Over 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.)

(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.)

Virtual Tour of China: Chinese Artists look Outside; Dinner Party Download; Putting the Brakes on Fast Food; E is for Idiot; Virtual Tour of China: Shaved Ice in the SGV and beyond; L.A.'s Own Water Polo Olympian; Lawn Bowling: Beijing or Bust?; Tower of Terror; Going for Gold in the Smog; The Mayor of Gladys Park; Virtual Tour of China: Absurd Recreation; Handy Man

Dinner Party Download; Sushi Zen; Sushi 101; Hot Ramen; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; Would You Eat Granny?; Urban Survivalist; El Pollo Chino; Some botanas, por favor; Umami=Yummy; The Best Milkshake in Riverside; Too Fresh Fish; Sushi Delicacies; Your Own Sushi Chef; Sushi Wrap-Up

Happy 2nd, Off-Ramp!; There's Gold in These Hills!; Dinner Party Download; Newsletter Alert!; Shaken and Stirred; The Earthquake As it Happened; Gold Fever; Charles Perry, Renaissance Man; Monster Movie Sets: Built for Destruction; Tanker Planes Take a Hit; It Was Worth the Wait, Right?; No Jalapenos? Well try these peppers; Music on Off-Ramp: "My Dwarf is Getting Tired"; Music on Off-Ramp: "Use Me"; Music on Off-Ramp: "There's a Goldmine in the Sky"

The Debut of the Dinner Party Download; A Tribute to Theme Songs; The Art of Theme Songs; Song for Night; Song for Night; On the Righteous Path; The Watson Twins; Hollywood's Hungarian Rhapsody; Hooked on... Jane Austen?; Olive Oil in California; Music: Anat Cohen

Welcome to Doo-Dah; Doo Dah Surf - Part One; The Duke of Surfing; Doo Dah Surf - Part Two; Doo Dah Surf - Part Three; Hang Tiki; Surf Break; Time Capsule; A Nest for the Homeless

It's a Wonderful Life; You Knew Him As Bozo; Onion Rings in the I.E.; Mock Me Gently; Compton Remembers the Williams Sisters; How Green Was My Valley?; Tom Disch Remembered; The New Beverly Cinema; Tarzan of Tarzana; L.A.'s Screenplay: "Right of Way"; Doo-Dah Surf on July 19th

Anime-niacs!; On Being Faithful; Coming to America; New Citizens; "El Piolin," American At Last; Full Metal and Tiny Toys; Attention!; The Voice of Anime; Say NET-SKAY!; Yowee!; Representative Spendthrift; He's Ba-ack...; Banana Oil!; Remembering Summer

1984 Revisited; Cruisin' for Neon; Megapuss Live at the Hammer Museum; Harvard Glee Club Celebrates 150 Years; Look Ma--No Hands!; George Carlin Remembered; Reporter's Roundtable; It's a Costume, Savvy?; Cheech The Art Collector; A Late Composer's Early Birthday Bash; Pomp and Circumstance; They're back...