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)

Exclusive hour-long audio tour of LA's San Antonio Winery with KPCC's John Rabe, and the winery's Steve Riboli.

Tour the San Antonio Winery ... the new doc about Phil Spector ... the all-volunteer Casa Italiana opera company puts on La Gioconda ... Dinner Party Download ... legendary producer Lou Adler on talent ... Sit'n'Sleep switches shticks.

Lou Adler - the career retrospective interview with Alex Ben Block ... Getting to the Heart of Heart, pioneer rockers ... Norman Corwin and the End of World War 2 ... Photog Vince Gonzales is in LOVE with old movie equipment ... meet German Pinchevsky, who did special effects for Tarkovsky ...

Gerald Zelinger's "14 August Revisited," from 1985, with Norman Corwin.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter interviews entertainment legend Lou Adler for a special Off-Ramp podcast.

Creators behind Slake discuss their new magazine... actor and nude model Michael Q Schmidt literally bears all... John learns to blow the shofar for Elul ... Dinner Party Download makes you smarter ... and much more!

In-depth conversation about Slake, LA's new literary quarterly.

Olympian Louis Zamperini meets Hitler in 1936 ... Queen's Brian May and his 3D passion ... How LA County's restaurant grading system happened ... Writer RH Greene out-abs Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et alia ...