Surkus plants pretty party people for perfect PR. Does The Broad museum on Grand Avenue match expectations? The music of Quitapenas. Brains On - the science podcast for kids. Making a living paying tribute to The Bob Dylan of Mexico.

George Takei tells us how his internment camp musical "Allegiance" got to Broadway. How to plant the right milkweed and help monarch butterflies. Suzanne Lummis on good and bad poetry. New doc "Being Canadian" looks at ... well, you know.

Take a listen to some of these fine pieces that took you all over Southern California and then, please, help ensure the future of Off-Ramp with a contribution at kpcc.org. Thanks!

Lewis MacAdams - turning 70 this month - takes us up the LA River; James Ellroy takes us back to Dec. 1941 and the start of the Japanese internment; Marc Haefele takes us to the San Francisco of the 50s & 60s.

John spends a day in studio with Petros Papadakis; Kevin Ferguson tells us the story of the Glassell family; and "Tom Explores Los Angeles" takes us deep inside Bronson Canyon and Cave.

The miniature art of Sunland's Alan Wolfson; the High Desert horse rescue hurt by Erin Corwin's murder; It's so hot ... we collected It's So Hot jokes; Charles Burns shows us the Sugar Skull inside the Hive.

Special report: intersection of science fiction and science fact; Brains On and the monarch Mexico migration; Hungry, the competitive eating doc; Kenturah Davis weaves words and art

The sounds of Santa Monica's Pacific Ocean Park; the most powerful man in LA you never heard of; sci-fi tv and movies becomes real life; the Huntington's new American galleries

Russ Parsons gives BBQ tips, we remember the car evangelist William Matalyan, Mattress Tracker update, goodbye Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, fireworks how-to

Henry Rollins on Black Flag's early days, what makes Van Halen magic, and America's favorite all-female Iron Maiden tribute.