Curious Juneau
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsIn Juneau, quirky people, untold stories and little mysteries are as abundant as the rain. For the things about Juneau you can’t Google, why not work with a KTOO reporter to satisfy your curiosity? Curious Juneau is a recurring news feature driven by questions and reporting from our audience, starring you and your questions.
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Episodes
Why do Juneau’s thrift stores fill up so fast? And what can we do about it?
March 22, 2024 07:08 - 34.2 MBA listener asked KTOO why it's so hard to donate clothes and other used items in town. For this installment of Curious Juneau, Anna Canny investigates why that is and some of the creative solutions people have found.
What are the original Lingít names for Juneauʼs mountains?
March 08, 2024 02:02 - 8.9 MBA listener asked KTOO what the local mountains’ original Lingít names are. For this installment of Curious Juneau, Yvonne Krumrey spoke with Lingít educators to find out.
Curious Juneau: Why does Alaska’s Capitol building have a ground floor?
July 24, 2023 22:26 - 15.8 MBWhen Americans walk into a multi-story building, they’d usually say they’re on the first floor. Not in the lobby of Alaska’s Capitol building.
Curious Juneau: What caused the jumble of fallen trees near the ferry terminal?
June 19, 2023 17:00 - 17.3 MBThe fan of fallen trees on the west side of Auke Nu Cove may be evidence of one of Juneau’s weirdest wind phenomena.
Curious Juneau: How big is the Coast Guard’s presence in Juneau?
May 28, 2023 19:00 - 10.5 MB“It's a major footprint. And then we also have people who work for the Coast Guard who are not active duty,” she said. “It does end up being a significant economic driver in the community.”
Curious Juneau: Why does that speed limit sign say 19 ½ mph?
May 04, 2023 23:19 - 15.8 MBStudies show drivers remember fewer details about routes they’re more familiar with. Around Juneau and in other parts of the U.S., experimenting with speed limits can improve road safety.
What happened to Juneau’s Taco Bell?
May 03, 2022 22:08 - 6.01 MBIn the late '90s Juneau had two Taco Bells. But by the early 2000s they were both gone.
Why are some of Juneau’s street lights glowing purple?
January 24, 2022 22:21 - 2.46 MBSome Juneau residents have noticed street lights with a purple glow popping up around town. A KTOO listener asked why.
Is there an Indigenous name for this cloud formation in Juneau?
August 28, 2021 20:18 - 2.25 MBA Curious Juneau listener wrote in saying they'd witnessed a snake-like cloud forming along the Gastineau Channel and wondered if there are any Lingít stories or a Lingít name for this cloud feature.
Was there really a gun range in the basement of Harborview Elementary School?
August 06, 2021 17:06 - 5.87 MBThe short answer is yes. It was there for decades, and there are plenty of people still around in Juneau who remember it.
Is there gold in them thar beaches?
May 30, 2019 00:32 - 2.33 MBOne Curious Juneau listener has noticed janky-looking rafts and unnatural pits proliferating in recent years at his go-to fishing spot. So we asked one of the raft owners what they’re up to.
Does Juneau really have the smallest Costco in the world?
March 29, 2019 03:06Sure it's small, but is it the smallest? When inside, do you shop clockwise or counterclockwise? And what's up with ToshCo in Gustavus?
Volunteers get thumbs up on spruced-up peace sign redesign
March 22, 2019 03:03 - 812 KBThe plan is for volunteers this summer to prune some encroaching vegetation, and to plant spruce seedlings in the footprint of the peace sign. Eventually, they expect the spruce will outgrow and contrast with the existing alders on the hillside.
Curious Juneau: Why do Norah Jones tickets cost over $500?
February 15, 2019 04:07 - 1.93 MBProfessional ticket reselling is rare for events in Juneau. A longtime local event organizer says the nine-time Grammy Award winner's upcoming concert in Juneau has caused the biggest stir she can think of.
How a mischievous Home Depot surveyor turned this hill into guerrilla art
January 12, 2019 03:57 - 1.98 MBTheodolites, semaphore, trigonometry and some "Big Lebowski" references — everything you wanted to know about the peace sign and a few things you didn't.
What happened to the downtown bells?
November 04, 2018 21:00 - 2.34 MBThey've been gone for about four years. The system was originally installed by a private downtown bank in the 1960s.
Did Wyatt Earp really leave his gun in Juneau?
September 07, 2018 20:05 - 2.6 MBHow did the Red Dog Saloon come to have an antique Smith & Wesson No. 3 mounted behind the bar — and did it really belong to Wyatt Earp? Curious Juneau tries to find out.
What’s the deal with Juneau’s barefoot guy?
April 20, 2018 15:41 - 4.33 MBXtratufs, Bogs, Muck Boots -- comfortable, waterproof footwear is pretty much a necessity here in Juneau. But not for the local some know as “the barefoot guy.”
Juneau’s recorded wind speed blows away Coast Guard retiree
April 13, 2018 14:33 - 4.71 MBIn this Curious Juneau, John Hollis asks: What’s the highest wind speed recorded in Juneau? The answer will blow away this Coast Guard retiree.
Yes, there really is a doll museum in Juneau and it’s filled with little treasures
March 02, 2018 01:38 - 6.67 MBTucked away in the second floor of the Triangle Building in downtown Juneau, there’s a museum filled with snapshots of history – but in this museum, they’re made out of wood, cloth and plastic.
Does Juneau really have a Florida federal building’s pelicans?
February 23, 2018 14:55 - 1.75 MBA common story goes that there was a shipping mix up. Somewhere in Florida, there's a federal building with our eagle statue, and our federal building got their pelicans. Is it true?
Juneau’s concrete blocks spark tall tales about their origins
February 09, 2018 15:00 - 6.97 MBTall tales abound in regards to the giant blocks near Lemon Creek. The stories behind the mysterious blocks are almost too good to be true: Ancient monoliths, hatches for alien space craft, White Alice -- even cow graves. But nothing is really, so to speak, concrete.
Juneau’s forgotten pedestrian tunnel carries water, power through Telephone Hill
January 03, 2018 22:14 - 4.68 MBIn the mid-1970s the city and power company jointly built a 350-foot tunnel under Telephone Hill. It still carries water and power underground but its use as a pedestrian short cut was short-lived.
Mysterious pink pond prompts a question and a quest
December 20, 2017 14:45 - 2.56 MBA hydrologist's marker dye is unlikely, but there are a variety of biological processes that could be responsible for discoloration of the pond that's located about 4 miles down the Herbert Glacier trail.
Long ago, Patsy Ann left her mark on historic Juneau, but where?
December 11, 2017 14:30 - 3.98 MBThe children's book, “Patsy Ann of Alaska: the true story of a dog" says the bull terrier, Patsy Ann, pushed her paw prints into sidewalk cement. But do they actually exist?
Even with nowhere to go, Juneau car thieves are a growing problem
December 06, 2017 14:44 - 4.32 MBJuneau isn't on the road system, but yet car thefts in the de facto island city -- are on the rise. In fact, 2017 has already surpassed the number of stolen motor vehicles reported in recent years -- and more than doubled since 2014.
What’s the history of the Quonset huts on Atlin Drive?
October 24, 2017 13:55 - 4.24 MBIf you’ve driven on Mendenhall Loop Road, you may have seen the huts. The rusted steel half-circles look a bit like mini-airplane hangars.
Racial disparity led to ban of death penalty in territorial Alaska
October 11, 2017 13:54 - 6.16 MB“The fact is that after 1902, all of the people who were executed in Alaska were either racial minorities or ethnic minorities,” said attorney Averil Lerman. The last three men executed in the territory were an Alaska Native and two black men.
Where did the Birdman of Alcatraz commit his first murder?
August 11, 2017 14:00 - 4.59 MBMany people are familiar with the story of Robert Stroud, one of the country’s most famous inmates of the last century, and how he spent over half his life in solitary confinement and gained fame for his careful study of birds and bird diseases. But many people probably don't know that Stroud was initially sent to prison for a murder he committed just a few short blocks away from the present-day Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau.
Why isn’t Gastineau Channel navigable all the way through?
July 21, 2017 14:00 - 4.22 MBCurious Juneau examines why Gastineau Channel isn't maintained as a through waterway. Instead most vessels have to take the long way around Douglas Island.