“Dark Shadows” fans, cast, and crew are celebrating its 50th birthday next week in Hollywood. We mark the anniversary by bringing in one of the original stars, and one of the original fans. ... When LAPD officer Jorge Parra isn’t walking the beat in LA, he’s still thinking about the city’s streets and buildings. He’s spent years building a 72-square-foot model of LA, out of Legos, in his kitchen. ... We’ll tell you what researchers discovered about the best way to increase voter turnout: voters need to make a simple plan, tell someone about it, and then think what their neighbors will say if they don’t go to the polls.

John talks with 35-year old Chris Thile, who takes over as the new host of A Prairie Home Companion this weekend and hopes to bring in a younger audience, without scaring off older listeners. ... Anthony Hernandez: taking pictures for almost 50 years: Downtown LA in the ‘70s, Rodeo Drive in the ‘80s, the homeless in the ‘90s. ... For KPCC's Voter Game Plan, Meghan McCarty tells us how she’s helping voters understand the complex Measure R transportation tax. ... Meet an Armenian-Syrian college student from Damascus juggling a full time job, night school, and the torture of knowing what his family is going through back home.

Off-Ramp commentator Milton Love, an eminent marine biologist at UC Santa Barbara, is also a great storyteller. And this time, he tells us stories about how fish got their names. Including one of the most disgusting fishes, which was appropriately named for one of the most disgusting humans.

In 2015 Michael Holland, the LA City Archivist, dug into his files to explore how the city reacted to the 1919 flu epidemic that killed millions around the world. Michael was inspired to explore the topic by a measles outbreak, but no matter, the parallels between 1919 and today are eerie and fascinating. Masks in theaters? Music in restaurants? It's all there, more than a hundred years ago.

"My whole approach is to have a conversation with the listeners. The words have to mean something to me." 

I first heard Larry sing c2010 at The Other Side, the long-closed piano bar in Silverlake. His voice is a little rough-edged, which grabs your attention, and he almost speaks many of the lyrics of his songs - whether it's "It Isn't Easy Being Green," "Lush Life," or one of the highly suggestive songs the crowd always loved to hear.

Larry's past includes stints in the Air Force and at ABC-TV as a graphic designer, and his story proves F. Scott Fitzgerald was probably drunk when he said, "There are no second acts in American lives." Larry is on his third act ... at least.

This piece originally aired in 2012; sit back and enjoy. And then go buy "Close Your Eyes," "Larry Davis Too," or any of his other albums on iTunes.

Happy New Year!

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp's Chistmas present to you is our annual holiday special, A Christmas Carol Redux, which combines the old time radio version - starring Lionel Barrymore - with new versions of the perennial holiday production. Enjoy!

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

In 1954, Maila Nurmi shocked the world as sexy horror host Vampira on KABC. She rocketed to national, then worldwide stardom, then quickly faded ... although her character was a clear blueprint, much later, for Cassandra Peterson's "Elvira" character on TV and in the movies. Nurmi died in 2008.

In 2010 Off-Ramp contributor R.H. Greene, who became friends with Nurmi in her later years, told her story for Off-Ramp in a documentary called "Vampira and Me." (The radio doc became a film in 2012.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

"I would run my sticky fingers across images that seemed to be beamed from some magical, alternative universe where people gave dinner parties and owned patio furniture." -- David Dean Bottrell's "Crafty Little Christmas" 

Every year, I'd put my name next to twenty toys in the JC Penny and Sears Christmas catalogs, and guess what ... every year I wouldn't get everything I wanted. And every years I was sorely disappointed. Big surprise. It took a long time before I woke up,  changed my ways, and discovered a lot more happiness on Christmas. 

The Christmas catalog played a slightly different role for actor/writer/teacher/Kentuckian/homosexual David Dean Bottrell, and this week, we're setting the proper mood for the season -- don't be greedy! -- by listening to his story "A Crafty Little Christmas," which he performed for "Once Upon a Christmas" in 2012. (We first broadcast it on Off-Ramp in 2013.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Sure, there had been tacos al pastor before he did them, but after the popularity of King Taco, everybody had tacos al pastor. People had had carnitas before, but, suddenly, everybody had carnitas. It just seemed to form the template of what the modern Los Angeles taqueria should be. 

--Jonathan Gold, 2013

Nine years ago, Los Angeles lost an unsung hero, Raul Martinez Sr., the founder of King Taco. To find out why this man was so important to LA, I shared a taco or two (or three) with the late Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold at King Taco #1 in Cypress Park. (Gold died in 2018.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

In 2013, I visited an utterly charming and impish Harlan Ellison at his remarkable home and talked at length with him about his work as a prolific Sci-Fi writer. Then came the dreaded - and expected - phone call from Harlan's alter-ego. (Ellison died in 2018 but I wouldn't be surprised if he sent an angry message from beyond about using his name and "Sci-Fi" in the same sentence.)

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.