Episodes
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How LA's WW2 Mayor used radio to support the Japanese Incarceration ... and what it did to George Takei's familyOver the years Off-Ramp was on the air, LA City Archivist Michael Holland researched, wrote, and narrated many pieces for the show that used the city archive to illuminate aspects of the city's history most people have forgotten or don't know in the first place ... like Mayor Fletcher Bowron's active campaign against Japanese-Americans during World War Two. Bowron, who lived from 1887-1968 and was mayor from 1938-1953, used radio to drive his point home, and the transcripts of his speeches aren't pretty.
This time, we'll hear Holland's piece from 2017, and from the same year, George Takei telling us what happened to his family when FDR signed his infamous Executive Order 9066.
Note: "Internment" was, of course, a euphemism, so politicians and others didn't have to say they were putting innocent people in prison. Our policy at KPCC is to call it "incarceration."
Support for this podcast is made possible by 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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The LA Uprising - 30 Years Later: The stories you haven't heard - Pt 2(This is the second part of a two-part episode.)
This time, we mark the 30th anniversary of one of the darkest days in LA history: Friday, April 29, 1992, when the all-white Simi Valley jury found 4 LAPD officers not guilty in the beating of Rodney King. Rage, protests, and violence, broke out across the city and lasted for days.
Five years ago on Off-Ramp, we marked the 25th anniversary with a full hour of interviews, archival footage, and an unflinching reckoning of the LAPD and its legacy of violence. We wound up with an interview with the late Rodney King.
That's what we're going to listen back to on this episode, but please remember that a lot has changed in five years, and one of them is that as a newsroom - like a lot of other newsrooms around the country - we at KPCC and LAist no longer use the phrase LA Riots.
While riotis used historically, we cannot ignore the media's role in popularizing a term that is now often used as a dog whistle for race. Words like response, unrest, or uprising encourage our audiences to think deeper about its origins.
Support for this podcast is made possible by 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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Chicano Batman ... CyberFrequencies ... ghosts of the past as Peruvians vote in LA ... downtown LA's power list ... downtown LA treasure: San Antonio Winery ... a stickfighting dojo ... Pato's response to the Friday haters ...
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Noir film festival returns to The Egyptian ... The Angles on the Angels and the Dish on the Dodgers ... Peru Elections ... EatLA ... Dinner Party Download ... Play with Fire and Submit a Story for Burn This! ... Sam Slovick's gay teenage life, and new Slake short story: "Tommy Crow"
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Slake's John Albert remembers when Van Halen was groundbreaking and good ... Riding the Blue Line ... Poison or Pleasant - what is the plant in Kevin's backyard ... Bike Advocate ... Seth MacFarlane ticket winners singing with spoons ... Simon Cowell previews The X Factor ...
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Disaster preparedness in SoCal ... Dinner Party Download ... Apollo, the Getty Villa's handsome but dangerous god ... Poppies return ... Running the LA Marathon ... Owsley Stanley remembered ... Seth MacFarlane SINGS ... Lomita's "Black Widow"
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Filmmaker and author R.H. Greene presents "Vampira and Me," a special documentary for Off-Ramp that tells the story of Maila Nurmi, creator of the cultural icon Vampira.
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This week: Columbo co-creator William Link, hard times for Marshelle Mills, underemployed mother of three and more!
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LA's Blue Line the most dangerous rail line in the US ... EatLA on the best sausage in LA ... the lonely wolverine ... home renovation advice from Kevin, Norm, and Richard of This Old House ... Dinner Party Download ...
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's doc on 1930's all-black basketball champions ... See Richard Run - but for/from what? ... CyberFrequencies on The Social Network ... Death warmed over is good ... butterflies in your backyard and flowers at Customs ... Meet Mr. Lincoln ...