Reporting live from Seattle's past

Feliks Banel

Feliks Banel is a producer, host, and historian for KIRO Newsradio, and is editor of "Columbia," the quarterly magazine of the Washington State Historical Society.

Tour a rare Boeing B-29 bomber in Seattle this weekend

The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field is playing host this weekend to one of the rarest aircraft in the world: an airworthy World War II Boeing B-29 bomber.

2 days ago

Local music legend Chris Ballew’s bizarre story of surviving the eruption of Mount St. Helens

Forced off the freeway, they turned around and headed toward Spokane – battling falling ash, blizzard-like visibility, and fear of the unknown.

4 days ago

All Over The Map: Searching for Washington’s historic smokestacks

The recent addition to the Heritage Register is an artifact of an old mill that closed 80 years ago. It's called the “Carlisle Lumber Company Smokestack.”

9 days ago

History of abortion laws and politics in the Evergreen State

Washington voters have twice approved pro-choice ballot measures in the past – including a few years before Roe v. Wade, and again in 1991.

10 days ago

How Seattleites observed VE Day in 1945

When VE Day – marking Allied “victory in Europe” – came to Seattle on Tuesday, May 8, 1945, the sidewalks weren’t jammed with jubilant sailors kissing nurses, and no confetti rained down on the streets. While London and other European capitals had much to celebrate in this fashion 77 years ago this week, the appropriate […]

14 days ago

All Over The Map: In search of Washington’s ‘Big Bend Country’

You may have already visited the Evergreen State’s “Big Bend Country” without even knowing you were there.

16 days ago

Will Anacortes-Sidney ferry return with belated centennial celebration?

The Anacortes to Sidney ferry – which connects Washington and Vancouver Island – has been shut down for more than two years because of the pandemic.

18 days ago

All Over The Map: Explore layers of history at Tacoma’s Swan Creek Park

If you visit Swan Creek Park in Tacoma, you’re likely to stumble across some surprising artifacts, some dating to World War II.

23 days ago

Opening Day of Boating Season is one of the Seattle area’s oldest traditions

The Seattle Yacht Club’s Opening Day of Boating Season may be the closest the Pacific Northwest comes to having an annual tradition along the same lines as the All England Club or Churchill Downs.

25 days ago

All Over The Map: Place-name contest encourages students to explore community history

Attention teachers and kids in all 39 counties: the Washington Secretary of State’s office has launched a new place name contest. Entries are due by Sunday, May 15.

30 days ago

Theme songs, earworms, and a clunker or two from the Seattle World’s Fair

The Seattle World's Fair was a six-month long party – the “Mercer Street Carnival” some pundits called – but carnivals and parties need music.

1 month ago

All Over The Map: Hidden history in names of Tacoma’s waterways

In Tacoma’s Commencement Bay, the names applied to industrial waterways reveal a dizzying number of layers of Northwest history.

1 month ago

Shores Bowl to become latest Western Washington bowling alley to close its doors

The latest bad news about a Western Washington bowling alley comes to us from Shores Bowl located in Grays Harbor County.

1 month ago

Kirkland’s Tech City Bowl – aka Totem Bowl – closing after 64 years

After more than six decades in business on the Eastside, Tech City Bowl on Rose Hill will shut down permanently later this year.

1 month ago

Don’t be cruel: Share your Elvis and other Seattle World’s Fair memories!

The 60th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair is almost here. KIRO Newsradio is marking the occasion with a series of programs and stories called SPIRIT OF ’62.

1 month ago

All Over The Map: ‘Placeholders’ may temporarily replace derogatory names in Washington

A new federal order calls for the rapid removal of a specific derogatory place name from all 50 states, including 18 spots in Washington.

1 month ago

Douglas World Cruiser replica will celebrate Seattle’s role in around-the-world flight

To mark the 99th anniversary of a first-of-its-kind around the world flight, a local man is planning a re-creation in a replica plane he built himself.