We go to the Sunset Strip to see how activists are trying to save from demolition Lytton Savings, a beautiful Mid-Century Modern representation of the California Dream ... Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Ave, Baldwin Lake, Lucky Baldwin’s Pub -- so who was Baldwin? ... We check back in with the 77-year old woman who finds herself homeless for the holidays for the first time in her life ... And Rachel Bloom joins our annual reading of “The Night Before Christmas” with Salman Rushdie, Larry Mantle, Kathleen Turner, and NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

Griffith Park is beloved and turns 120 Dec. 16, but its namesake was an alcoholic, murderous misanthrope who thought the pope was plotting against him ... A woman who's found herself homeless for the first time, at 77 ... If you love classical music on the radio, but hate stodgy, bad news. Rich Capparela, is semi-retiring ... With SantaCon coming to town, we get the lowdown on the big guy from an elf.

Mapping Eden; At Eden's Edge; Sound of Los Angeles; Hank Rosenfeld Can't Skate Backwards; The Man Who Made Plants Sexy; Compost It; May the Force be With You; To Seed or Not to Seed; Inner-City Academic Athletes; Smells like Smog; Reporter's Roundtable

The Observatory Revisited; Like a Phoenix; The Dark Patron of Griffith Park; Reporting in Flames; Theatricum Botanicum; Passing the Torch; Pomona's Cinema Paradiso; Billy Pew; Letters

Going BioDiesel; BioDiesel My Ride; Trolling for Oil; Vegging Out; Spiny Forest; Slide Show'n'Tell; Longing for Llano; Hungary for Sausage; Double Jeopardy; Fast Food Dude-Revisited; Theater LAndscape; Reporter's Roundtable

Off-Ramp to the I.E. Special thanks to cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz for plugging our little show in his nationally distributed comic strip, La Cucaracha (click "enlarge" to see.) This week, Off-Ramp explores the Inland Empire. The nation's fastest growing community is home to one of the world's oldest orange trees, Chick-fil-A and more. Next week, Off-Ramp will be broadcasting live from LA Times Festival of Books. We'll be at Dickson Court North, Zone F, booth 601. Come vist, we'd love to meet you. -John (and Queena)

Steve Lopez; Susan Straight; Russ Parsons; Chris Abani; Roving Reporter: Henry Winkler; Roving Reporters: Authors@Google; Roving Reporter: Spirituality Book Stand

Note from Off-Ramp This week, we take you to the world's biggest train store in Culver City, which is closing soon... another casualty of the Internet. Looking forward, on April 28th we'll be doing a live show from the LA Times Festival of Books. We'll talk with columnist Steve Lopez, chef Nancy Silverton, novelist S.E. Hinton and others. In the meantime, go visit the train store (info below). There might never be anything like it again. -John and Queena

Hot Ramen; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; The Tristan Project; Don't Be Koi; Sherlock Rock; Shopping in the Rain; The Good and the Ugly; Skinny Model Ban; Remembering Bob Clark; Reporter's Roundtable

City Hall Tower; Lucille Ball Remembered; El Pollo Chino; Star Power; Downtown LA Rising; Comic Book Legend Len Wein; These Streets Aren't Paved With Gold; Final Four