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.)

80-year old portrait artist Don Bachardy saw Angelina Jolie naked, Kevin Ferguson saw something disturbing in "Batman Returns," Jerry Siegel's daughter sees him in his Superman typewriter.

In 1968, KPCC editor Paul Glickman's mom wrote to Charles Schulz, asking him to integrate Peanuts. Franklin was born. Plus: a tribute to Chandler, Pierce College Farm Center, and the harpsichord.

Jim Tully, rescued from obscurity; Canadian v American Thanksgiving; Getty Research Institutes World War 1 exhibit; the big (art) heroes behind "Big Hero 6"

Let's all sing "Happy Birthday" to the Disney Organ, 10 years old; water witchery is debunked, but still popular; Merv Griffin interviews now memorialized on 12 DVDs.

A variety of vets weigh in on Veterans Day; Caitlin Doughty gives her cat The Meow a "good death;" DrinkLA saves you time, money, tastebuds; SCOTUS frees Sherlock Holmes

Hello Kitty turns 40; Skirball exhibit celebrates the enemies of the Nazis who changed Hollywood; Patt Morrison tells us about the devastating drought of the 1800s.

Remembering: Breakthrough TV with Norman Lear, Oscar de la Renta with a fashion design student, our loved ones with Caitlin Doughty and "the good death," James Brown and the TAMI concert

The Flesh Eaters reunite to tell the story of their album "A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die," Kevin Ferguson has lunch with Tommy Lasorda at his favorite restaurant, we meet the sole survivor of a disaster you probably haven't heard about.