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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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  • Local pop historian Charles Phoenix, breakfasting at Clifton's Brookside Cafeteria, 2009.
    Under New Management - Off-Ramp for 9/25/2010
    Clifton's Cafeteria gets a new operator who promises to revamp gently ... the Mann Bros in LA ... Barry Cutler remembers THE Kevin McCarthy ... Sacred Fools' 14th Season ... Mark Peel on the best table in the house ... CyberFrequencies ... John Cale on Paris 1919 ...
  • A man who appears to be Sacred Fools director Kiff Scholl at the company's season opening party.
    Sacred Fools' 14th Season - Special Podcast for 9-20-2010
    KPCC's John Rabe interviews members of The Sacred Fools Theatre Company about their 14th season and their mission to fully exploit the theatrical medium.
  • Tim Curry (L) and Lou Adler in a production shot from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
    Lou Adler on Rocky Horror -- Off-Ramp 9-18-2010
    Lou Adler remembers bringing Rocky Horror to Los Angeles ... Eat-LA/Off-Ramp Collaboration highlights affordable gourmet regional Mexican cuisine ... Tomatomania ... Charlie Chan Redux ... Dinner Party Download ...
  • Charlie Chan was immensely popular, but fell out of favor as a sort of Chinese Uncle Tom. Here is Warner Oland as Charlie Chan in a scene from "Charlie Chan in Paris."
    Charlie Chan Redux - Special Off-Ramp Podcast 9-15-10
    Yunte Huang, author of "Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History" in conversation.
  • John Rabe's personal "Jerry Brown for Governor" tie. We don't know if it came in other colors, but then again, why would it?
    Eat Pray Love On Off-Ramp for 9-11-2010
    CyberFrequencies ... chef Mark Peel joins Off-Ramp ... Jerry Brown Parody Ads ... Dan Walters on 50 years in newspapers ... An East LA polleria that observes strict Muslim dietary laws ... The Roving Archers ... Lou Adler and The Fabulous Stains ... Do we have just one true love in our lives?
  • Off-Ramp on Celebrity & Celebs on Off-Ramp - 9-4-10
    Actor Christopher Murray on life with father (Don Murray) ... RH Greene on Mel Gibson, before the fall ... Dinner Party Download ... kids who get back-to-school supplies at the Salvation Army ... Ellington singer Herb Jeffries ... Lou Adler on sitting with Jack and discovering Cheech and Chong ... Jonathan Gold and Rick Bayless have a Mexican Food Fight.
  • How Hot Is It, Columbo? Off-Ramp 8-28-2010
    The Off-Ramp TemperaTour ... CyberFrequencies and life on the web ... Lou Adler on Monterey Pop ... Burning Man vets ... the historical Arab roots of Ground Zero ... Wm Link, Columbo's co-creator, speaks!
  • Columbo co-creator William Link - Off-Ramp 8-23-2010
    Wm Link talks with Off-Ramp's John Rabe about Columbo.
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