For the first Off-Ramp podcast episode, let's go back to that amazing day in 2013 when my friend Chris sent me a message:

"Hey, John. My sister and her husband just bought a home in the Valley with a fallout shelter that hasn't been touched in decades. Wanna do an Off-Ramp piece about it?" 

Would I? Should you wear a sport coat to Musso & Frank? Are horizontal fence slats getting old? Are you legally required to take visiting relatives to The Huntington? Yes!

The piece you're about to listen to was probably the most popular one we ever did, in no small part due to the great photos by Mae Ryan. 

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.)

Welcome from host John Rabe, a public radio veteran and bon vivant who turned exploring Southern California into a radio art form on KPCC's Off-Ramp. Now, he's sharing stories from the Off-Ramp archive - in a lead-lined vault deep beneath Mt Wilson - with you!

Check your feed every Friday, then sit back, listen, enjoy ... and then get out and make your own SoCal adventures!

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios)

Milton Love's new fish book ... the violinist and artist recall the making of Harbor Freeway Overture mural ... Stan Kenton's Centennial ... As San Fernando Turns ... Word Banishment ... Arboretum weathers the storm ...

Off-Ramp commentator Milton Love, UCSB marine biologist, on his new book "Certainly More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast."

Leonard Maltin on the 2012 Movie Guide ... Pasadena's Fork in the Road sticks it to Grinches ... Bronze Mirrors at The Huntington ... John Lennon predicts his shooting in 1964 ... Feeling Groovy under LA's 7th Street bridge ... Landry and Summers Occupy the studio ... Occupy LA Ousted ...

A night at The Comedy Store, with host Brandon Christy and comics Ian Edwards, Sarah Tiana, Michael Kosta, Fahim Anwar, and Freddy Lockhart.

EatLA ... moving the Dodgers ... "Judas" remembers Crystal Cathedral Passion Play glory days ... Dale Hopper asks, "Where's my flying car and my robot pal?" ... Ilsa Setziol remembers Katherine Siva Saubel, Cahuilla Indian elder ... AEG sued over allegedly destroyed art ...

Occupy LA with Sam Slovick ... Pigeon Fanciers ... "David Dean Bottrell Makes Love" and "Boston Legal" ... ride a dung beetle at LA Zoo's new carousel ... Jazz at the A Frame: great jazz in a livingroom ... Artist Ed Moses picks 3 favorite spots for Pacific Standard Time ...

David Dean Bottrell of "Boston Legal" in person ... getting to the bottom of Echo Park Lake ... Edith Head Lives! ... A Noise Within's new home ... the Magic Castle's Medium ... first CD of Disney Hall organ ... Cambodian-American rapper Prach Ly of Long Beach ... Hard-edge painter Karl Benjamin ...

Off-Ramp special documentary "Airborne: A Life in Radio with Orson Welles," from R.H. Greene.