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The Finest

The Finest

Written by: KPBS Public Media
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 San Diego earns its title as America’s Finest City through the people, art and movements redefining the region’s cultural identity. The Finest is a podcast that highlights the emerging voices and dynamic forces reshaping community and expression. Through personal stories and critical perspectives, each episode brings forward the artists, advocates and ideas driving change and pushing boundaries in the region’s cultural landscape. New episodes premiere Thursdays.KPBS Public Media Art Cooking Entertainment & Performing Arts Food & Wine Music Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Bonus: One of Their Own, a San Diego officer's death and the questions left behind

    Bonus: One of Their Own, a San Diego officer's death and the questions left behind
    Feb 26 2026
    Content note: This episode contains discussion of suicide and domestic abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.This episode is a special feed share from One of Their Own, a KPBS true crime podcast created and hosted by KPBS racial justice and social equity reporter Katie Hyson. In 2018, 25-year-old San Diego police officer Ciara Estrada was found dead in her apartment on New Year's Day. Her death was ruled a suicide by the San Diego Police Department — the same department she worked for. But nearly eight years later, her family still questions whether the investigation went far enough. In this first episode, you'll meet Ciara through the people who loved her most. From a viral video that once labeled her a "nice cop" to the deeply personal artifacts she left behind, the series begins by asking a simple but powerful question: Who was Ciara Estrada beyond the case file? The podcast explores police culture, domestic violence allegations within law enforcement and what happens when a department investigates one of its own. After listening, find the rest of One of Their Own wherever you get your podcasts.
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    26 mins
  • Topeka Clementine performs live at KPBS and talks cooking, art, viral moments and music as action

    Topeka Clementine performs live at KPBS and talks cooking, art, viral moments and music as action
    Feb 19 2026

    San Diego's Topeka Clementine brought the KPBS patio to life with a performance as part of the Sundrenched Sounds live music series — spontaneous, communal and emotionally charged. Blending sharp storytelling with sing-along moments and unexpected humor, the set moved seamlessly between intimate confession and collective call to action. We sat down afterward with Kai Simovich, the musician behind Topeka Clementine, to talk about the project's remarkable output and what it really means to go viral. Named after a street corner in Oceanside tied to grassroots mutual aid, Topeka Clementine channels community care directly into the music.


    Kai shares how recent personal loss reshaped their songwriting, including the creation of "Feed the Trees," a meditation on grief, inheritance and how life carries forward. Through relentless creativity, collective energy and performance, Topeka Clementine's music insists on hope, even in heavy times.


    Guest:

    • Kai Simovich, Topeka Clementine


    Mentioned in this episode:

    • Estonia's Singing Revolution (Rick Steves)
    • Amass | Matt Orlando Brings California Sun to Copenhagen (Florence Fabricant, New York Times, 2017)
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    21 mins
  • The art, the joy, the keeper: The hidden work behind Niki de Saint Phalle's beloved mosaic sculptures

    The art, the joy, the keeper: The hidden work behind Niki de Saint Phalle's beloved mosaic sculptures
    Feb 12 2026
    The bold, joyful sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle are woven into San Diego’s landscape, even if many people don’t know her name. In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of the artist behind Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, the Sun God at UC San Diego and the beloved Nikigator in Balboa Park. After decades of boundary-breaking art and personal hardship, Niki came to San Diego late in life and created monumental public works designed to be experienced up close, inviting touch, play and imagination. But this story also belongs to Lech Juretko, a Polish refugee and former wallpaper installer who became Niki’s longtime assistant. He helped build her massive mosaic sculptures piece by piece. More than 20 years after her death, he is still repairing cracked tiles and replacing missing stones, preserving artwork created for interaction and shared wonder. It’s a story about creative devotion, chosen family and the magic that happens when art leaves museum walls and becomes part of everyday life.Guests:Lech Juretko, founder and owner of Art Mosaic, longtime assistant of artist Niki de Saint PhalleJill Dawsey, PhD, senior curator at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, co-author of "Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s" Sources:Niki de Saint Phalle: Public Works (Niki Charitable Art Foundation)Niki de Saint Phalle Garden Opens in Escondido (City of Escondido, 2003)Keeping up the legacy of Niki de Saint Phalle (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2023)Artist Niki de Saint Phalle's radical decade (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2022)The Darkness Behind Niki de Saint Phalle's Colorful Beauties (Eunice Lipton, Hyperallergic, 2015)"What Is Now Known Was Once Only Imagined: An (Auto)biography of Niki de Saint Phalle" (Nicole Rudick, Siglio Press, 2022)"Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s" (Jill Dawsey and Michelle White, Yale University Press, 2021)"Niki Who Tamed The Dragons" (Wojciech Delikta, Contemporary Lynx, 2020)New Realism (Center Pompidou, La Collection, Musee national d'art moderne, Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1987, and La Collection, Acquisitions, 1986-1996, Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1996)"My Terrific Mother" (Laura Gabriela, Tate Etc., Tate Modern, 2008)"Niki in the Garden" (Atlanta Botanical Garden, 2026)"Pop Gun Art: Niki de Saint Phalle and the Operatic Multiple" (Nichole L. Woods, Walker Art Center, Walker Living Collections Catalogue)"At MoMA PS1: Niki de Saint Phalle" (Lidija Haas, London Review of Books, 2021)Jean Tinguely, Playful Sculptor of Scrap Contraptions, Dies at 66 (New York Times, 1991)Niki de Saint Phalle: Le Cimetière de Montparnasse (Devon Whitehead, The Brooklyn Rail, 2018) Niki de Saint Phalle's lifelong dialogue between art and diseases (Henning Zeidler, Joint Bone Spine, National Library of Medicine, 2012)Niki de Saint Phalle, Sculptor, Is Dead at 71 (Ken Johnson, New York Times, 2002)Vandals break in, smash mirrors and more in Escondido sculpture garden (Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union Tribune, 2018)The Keeper of Niki de Saint Phalle's Menagerie (Mingei International Museum, 2019)"Nikigator, 2001" (Mingei International Museum, collections)
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    31 mins
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