“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.

Donovan, Fitz and the Tantrums, John Cale, Joel Grey, Brian May, Lou Adler, and more as Off-Ramp rings in the new year with our best music interviews.

Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" -- the Lionel Barrymore version, plus new takes on the classic.

Your favorite celebrities read "The Night Before Christmas" for Off-Ramp ... "Andy Rooney" doesn't like Christmas ... Marc Haefele pays tribute to author James Salter ... EatLA and Craft Beer ... Judy Chicago treats Frida Kahlo like an artist in her new book ... Life isn't easy as Isaac Haille Selassie ... Black Facts and Wax museum ...

Lamont Dozier on writing "How Sweet It Is," "Stop in the Name of Love," and "Sugarpie, Honeybunch" ... Dinner Party Download ... Downtown Women's Center's New Home ... Van Dyke Parks, American composer ... B'way Deli closes ...

John visits This Old House's set - a home renovation in Silverlake - and talks with the show's founder, who also produced The French Chef and Victory Garden ... another OCMA Biennial artist ... Frank Romero is painting offramps and selling his Frogtown studio ... Mark Peel lamb bastes chicken breast ... Seth Menachem's mysinglepeeps.com -- like dating sites, but without the lies ...

"Walking Out of History," John Rabe's NPR documentary about Sir Ernest Shackleton's 2-year odyssey on the Antarctic ice.

Actress Gwendoline Yeo on her new one-woman show ... Off-Ramp's new series Hard Times meets Laurel Holliday, mother of three, living in a foreclosed house ... Marc Haefele: Not much new in Twain autobio, but a "magnificent browse" ... Luke Butler, OCMA Biennial artist and Trekkie ... Aztlan Underground ... Browsing 7th Street in Downtown LA ... Dinner Party Download meets actor Sally Hawkins

An intimate and bawdy conversation: Gwendoline Yeo and Off-Ramp host John Rabe on Yeo's new show, "Laughing With My Mouth Wide Open"