Granted, the homeless make it hard to run a business near downtown LA’s Skid Row. But one man’s solution is raising eyebrows: spraying water on the sidewalk overnight. ... One of the local pianists in The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is already famous as the Video Game Pianist on YouTube. ... Richard Simmons has gone from being the most accessible celebrity in LA to gone. A new podcast “Missing Richard Simmons" asks what happened. ... And we visit Beth Goodnight -- self-proclaimed "mad scientist" of set building -- to see the last of her Oscar sets before they’re sent off for this weekend’s show.

Director Ava DuVernay on her new documentary about the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery ... Backstage with La Santa Cecilia, a Grammy-winning L.A. band that tells modern stories with traditional music ... Frank Romero — interviewed by Cheech Marin — finally has his first major museum retrospective ... Another date that "lives in infamy:” when FDR ordered the imprisonment of 120-thousand Japanese-Americans 75 years ago this weekend ... Girl at the White Horse, a brand new cocktail bar at Sunset and Western, owned by the son of the Shah of Iran’s social secretary.

Kristen Bell is smart, fun, and a KPCC member. She's the main event this week, talking "Veronica Mars," her campaign against the pederazzi, and The Oscars.

The case for keeping the Figueroa Bridge; the Obscura Society; Queena Victoria's selfies; George Pal's Puppetoons in glorious Blu-ray.

RIP Sid Caesar - an exclusive interview; Henry Rollins gets the Ray Bradbury Creativity Award; a Cambodian waitress is becoming a car mechanic; just Kickstart me.

Our commentator seems to be like most Angelenos: she can't see the drought, so she doesn't believe in it. Plus, a new doc shows how auto racing shaped LA.

Can chimps and rhinos tell us anything about sex? Zoo animals lack coital finesse, and there’s no cuddling. Plus: three great guacamole recipes from Bricia Lopez of Guelaguetza.

A museum for Velvet paintings. A fly that decapitates innocent ants in Glendale; can happen to us? Our love/hate relationship with palm trees. The big hockey game.

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez name-checked in The Simpsons; Barry McGovern and bleak, black Beckett; the Whisky's business model; and a visit to Night Vale.

We mark the 20th anniversary of the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake by starting our show at the epicenter of the disaster; and we consider Sheriff Baca's sudden resignation.