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.)

The LA-based Catherine Opie is one of the world's most famous working art photographers, and in 2011, she was given exclusive access to Elizabeth Taylor's home in Bel Air,, which she photographed before and after the star's death. Although she never met her, you feel from the photos that Opie knew Taylor intimately.

In 2017, when the photos were exhibited in the exhibit "700 Nimes Road," Off-Ramp host John Rabe spoke with her about the experience.  

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.)

Vincent Price: actor, art collector, and gourmet! ... We talk with Angelenos on the 20th anniversary of the OJ verdict ... We meet a photographer who specializes in getting complete strangers to pose intimately ... A new kilt store. Yes, a kilt store. ... Brains On examines the fart.

Kareem co-writes "Mycroft Holmes" to tell Sherlock's brother's backstory; the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte comes to town; Industrial Musicals; 2,000 year old bronzes of people you know and love; LA's scandalous nuclear cover-up.

Surkus plants pretty party people for perfect PR. Does The Broad museum on Grand Avenue match expectations? The music of Quitapenas. Brains On - the science podcast for kids. Making a living paying tribute to The Bob Dylan of Mexico.

George Takei tells us how his internment camp musical "Allegiance" got to Broadway. How to plant the right milkweed and help monarch butterflies. Suzanne Lummis on good and bad poetry. New doc "Being Canadian" looks at ... well, you know.

How gays and lesbians turned to science fiction to explore themes banned on Earth; Dam Funk calls for increased fantasy; remembering artist Noah Davis and the SoCal years of Oliver Sacks

Got any ideas to boost turnout so the 2017 L.A. city election isn't a snooze? We celebrate Shotgun Tom Kelly, who isn't shy but is retiring. Saving Salvation Mountain.

Kristen Lepore thought she had picnic game until she went to the Hollywood Bowl ... Kevin Ferguson explores the world of actors who pretend to be patients to train doctors ... Brains On! explains why your house cat puts up with you.

Sharon McNary takes us pothole watching; Collin Friesen locks us in a room; Salma Hayek backs The Prophet.