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Urban Survival

Fire!

  1. You're in a hotel room, and the fire alarm goes off. Tell us what you should do.

  2. What sort of fire extinguisher should you use on a mound of burning paper?

  3. What about energized electrical equipment that's in flames?

  4. And what class of extinguisher do you grab to put out that pile of burning metal?

Material World

  1. What's the smallest size of coffee available at Starbucks, and how you get it?

  2. Describe a real Chicago deep-dish pizza.

  3. How does one make a bagel that won't make a New Yorker complain?

  4. How do New Yorkers make bagels?

  5. In Seattle, where can you find fishmongering theatrics?

  6. Where can you buy cheap hot dogs in North Adams?

  7. Name three things that Eliza Higgins thinks would be lovely.

  8. What dive, made famous in a Saturday Night Live skit, is a hangout for Chicago journalists, at least ones want cheeseburgers but not fries?

Getting Around

Name the City

  1. What city just opened a new subway system within the last few weeks?

  2. Speaking of flirtations, where was While You Were Sleeping set?

  3. What's the European word for "trolley"?

  4. In what US city can one ride a monorail?

  5. What city installed the first electric "WALK" sign?

  6. You're in DC on a clear summer morning, near the intersection of 14th St NW and S St NW, and you have an appointment at 9th and H. Do you walk north, south, east, or west?

  7. Please give us directions to Albany Airport.

  8. When is the Big Dig supposed to be completed?

Peaceful Protest

  1. Peace protestors in Lafayette Park, outside the White House, used squirrels to advance their cause, until the Secret Service threatened to make arrests. Exactly how what did the activists do with the squirrels?

  2. In a P.G. Wodehouse short story, one of Bertie's friends joins group of London's most radical socialists. Why?

  3. Why does the melody to "Oh, Christmas Tree!" hold greater political meaning in the UK?

Power to the People, Cos!

  1. Your peaceful protest turned nasty, and the government forces are firing tear-gas grenades. You're trapped in a shattered cafe, and you want to get out. What can you do to your handkerchief (martyr's-blood red, of course) that will help filter out the CS?

  2. Things just got a lot worse. How do you make a molotov cocktail? (It's more than just gasoline.)

  3. Please explain the molotov cocktail's name.

  4. What urban design feature makes a European riot much more likely to result in stone-throwing than an American one?

  5. What has Chicago Union Station got to do with a mutiny on a Czarist warship?

Bridges

Please name the bridge and city

  1. Pontoon bridges form an important part of one US city's transport network. Which city?

  2. Where is the "bridge too far"?

  3. Uber-planner Robert Moses was responsible for much of the highway infrastructure in and around New York City. Why did he intentionally design Long Island parkways with very low overpasses?

Signs from Above

What do these symbols signify?

Urban Planning

  1. Why was Bunker Hill such an important position, anyway?

  2. What US city made its river run backwards, and why?

  3. What Northern European city, capital of a former Russian dominion, has a central square laid out to look like St Petersburg's?

  4. What do the Back Bay and the Mission District have in common?

  5. What is the "New Urbanism"?

Mean City Streets

There are always a few detectives who stand out as the product of their city. Name the detectives and their authors (or, if they originally appeared on the screen, their movie or tv show):

  1. Kooky second-string journalist at a New York TV station; wields a mean hot-glue gun.

  2. Three members of the Amsterdam murder brigade.

  3. Polish private detective from Chicago with an hard-to-spell name.

  4. Chief of Detectives for the Brattleboro Police.

  5. Does every detective in a New York squad have this much trouble relieving himself?

  6. Does Minnesota even have a city big enough for a hardboiled detective?

  7. Black Sicilian in Baltimore.

All the Sights of the City

Name the City