American Experience

The Alaska gold rush spurred dreams of riches, but also visions of aviation.

Bustling Seattle was building one freeway after another in the 1960s and 70s.

One of the state's first settlers was a free black man. His family left a lasting legacy.

Native Swinomish paddlers met the UW Husky 'Boys in the Boat' in a 1941 race.

JFK's impromptu World's Fair visit caught on film.

A little medicine bottle played a huge role in Seattle's artistic life.

The Olympia, the Pacific Coast's only indigenous oyster, was once a major industry.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is one of the epic civil engineering failures of all time.

In 1889, three of Washington's cities burned within weeks of each other.

In our latest episode, we recap the dark legacy of Ted Bundy.

In 1947, a pilot spotted UFOs flying near Mount Rainier.

The story of a white supremacist who left an uncomfortable past for the frontier.

Fake news is not new—hoaxes have been around for ages. We look at some that made real news

When Seattle won a Stanley Cup.

Seattle and Tacoma's biggest battle is over the name of our biggest mountain.

Harry Allen, AKA Nell Pickerell, became a NW celebrity by challenging gender norms.

Today, climate change dominates discourse in Seattle — but it used to be coal.

Lesser Seattle' wanted to keep the city free of pretension — and Californians.

A shipwreck shares it's beeswax bounty 300 years later.

Every Seattleite hears this phrase: Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest.

Every city has a dish (or five) to call its own, and every dish has a story to tell.

Knute Berger recalls Mark Twain's memorable trip to Seattle in the summer of 1895.

In 1872, the Seattle council passed Ordinance 32 that outlined punishment for vagrants.

Only one dinosaur bone has been found in Washington. Here’s why.

What fossils can teach us about the past — and future — climates of the our region.

Three instances where visions of the future ran up against the Seattle Process.

What can cougar remains tell us about attacks, past and present?

You’ve heard about Woodstock, but what about the music festival that came before?

Knute Berger charts the rise and fall of the whale that would come to define our relations

Are you the kind of person who would trade gold and sunshine for a damp forest any day?

Seattle prides itself as a launchpad to the Space Age — but should Kent get the credit?

With the help of an extremely old map, Knute charts Seattle's salty sound...or bay?

This secret artifact contains a design from the original architect.

Knute Berger explores the dark history of the Silver Shirts, a fascist splinter group.

Bye bye Red Delicious, there’s a new apple in town: the Cosmic Crisp.

Knute Berger chronicles the car’s bumpy ride in early Seattle.

There was a time when cyclists ruled the road in Seattle.

Berger takes a historical look back at the first woman to hold the office of mayor.

Knute Berger wants to know: What does science have to say about Sasquatch?