32 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF HANGAR ONE AT MOFFETT FIELD? The lofty Hangar One was built to house a 785-foot-long dirigible called the USS Macon. It was constructed soon after Santa Clara County residents sold Moffett Field to the U.S. Navy for the price of one dollar back in 1931. “Quite a deal, even in its time,” Olivia says. Used for reconnaissance, the Macon could carry four airplanes, then release them via an arm called the trapeze. “The airplanes would do their scouting mission and then come back and get caught by that arm and brought back into this giant blimp,” she describes. “Ultimately, the USS Macon met a tragic end.” It went down off the coast of Big Sur, after less than two years of flights. “Two people died in that crash—but 81 didn’t … Ultimately, dirigibles went out of favor because they almost all crashed. The Hindenburg happened a couple years after that.” WHY DO PEOPLE PARK ON HIGHWAY 101 NEAR BRISBANE? There’s a stretch of road along Highway 101, between the Bay and the Brisbane Lagoon, where you’ll regularly find cars pulled over on the shoulder, disregarding several signs that shout: “NO PARKING.” So what’s worth risking a ticket? This place, known as “the tubes,” allows fish to swim between the Bay and the lagoon to spawn. “There’s a fish highway right there on 101,” Olivia quips. Fisherfolk, taking advantage of the schools swimming in and out, wait at the entry to catch halibut, striped bass and even stingrays. “Fishermen are so wily,” she says. “It’s like the whole food chain’s congregating there.” Olivia adds that this particular podcast episode segued into a larger story about local fishing spots—and Bay Curious’ field reporter ended up crab fishing on a paddleboard. After bringing her catch back home to Berkeley, reporter Katrina Schwartz recalls, “I had to pull them, alive and angry, from a cooler using these tiny kitchen tongs that were not up to the job.” One of the crafty crustaceans tried to flee the premises. “It was crawling towards her door,” Olivia laughs. “What if this crab had gotten out and it was just roaming around Berkeley? Lost crab!” any questions? kqed.org/baycurious
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