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.)

Corita Kent, world's best-selling artist; Mary Jones, first trained librarian, ousted for a man: Charles Lummis; three women directors find their muse at the L.A. Film Festival.

Mary Jones, the city librarian you should know about; jellyfish get the spotlight at the Aquarium; showering with Sanden Totten;

Visit the youth homeless center that inspired Miley Cyrus's Happy Hippie Foundation ... The Cactus Store, the garden store for the drought-conscious ... Ride with Angelyne!

From knife-wielding performance artist to creator of our Happy Place - may Chris Burden RIP. Win a chance to ride with Angelyne. And why does the sun make you sneeze?

Luke Zamperini and Off-Ramp fly in the last B-24; Temple Grandin and an ABC journalist consider autism; we tour a homeless camp along the Arroyo Seco.

Matching anecdotal evidence with scientific proof of global warming ... Billy the Mime speaks ... Why walk 16 miles of Wilshire Blvd ... Brains On! ... Larry Mantle on The Big Fight

What do you call a 125-pound mountain lion? Anything he wants! Plus, we unmask @LosAngelesRain and visit a small perfume center in Koreatown.

Director of "1915" on growing up with the Armenian genocide as family history; Jane Lynch sings as a candle; Brains On!