.bart.gov/about/history/facts\">BART averages 35 mph\u003c/a>, which is much faster than trains in most cities. New York’s subway goes about half as fast on average — 17 mph. And as anyone who has taken the A train can tell you, New York subway cars are not known to be silent types.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, Kolesar says BART’s banshee wail is not a mistake. It isn’t the result of some design mishap. It came from a conscious engineering choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineers had to make a trade-off back when they started building BART more than 50 years ago. They decided to make the wheels solid axle — or connected — so that they rotate at the same rate. Kolesar says that makes the trains quiet on the straightaways, which constitute a majority of BART’s tracks. But because of the design, one of the wheels ends up getting dragged against the rail on turns, which causes that high-pitched squeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030322\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 502px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-11030322\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-800x598.jpg\" alt=\"The wheels are designed to be quiet on straightaways but squeal in turns.\" width=\"502\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Chassis-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wheels are designed to be quiet on straightaways but squeal in turns. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So one wheel has to be sliding while the other is rolling,” Kolesar says. “Or they both have to be slightly sliding, because they are turning at different speeds going around that bend. It just makes noise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there is a plan to make BART quieter. New train cars will have tapered wheels that drag less on the rail. That will help a little. But there’s a bigger change coming with the new cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kolesar says the “the doors are the key.” No matter what you do, the wheels will always squeal a little. The current doors let in lots of that sound, but the new trains will have better insulated doors that could make the trains two or three times as quiet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11030323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2592px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11030323 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar.jpg\" alt=\"Henry Kolesar shows where the wheel rubs on the rail to make the wail.\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1936\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar.jpg 2592w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-400x299.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-1920x1434.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-1180x881.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/07/Kolesar-960x717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2592px) 100vw, 2592px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Kolesar shows where the wheel rubs on the rail to make the wail. \u003ccite>(Sam Harnett/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Again, we’ve got to wait a few years to enjoy that kind of relative quiet. All the old squealing cars won’t be replaced until around 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After then, should you grow nostalgic for the BART wail, you could always hear an approximation by watching \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for right now, commuters like Eric will have to endure the BART wail, or as I like to think about it: happy emojis going into the old blender.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want the Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious/\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Are Ships Buried Under San Francisco?",
"headTitle": "Why Are Ships Buried Under San Francisco? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering \u003cem>your\u003c/em> questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District, you can grab a drink at the Old Ship Saloon. Owner Bill Duffy says the bar opened in 1851 inside the hull of the Arkansas, a ship that now lies in the dirt below the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who wanted to go to the bar would have to get up this plank and in through the side of the ship,” says Duffy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arkansas is one of 30 to 60 ships buried under the city. Some are marked with above-ground plaques, but many go completely unrecognized — a ghost fleet beneath your feet. Which brings us to the question:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why are there ships under San Francisco?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most of the buried ships lie under the Financial District and the Embarcadero — two of the city’s flattest neighborhoods. In a city known for its hills, you’d hardly know it taking a walk from the Embarcadero and the Transamerica Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/291570006″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can find the original shoreline by using your feet,” says Kevin Boyd, senior science writer at the Exploratorium, where an exhibit called “The Changing Shoreline of San Francisco” is currently on display. “As soon as you find yourself heading uphill at any significant degree, you can be pretty sure you’re close to the early shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why did the shoreline change? And how did the ships get buried there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 3888px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982521 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o.jpg\" alt=\"The Old Ship Saloon opened in 1851 and operated out of the hull of the Arkansas (Credit: Jennifer Woodard Madera)\" width=\"3888\" height=\"2592\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o.jpg 3888w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3888px) 100vw, 3888px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Old Ship Saloon opened in 1851 and operated out of the hull of the Arkansas (Credit: Jennifer Woodard Madera)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco in 1848 was a small town of a few hundred. But the discovery of gold that year had a pretty big impact. The small town became a city,” says James Delgado, a maritime archaeologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and author of “\u003ca href=\"http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520255807\">Gold Rush Port.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousbug]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After gold was discovered, ships pregnant with people and goods poured into the Bay Area. They dropped anchor in the deeper waters offshore, somewhere below today’s Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once moored, many of the ships never set sail again. Some vessels had arrived to the Gold Coast in a decrepit state, the owners knowingly sending the ships to the bay on their last voyage. Other ships simply had trouble leaving once sailors caught gold fever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982724\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982724 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-800x500.jpg\" alt=\"An advertisement for a line of ships bringing passengers to the Gold Rush.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-800x500.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-400x250.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-1920x1200.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An advertisement for a line of ships bringing passengers to the Gold Rush.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There were large numbers of desertions, in some cases even officers,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The harbor became clogged as the number of ships climbed near 1,000. As the mass grew, the ships became a greater nuisance. Many of the ships had to have their rigging taken down in order to avoid entanglement with neighboring vessels. Contemporary observers often referred to it as a “forest of masts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the ships were stationed offshore in deep water, goods had to be slogged across half a mile of the shallow, muddy tidal flats. Merchants had to pay workers handsomely to forget about their gold fever and accept the job of a porter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10981646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10981646 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-800x643.jpg\" alt=\"The waterfront in 1851 (San Francisco Maritime Museum National Historical Park)\" width=\"800\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-800x643.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-400x321.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The waterfront in 1851. (Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum National Historical Park)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, politicians devised a solution to lessen these hefty expenses: bring the shoreline closer to deep water. The city began selling water lots out in the Bay on the condition that buyers fill them in with land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to secure the title, you would put real property on it,” says Delgado. “You could drive pilings and build a fence around it. But the easiest, cheapest way was to do that with a ship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land in Gold Rush-era San Francisco was incredibly valuable and people tried to secure these water lots any way they could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you scuttled your ship, you could claim the land under it as part of your salvage,” says Richard Everett, curator of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10991294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10991294\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-800x552.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the buried ships under San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-800x552.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-400x276.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-1180x814.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-960x662.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of the buried ships under San Francisco. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some men used this technicality to lay claim to other people’s lots. They were known as the “hulk undertakers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the dead of night, they would sail ships over valuable lots, unplug holes drilled into the ship’s keel and \u003cem>conveniently\u003c/em> lose the vessel on the spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were actual open wars. One day the captain of the hulk undertakers was in the midst of giving a command when a wharf employee fired a shot at him. His mouth was open, he was yelling, and the bullet passed through one cheek and out the other, missing his tongue and his teeth. To the end of his days he wore a beard to cover those two scars on either side of his mouth,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides land, San Francisco also needed buildings. Because the city grew so rapidly and lumber was expensive to mill, many of the early buildings were constructed of canvas tents. One visitor described San Francisco as a magic lantern city at night, because the tents covering the hillsides would glow from within. While this may have been picturesque, the residents wanted more permanent structures, so they turned to the ships in the harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The junker ships were taken to “Rotten Row,” where Charles Hare and the local Chinese community systematically broke down hundreds of ships. The wood and metal were recycled into building materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 200 of the nicer ships were easily turned into permanent structures. The majority were used as warehouses but other ships became hotels, offices, bars, counting houses, restaurants, auction halls, banks, cafes and a church. Even the city jail moved onto a ship once the old one became overcrowded and worn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10991250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10991250 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-800x577.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of early San Francisco where old ships were converted into buildings.\" width=\"800\" height=\"577\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-800x577.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-400x288.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769.jpg 896w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of early San Francisco, where old ships were converted into buildings. \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One of the prisoners actually was said to have taken the door off its hinges and carried it on his back to make a show and to demand that the jailer feed him because the jailer had skipped a meal,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As lots of water was filled and the city expanded into the Bay, many of the floating buildings found themselves surrounded by land, sitting along city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then there were a series of fires. The biggest blaze ripped through the city on May 4, 1851. It took out about 20 city blocks and destroyed more than a thousand buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the giant fire that took out most of the waterfront. Many of the ships burned down to their water lines,” says Everett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 796px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982523 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865.jpg\" alt=\"A print depicting the San Francisco Fire in May 1851. Losses allegedly totaled $20,000,000 (Courtesy of the De Young Legion of Honor)\" width=\"796\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865.jpg 796w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865-400x282.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A print depicting the San Francisco Fire in May 1851. Losses allegedly totaled $20,000,000 (Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Permanent Collection )\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dozens of ships stayed behind, and remain firmly anchored in what today is the Financial District or Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city forgot about the ships. One by one, they’ve been built over. Nowadays, we barely think about the hulks lying just under our feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, until we have to lay a new foundation or dig a fresh tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1994, Muni was digging a light-rail tunnel beneath Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero when workers hit a ship — the Rome. The vessel was so huge they literally had to tunnel through. Now, thousands of riders on J, K, L, M, N and T trains unknowingly ride through its hull every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Got a question you want the Bay Curious team to investigate? \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ask!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering \u003cem>your\u003c/em> questions about the Bay Area. Find us on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ipi2mc5aqfen4nr2daayiziiyuy\">Google Play\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\">NPR One\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District, you can grab a drink at the Old Ship Saloon. Owner Bill Duffy says the bar opened in 1851 inside the hull of the Arkansas, a ship that now lies in the dirt below the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who wanted to go to the bar would have to get up this plank and in through the side of the ship,” says Duffy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arkansas is one of 30 to 60 ships buried under the city. Some are marked with above-ground plaques, but many go completely unrecognized — a ghost fleet beneath your feet. Which brings us to the question:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why are there ships under San Francisco?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most of the buried ships lie under the Financial District and the Embarcadero — two of the city’s flattest neighborhoods. In a city known for its hills, you’d hardly know it taking a walk from the Embarcadero and the Transamerica Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/291570006″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/291570006″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can find the original shoreline by using your feet,” says Kevin Boyd, senior science writer at the Exploratorium, where an exhibit called “The Changing Shoreline of San Francisco” is currently on display. “As soon as you find yourself heading uphill at any significant degree, you can be pretty sure you’re close to the early shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why did the shoreline change? And how did the ships get buried there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 3888px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982521 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o.jpg\" alt=\"The Old Ship Saloon opened in 1851 and operated out of the hull of the Arkansas (Credit: Jennifer Woodard Madera)\" width=\"3888\" height=\"2592\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o.jpg 3888w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-400x267.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/443335464_c1f732e300_o-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3888px) 100vw, 3888px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Old Ship Saloon opened in 1851 and operated out of the hull of the Arkansas (Credit: Jennifer Woodard Madera)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco in 1848 was a small town of a few hundred. But the discovery of gold that year had a pretty big impact. The small town became a city,” says James Delgado, a maritime archaeologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and author of “\u003ca href=\"http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520255807\">Gold Rush Port.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n What do you wonder about the Bay Area, its culture or people that you want KQED to investigate?\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Ask Bay Curious.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After gold was discovered, ships pregnant with people and goods poured into the Bay Area. They dropped anchor in the deeper waters offshore, somewhere below today’s Bay Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once moored, many of the ships never set sail again. Some vessels had arrived to the Gold Coast in a decrepit state, the owners knowingly sending the ships to the bay on their last voyage. Other ships simply had trouble leaving once sailors caught gold fever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982724\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982724 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-800x500.jpg\" alt=\"An advertisement for a line of ships bringing passengers to the Gold Rush.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-800x500.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-400x250.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-1920x1200.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Clipper-California-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An advertisement for a line of ships bringing passengers to the Gold Rush.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There were large numbers of desertions, in some cases even officers,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The harbor became clogged as the number of ships climbed near 1,000. As the mass grew, the ships became a greater nuisance. Many of the ships had to have their rigging taken down in order to avoid entanglement with neighboring vessels. Contemporary observers often referred to it as a “forest of masts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the ships were stationed offshore in deep water, goods had to be slogged across half a mile of the shallow, muddy tidal flats. Merchants had to pay workers handsomely to forget about their gold fever and accept the job of a porter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10981646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10981646 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-800x643.jpg\" alt=\"The waterfront in 1851 (San Francisco Maritime Museum National Historical Park)\" width=\"800\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-800x643.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay-400x321.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Ship-in-the-Bay.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The waterfront in 1851. (Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum National Historical Park)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, politicians devised a solution to lessen these hefty expenses: bring the shoreline closer to deep water. The city began selling water lots out in the Bay on the condition that buyers fill them in with land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to secure the title, you would put real property on it,” says Delgado. “You could drive pilings and build a fence around it. But the easiest, cheapest way was to do that with a ship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land in Gold Rush-era San Francisco was incredibly valuable and people tried to secure these water lots any way they could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you scuttled your ship, you could claim the land under it as part of your salvage,” says Richard Everett, curator of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10991294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10991294\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-800x552.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the buried ships under San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-800x552.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-400x276.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-1180x814.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Buried-Ships-Map-960x662.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of the buried ships under San Francisco. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some men used this technicality to lay claim to other people’s lots. They were known as the “hulk undertakers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the dead of night, they would sail ships over valuable lots, unplug holes drilled into the ship’s keel and \u003cem>conveniently\u003c/em> lose the vessel on the spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were actual open wars. One day the captain of the hulk undertakers was in the midst of giving a command when a wharf employee fired a shot at him. His mouth was open, he was yelling, and the bullet passed through one cheek and out the other, missing his tongue and his teeth. To the end of his days he wore a beard to cover those two scars on either side of his mouth,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides land, San Francisco also needed buildings. Because the city grew so rapidly and lumber was expensive to mill, many of the early buildings were constructed of canvas tents. One visitor described San Francisco as a magic lantern city at night, because the tents covering the hillsides would glow from within. While this may have been picturesque, the residents wanted more permanent structures, so they turned to the ships in the harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The junker ships were taken to “Rotten Row,” where Charles Hare and the local Chinese community systematically broke down hundreds of ships. The wood and metal were recycled into building materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 200 of the nicer ships were easily turned into permanent structures. The majority were used as warehouses but other ships became hotels, offices, bars, counting houses, restaurants, auction halls, banks, cafes and a church. Even the city jail moved onto a ship once the old one became overcrowded and worn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10991250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10991250 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-800x577.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of early San Francisco where old ships were converted into buildings.\" width=\"800\" height=\"577\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-800x577.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769-400x288.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/Library-of-Congress-e1466110626769.jpg 896w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of early San Francisco, where old ships were converted into buildings. \u003ccite>(Library of Congress)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One of the prisoners actually was said to have taken the door off its hinges and carried it on his back to make a show and to demand that the jailer feed him because the jailer had skipped a meal,” says Delgado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As lots of water was filled and the city expanded into the Bay, many of the floating buildings found themselves surrounded by land, sitting along city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then there were a series of fires. The biggest blaze ripped through the city on May 4, 1851. It took out about 20 city blocks and destroyed more than a thousand buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the giant fire that took out most of the waterfront. Many of the ships burned down to their water lines,” says Everett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10982523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 796px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10982523 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865.jpg\" alt=\"A print depicting the San Francisco Fire in May 1851. Losses allegedly totaled $20,000,000 (Courtesy of the De Young Legion of Honor)\" width=\"796\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865.jpg 796w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/06/San-Francisco-Fire-e1465404430865-400x282.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A print depicting the San Francisco Fire in May 1851. Losses allegedly totaled $20,000,000 (Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Permanent Collection )\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dozens of ships stayed behind, and remain firmly anchored in what today is the Financial District or Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city forgot about the ships. One by one, they’ve been built over. Nowadays, we barely think about the hulks lying just under our feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, until we have to lay a new foundation or dig a fresh tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1994, Muni was digging a light-rail tunnel beneath Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero when workers hit a ship — the Rome. The vessel was so huge they literally had to tunnel through. Now, thousands of riders on J, K, L, M, N and T trains unknowingly ride through its hull every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
},
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
},
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
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