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)

In the studio with LA artist Edward Walton Wilcox, called "a brilliant and romantic star hurtling through the same galaxy as ... Odd Nerdrum and Hieronymous Bosch."

Baseball announcing legend Ernie Harwell, dead at 92, remembered by friends and fans.

Norman Corwin turns 100 ... FOOD ARCHIVE: Colman Andrews and Jonathan Gold, Beard winners ... a blacksmith moves to Heritage Square ... Tyrus Wong, almost 100, feted by Otis College of Art and Design ... Artist Edward Walton Wilcox on faith and storytelling ...

Eat-LA and Off-Ramp get your goat ... Shirley Jahad's electric car diaries ... Dinner Party Download ... "Did I leave my i-Phone at the bar ..." RL Greene's tribute to his twin brother ... Charles Phoenix and the Third Dimension ...Leigh Brackett's screenplays include The Big Sleep and The Empire Strikes Back.

Tom Hanks talking with KPCC's John Rabe about World War Two, the movies, his tenuous link to Abe Lincoln, and public radio.

Award-winning journalists say former LAPD chief Daryl Gates responsible for riots, ran clandestine spy ring to intimidate foes.

Another take on the late Daryl Gates - spymaster ... Tom Hanks on public radio, World War Two, and more ... deaf and hearing actors in play about famous French murder case ... Kitty Felde talks with Vin Scully - in 1983! ... CyberFrequencies and life on the web ...

Joe Domanick: former LAPD chief Daryl Gates was responsible for the '92 riots ... Dinner Party Download talks with rappers Das Racists ... Mark Peel's lunch counter ... the men in skirts of Liberty Tax Prep ... TCM's Ben Mankiewicz says "I'm not hip - the goatee's in my contract!" ... fish eggs on pizza? ... Mark Lacter says, "Hey, billionaires -- ante up!"