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June 29, 2026

42 Years of The Wildrose, King County's Unsheltered Homelessness Surge, and Listener Mailbag

City Cast Seattle

42 Years of The Wildrose, King County's Unsheltered Homelessness Surge, and Listener Mailbag

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Today on the podcast host Jane C. Hu is joined by guest Rachel Karp, creator of the podcast Cruising and author of The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, along with producer Sam J. Leeds to dig into a savvy real estate decision that’s kept The Wildrose – one of the oldest lesbian bars in the country – operating for the last 42 years. Rachel also shares the storytelling event they’re hosting at the Rose on July 12. Then Jane and Sam are joined by contributor Guy Oron to talk about King County's latest Point-in-Time Count, which counted more than 18,000 people experiencing homelessness in one night. Guy explains the complicated bigger picture, what the data says, what it misses, and the $67 million in federal funding on the line. Finally, Jane digs into our listener mail bag to share some shoutouts from City Cast Seattle neighbors, and discuss a new plan to close the Burke-Gilman Trail’s missing link through Ballard.

Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:

Seattle Art Museum

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