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Off-Ramp
Hosted by John Rabe

Exploring Southern California with John Rabe

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Episodes
  • John Rabe in the corner booth at Musso and Frank Grill in Hollywood
    Celebrating Leonard Nimoy and Spock, and comedian Felipe Esparza
    Leonard Nimoy’s son Adam tells us about his new film, "For the Love of Spock," which candidly digs into their difficult father-son relationship ... Kraftwerk, the German electronic music band at the Bowl next weekend, has a couple of surprising fans in pioneering LA Hip Hop DJs Arabian Prince and Egyptian Lover ... We'll talk with the last surviving member of the wheelchair basketball team that rose to national fame in 1947 from a VA rehab hospital in Norco ... And we go in-depth with Felipe Esparza. He's a common sight at comedy clubs and on TV, but years ago he was almost swallowed up by the gangs of East LA.
  • Crowds watch on as a float of female garment workers representing the United Garment Workers of America travels down Spring Street. The Los Angeles Times Building is present in the background, at Spring and First Street. Photo dated: September 7, 1936.
    Juan Gabriel, mom, and me
    When Adolfo Guzman Lopez hears the late Juan Gabriel’s music, he remembers the 1970s, listening to Gabriel’s songs on the radio as he and his mom rode in taxis and buses in Tijuana ... Why do waves happen, and why are they shaped like waves? Brains On brings in an expert to explain ... One of the founding fathers of LA punk, John Doe, joins us to talk about his memoir and sing new songs from his latest album ... Film score composer John Williams is at the Hollywood Bowl all weekend, leading the LA Phil in some of his best-known works. We talk with music writer Alex Ross about how Williams pretty much saved the classical music film score.
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  • The LA-based United Productions of America animation house changed the face of animation and heavily influenced design. So how come, animation expert Charles Solomon asks on this week's Off-Ramp, isn't UPA featured in Pacific Standard Time?
    Up! with UPA on Off-Ramp - 10-22-11
    Solomon boosts UPA ... Pacific Standard Time and the Long Beach Museum of Art's pioneering video art ... a great sound piece from Steven Cuevas ... IUD's make a comeback ... Vets speak out at KPCC's Crawford Family Forum ...
  • From the LA Public Library online photo collection, a lovely shot that makes Rabe want to relax in the corner with a very cold gin martini (2 olives) and watch the patrons come in. This was Romanoff's in Beverly Hills, which closed in 1962, run by the famous Michael Romanoff, who pretended to be Russian royaly, but was actually a Brooklyn pants presser. Let's here it for the pressers among us!
    Off-Ramp's audio cocktail - 10-15-2011
    Spend a day with Huell Howser ... Pacific Standard Time: LA's art history with Judy Chicago and De Wain Valentine's monolith ... young birder uses public transit ... Thos Guides remembered, and they're not even dead ...
  • A scene from the Great Depression. During KPCC's fall fund drive, we're helping people hit by the Great Recession, by partnering with the LA Regional Food Bank.
    Feeding the Hungry on Off-Ramp - 10-8-2011
    KPCC listeners near 1,000,000 meals for hungry ... new book reviews ethnic spas ... fighting bullying with jiu-jitsu ... CyberFrequencies marks the Afghanistan War's 10th anniversary ... Hard Times and child care ... Brian Watt and Frank Stoltze, KPCC reporters, get real ...
  • Pacific Standard Time, Off-Ramp (10-1-11) Style
    Pacific Standard Time - almost 70 art exhibits over six months - proves LA's place in history of Modern Art ... Jim Meskimen and his 75 celebrity impressions ... the Wende Museum in Culver City preserves Cold War history ... Are you prepared for The Big One? Probably not ... "Andy Rooney" reminisces ...
  • Hard Times Get Harder - Off-Ramp 9-24-11
    LA Regional Food Bank, barometer of poverty ... UCLA Anderson: years of hard times ahead ... Great Wall mural restoration in Valley ... Rabe blows shofar for Rosh Hashanah ... MoLAA's Pacific Standard Time exhibit shows Mexican influences ...
  • Denise Hamilton's new novel, Damage Control.
    Special: Denise Hamilton on "Damage Control" - Off-Ramp 9-20-11
    For our online listeners and podcast subscribers (you subscribe, don't you?), KPCC's John Rabe goes in-depth with "Damage Control" author Denise Hamilton in a special Off-Ramp podcast.
  • An undated "How Not To" photo from the LA Public Library.
    Coyotes Fight Glendale Blight - Off-Ramp 9-17-11
    Glendale's Coyote squatters get reprieve ... Pictures of a Revolucion ... Calista Flockhart's new radio role ... James Sallis, "Drive" novelist ... Denise Hamilton's new LA thriller ... New library in Compton stirs old memories for Kitty Felde ...
  • Rescuers at the base of the World Trade Center 14 September 2001, in New York.
    Ground Zero Volunteer - Off-Ramp 9/10/11
    A Ground Zero volunteer tells his story ... kids tell us how they learned about 9-11 ... a shark tank diver at the County Fair ... Van Dyke Parks on helping the Beach Boys make "Smile" ... nude debate in San Francisco ...
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