Erin Allen

2 weeks ago | wbez.org | Erin Allen

If you’ve had your car towed in Chicago, there’s a decent chance you had to journey down to Lower Lower Wacker Drive — likely not in the best of moods — to open your wallet and recollect your vehicle. “It's supposed to be a happy process,” said Michael Lacoco, the deputy commissioner of the city’s bureau of traffic services. In our last episode, we answered some of your many questions about Lower Wacker Drive, a.k.a. Chicago’s basement.

2 weeks ago | wbez.org | Erin Allen

WBEZ’s Curious City answers questions from listeners about Chicago and the region. We include the public in our storytelling, making journalism more transparent and interconnected. On its face, the phrase “double decker street” sounds unique and innovative. But once you actually enter the bowels of Wacker Drive, it can lose its allure quickly. Like the top level, Lower Wacker winds along the curves of the Chicago River.

2 weeks ago | michiganpublic.org | Kalloli Bhatt |Ronia Isabel Cabansag |Erin Allen

Malcolm X, a lauded and controversial leader in the Civil Rights Movement, would have turned 100 years old this year. What’s often forgotten are his roots as a Michigander, with deep ties in Lansing and Detroit. The latter is where writer and activist Herb Boyd first met Malcolm X. Boyd credits his political and educational development to the Civil Rights leader. Boyd recalled Malcolm X’s February 1965 visit to Detroit’s Ford Auditorium.

1 month ago | wbez.org | Erin Allen

It’s typical to see moving trucks winding through streets and alleys of Chicago on the first day of any month. The act of moving hardly sounds like a luxury, but as we heard in the last episode, it could be worse. About a century ago, Chicagoans only moved on May 1 and sometimes Oct. 1. That meant thousands of moving wagons clogging the streets, price gouging and exploitation. Today, people move any time of the year and there are more protections for tenants.

1 month ago | wbez.org | Erin Allen

In our last episode, Curious City question-asker Emily Porter sent us on a quest exploring the world of local fashion designers, all after she found a thrift shop sweater with a tag that reads: “Maria Rodriguez Chicago.”Who is Maria Rodriguez? How did she get into the industry? And what is it like to be a fashion designer in Chicago?