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Off-Ramp
Hosted by John Rabe

Exploring Southern California with John Rabe

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Episodes
  • Jim Tully, hard-boiled detective pioneer, Chaplin's wingman, the first real Hollywood journalist, and maybe the most famous Angeleno you never heard of
    Sheesh. They even got the details wrong on his gravestone! But that's the way it was 80 years ago. People passed in and out of the public consciousness like trains in the distance. And that's the way it was for Jim Tully, who was a household name here in LA in the 1920s and 1930s, then forgotten by the 1940s. 

    The story of this hero-to-zero is told by Off-Ramp's Chris Greenspon, host of the podcast SGV Weekly, the best podcast ever about the San Gabriel Valley. (Subscribe!)

    Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

    Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

  • Meet Julie Gigante, the world's tallest violinist, and Kent Twitchell, who painted her along the Harbor Freeway
    If you drive through downtown LA on the 110, you've seen it ... the huge mural of the classical musicians. Who are they? Who did it? That's the LA Chamber Orchestra, painted by muralist Kent Twitchell. On on this piece from 2012, we hear from the world's tallest violinist, and the painter himself.

    Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

    Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

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  • Originally just 20-acres, the LA National Cemetery opened as one of 11 facilities operated by the Veterans Administration on lands shared with national veterans' homes or asylums for disabled soldiers. It was dedicated in 1889, and through the years has expanded to more than 100 acres. Those interred there are war veterans from the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and other American conflicts.
    We Remember and Pay Tribute - Off-Ramp 5-28-11
    An Off-Ramp Memorial Day Special ... the youngest man on the list remembers Oskar Schindler ... Louis Zamperini, torpedoed, remembers life on a raft in the Pacific and in a Japanese POW camp ... Kevin Ferguson's Grandma and the USS Indianapolis ... an Iraqi vet remembers ... stories from Vietnam War correspondents and photojournalists ... helping grieving Marine families cut through the red tape ...
  • Highland Park was chosen by Redfin as the top "up-and-coming" neighborhood in the US.
    Bright Lights, Big City - Off-Ramp for May 21, 2011
    EatLA talks perfect pizza and LA's best Chinese food ... Highland Park reactivates a neighborhood treasure ... Hard Times ...
  • Gustaf Tenggren concept painting painting from Pinocchio. (Walt Disney, 1940.) Accomplished in ink, charcoal and tempera on two conjoined leaves of 12 ½ in. x 16 ½ in. animation paper; overall length is 33 in. with an image size approx. 12 in. x 28 in.
    My Car's Arteries Got Clogged! Off-Ramp 5/14/2011
    John Rabe's veg oil diary ... Charles Solomon on the pros and cons of animation art auctions ... beer tasting for women ... Frank McCourt's secret plan backfires ... Madeleine Brand can't break up with her car, but she kinda wants to ... Tess Vigeland of Marketplace Money tals carbuying strategies ...
  • Newton Minow, in his office in Chicago. March, 2011.
    Special: Newton Minow's "Vast Wasteland" Speech Turns 50 - Off-Ramp 5/9/11
    In-depth Off-Ramp interview with Newton Minow, 85, on his "Vast Wasteland" speech of May 9, 1961. It shook up the television industry and is considered one of the most important speeches of the 20th century. Many of its criticisms are true of television today. Off-Ramp host John Rabe also talks with broadcast historian Robert Thompson, and actor Don Murray, who took a role in episodic TV because of the speech. He says TV was a "vast wasteland" for actors, too.
  • A suburban home, c. 1950., and the focal point of the livingroom.
    Newton Minow's Vast Wasteland Turns 50 -- Off-Ramp 5-7-11
    Newton Minow on his "Vast Wasteland" speech ... 10 years of movies in a spooky setting ... Re-Animator: the musical ... inside JPL ... America's new most wanted terrorist a So Cal native?
  • Lewis MacAdams of the Friends of the LA River and KPCC's Brian Watt survey some of the garbage in the bed of the LA River. Most of it comes storming through the stormdrains during the rainy season, and catches in the flora.
    The Loveliest Storm Drain in the World - Off-Ramp 4-30-2011
    Cleaning up the LA River ... RIP Eldon Davis, the father of Googie ... SPARKING kids' futures ... 36th Congressional race forum ...
  • October 14, 1959: King-size scissors used to cut ribbon for Technology Instrument Corp. plant in Rancho Conejo Light manufacturing Research Center, Thousand Oaks.
    Don't Run With Scissors! Off-Ramp - 4-23-2011
    LA County's ribbon-cutting scissors ... Dinner Party Download ... May Day rallies and Coming Out as illegal ... new folk rock singalong songs ... EatLA talks with Susan Feniger of Street Restaurant ...
  • "If you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them now" says Albert Rossi as he attacks an onion at Lincoln Heights jail kitchen. Photo dated: July 20, 1929.
    From Passover to Potholes - Off-Ramp 4-16-11
    Sanden Totten meets the mother of all potholes ... John Frame explains his new Huntington exhibit ... Nick Waterhouse's music ... Dinner Party Download ... Gary Leonard turns 60 with a big sale ... Passover in the Desert ...
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