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.)

Karaoke meet your maker: We visit the Classic Rock Singalong, where everyone gets to belt out songs while a live band backs them up.

He's a New KPCC Member; Dinner Party Download: Where Anatomy meets Astronomy; Date Shake Quest: Part 1; Gary Owens Tells All; Date Shake Quest: Part 2; Caspian Rain; Date Shake Quest: Part 3; She Drew the Line; Racy Dates?; A Music Odyssey; Gary Owens' Secret Power

Why Contribute to KPCC?; He's Alive; The Ashes of Oakridge; Hard Times Hit Home; Skunk Be Gone; Food Banks in Need; Food for All; They Produce

The Eyes of the City; Tomato Tips; Thanks for the Monsters; Festival of Whales; Forrest's Friends; Mr. Indie, Michel Gondry; Mahavishnu John McLaughlin; Bamboodles; Hard Times Hit the Port; Hop on the Soul Food Express

Tomato Time; QUAKE CITY: A Sensitive Subject; Trailer Tales; The Miracle Cleaner; QUAKE CITY: Prediction Impossible; Porn Again?; Take a Pilgrimage in L.A.; QUAKE CITY: Native Mythology; Pierogi Paradise; Special Agent Man; Storycorps: Friends, Lovers, Parents; Jerry Stahl on Love Without; The Ashes of Oakridge

Dinner is Served!; The Ashes of Oakridge; Sushi Zen; Sushi 101; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; Would You Eat Granny?; Urban Survivalist; El Pollo Chino; Seven Spicy Seas; No Frills B.B.Q.; Umami=Yummy; The Best Milkshake in Riverside; Too Fresh Fish; Sushi Delicacies; Your Own Sushi Chef

Ashes of Oakridge; We've Been Recognized

StoryCorps: In Sickness and Health; Cherryholmes: Live in-Studio; Next Week: The Ashes of Oakridge; The Man Behind StoryCorps; Sparks Will Fly; Sparks Will Fly; Happy Birthday, Lincoln Imposter!; Snowdays in SoCal; Harold and Belle's Authentic Creole; For Every Lover, a Schlepometer; Bluesman John Bigham; Animation Nation