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Off-Ramp
Hosted by John Rabe

Exploring Southern California with John Rabe

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Episodes
  • Horsemen at the Lugo adobe in Bell Gardens
    A deep dive on LA history with a member of local "royalty," a real Californio
    An Angeleno family going back 3 generations here is considered ancient; but Theresa Chavez is a real Californio, dating back to 1771 when her family owned an original rancho ... How many Romanian restaurants can you name? Add Parsnip in Highland Park to the short list ... We say TOMATO, they say TOMATL: Adolfo Guzman Lopez helps us explore Nahuatl. (Photo: LA Public Library Shades of LA Collection)
  • A store destroyed by the 1992 LA Riots. Credit: Gary Leonard/LA Public Library
    Some healing, some scars: the LA Riots, 25 years later
    We talk with residents, eyewitnesses, about those dark days ... Journalist Joe Domanick tells us how decades of police brutality - including hundreds of police murders of blacks and Latinos - led to the LA Riots, and he assesses how far the LAPD has come ... How former Mayor James Hahn could have been Reginald Denny ... Why one yougn Latina who lived through the LA Riots is still happy to call South LA “home" ... and Peter Sagal tells Off-Ramp about his bizarre chance meeting with Chief Gates. And we hear in-depth from the man who was reluctantly at the center of the riots, the late Rodney King.
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  • What Mark Stambler was reduced to until Governor Brown signed the Homemade Food Act.
    Breadmaker Gets Rise from County - Off-Ramp 7-16-11
    Mark Stambler, breadmaker v. LA County ... Comedy Store history with Brandon Christy ... ball-chasing at Dodger Stadium ... Austin Beautner, the man who would be LA's mayor ... Dinner Party Download ...
  • In this little seen photo, Theodore Filson, an engineer at the LA County Heatwave Generator cranks up the temperature in the LA Basin. Don't blame him, though. He gets his orders from the nation's air conditioner manufacturers, which operate state-of-the-art centers like these throughout the country.
    California's Golden Explorer, Huell Howser - Off-Ramp 7-9-2011
    A Day with Huell Howser ... a fifty-year space tech vet on the ending of the shuttle program ... "D is for Dog" ... Dinner Party Download ... "Leave it on the Floor" black drag movie ...
  • James Sallis, harmonicat and author.
    "Drive" novelist James Sallis - Off-Ramp 7-2-11
    In-depth with James Sallis ... LAUSD cuts homework requirement ... new backstory for old Washington bust at Huntington ... singing Mountain Goats ... CyberFrequencies ...
  • James Sallis, harmonicat and author.
    James Sallis, "Drive" author - Off-Ramp 6-28-11
    In-depth interview with literary Renaissance man James Sallis, author of book "Drive," which the new Ryan Gosling movie is based on.
  • Off-Ramp host John Rabe.
    Off-Ramp on the Larry Crowne set - 6-25-11
    Tom Hanks welcomes Off-Ramp to the set of Larry Crowne ... Eat:LA on new Vietnamese food and make-your-own limoncello ... Dinner Party Download ... LA Film Festival ... Hard Times meets Peggy Martin ...
  • Old time paddleboarding!
    All Aboard! Off-Ramp for 6-18-2011
    Paddleboard Racing, Father's Day, the real Gidget, John Frame, and Rabe finds his roots.
  • New York's Papaya King -- now in Hollywood!
    The New Pinks? - Off-Ramp 6-11-2011
    Papaya King's hot dog empire comes West ... Harry Partch's Partch-work ... more Hard Times ... America's most famous naked actor ... California's most multiculti butcher shop ... Dandelion Wine ... top secret Lotusland garden,
  • Undated photo of a Shriners parade walking past 5th and Olive Streets in Downtown LA. On the right corner is the Philharmonic Auditorium Building, which shared space with Temple Baptist Church.
    Betty White and Yuri Lowenthal - Off-Ramp 6-4-2011
    Betty White on acting, being blue, and tapirs ... Marc Haefele on new Cuba exhibit at Getty ... Yuri Lowenthal, anime star, reveals secrets of voiceover acting ... Mimi Pond hails "Bridesmaids" for allowing women to be gross ... Remembering the SLA Shootout ...
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