Off-Ramp Live!
Off-Ramp celebrates 10 years on the air with show recorded before a live audience at the LA Theater Center in Downtown LA - Disney directors, yacht rock, and DPD's Rico Gagliano!
View ArticleA hairy tarantula, a giant monster, and traditional Samoan tattoos
KPCC photog Maya Sugarman lets a king snake slither around her neck, and John lets a reasonably friendly tarantula crawl up his arm ... It’s done by hand, is quite painful, and is very expensive. We'll...
View ArticleCan Chris Thile save Prairie Home Companion?
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. ......
View ArticleDark Shadows, LA in Legos, and Voting is like Getting Married?
“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...
View ArticleFor Halloween, scary stories you've never heard: A spooktacular Off-Ramp
This week, Off-Ramp finds out what’s under the bed when the lights go off. We're bringing back a KPCC In Person event from last year, where we read stories from "In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe," a...
View ArticleRhode Island Stuffies and Funeral Potatoes -- Mario Batali's Big American...
Chef Mario Batali talks with us about his shoes, his White House dinner, and his newest cookbook ... Chicano art champion Cheech Marin on his newest traveling exhibit: Papel Chicano Dos ... We'll talk...
View ArticleSome election, but mostly NOT election
Pasadena's annual Doo Dah Parade is an artsy, easygoing alternative to the Rose Parade ... California’s coast stretches 840 miles, and has never been captured in one art exhibit, until now ... The LA...
View ArticleHow caregivers cope on Thanksgiving
Prepare to drool as Mario Batali gives us his Thanksgiving making turkey porchetta recipe ... We meet a woman who’ll spend Thanksgiving organizing dinner for her huge family, taking care of her elderly...
View ArticleThe seeker and the son ... the Institute of Mentalphysics in the High Desert
The Institute of Mental Physics, founded near Joshua Tree as a sort of utopian society, happens to be the largest single collection of buildings designed by architect Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank...
View ArticleWhy you would have hated drinking cocktails in 1966
LACMA marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with a huge show, but leaves out one important fact: Martin Luther was a horrible anti-Semite ... The LA Zoo marks its 50th birthday with a 1966...
View ArticleThank You Falettinme Be Mice Christmas Elf Agin
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...
View ArticleSaving Lytton Savings and Remembering Alan Thicke
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,...
View ArticleNot your grandparents' A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol Redux brings together all the good, bad, fun, and thoughtful aspects of Dickens' classic tale of redemption, which also almost singlehandedly created the modern Christmas holiday.
View ArticleCelebrate the New Year by celebrating Off-Ramp!
It's the Off-Ramp 10th anniversary special: Off-Ramp Live. Harbor Party, Musker&Clements, David Whitfield, Rico Gagliano, Chris Redd, and much more, live onstage in downtown LA.
View ArticlePastrami navelgazing at Langer's Deli, and a broadside aimed at hipster chefs
Marc Haefele considers "Breaking News" at the Getty Center, which shows how broken newsgathering has often been; In "Broke," KPCC's Rina Palta and Priska Neely look at California's growing homeless...
View ArticleGoodbye to the Pink Lady and The Formosa; hello 8-Bit music and Joshua Tree
Lynne Westmore Bloom died last week. In 1966, her giant pink naked lady appeared over the Malibu Canyon tunnel, delighting many, and pissing off local officials. ... Sanden Totten, of science podcast...
View ArticleThe Day After, in LA and DC
On the day after the Trump Inauguration, we go live to Washington DC and downtown LA to talk with participants in the two planned marches ... We’ll watch "Hidden Figures" with a woman and her mom … who...
View ArticleFrom a warehouse in Compton to the tallest restaurant in the West ...
You want an Only-in-LA story? Try this: a 78-year old Japanese-Brazilian-American artist (right) who works in Compton, was Marlon Brando's gardener, and got his first big break at the Hammer Museum...
View ArticleWho was Oscar Levant? Even Homer Simpson knows
The voice of Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta (RIGHT), is also a serious writer and his new play explores the inner life of one of the last century’s most intriguing talents: Oscar Levant. ... Off-Ramp...
View ArticleSaving sea lions, and listening to jazz at The Blue Whale
We spend a day with the California Wildlife Center in Malibu, which rescues all kinds of animals, but this time of year helps the growing number of sea lions that strand themselves on the beach ......
View ArticleArt, donuts, Cheech, La Santa Cecilia, and a cool new bar.
Director Ava DuVernay on her new documentary about the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery ... Backstage with La Santa Cecilia, a Grammy-winning L.A. band that tells modern...
View ArticleTwo cool new podcasts: Missing Richard Simmons and The Competition
Granted, the homeless make it hard to run a business near downtown LA’s Skid Row. But one man’s solution is raising eyebrows: spraying water on the sidewalk overnight. ... One of the local pianists in...
View ArticleAngels Flight to fly again?
Angels Flight to be back by Labor Day ... Back when cops weren’t supposed to smoke in uniform, and when a stolen car might be traced by the make of its battery or speedometer ... A Hammer show on an...
View ArticleThe many worlds of George Takei
The remarkable George Takei gets the whole hour. We get an exclusive preview of JANM's new George Takei exhibit, talk with George himself about his life and times and his new role in the Sondheim...
View ArticleDonna Fuller's albums are eBay gold, and her life is an Only in LA story
“No blue skies and no green grass” is animator Genndy Tartakovsky’s rule for "Samurai Jack." He tells us about bringing back the wandering samurai (right) for Adult Swim. ... Meet jazz singer Donna...
View ArticleThe Awesomeness of Off-Ramp
To remind you why Off-Ramp is unparalleled in bringing you the people, places, and ideas that make Southern California a great place to live, here's a sample of our best pieces from the last year. With...
View ArticleNo April Fools in this show. Just real good stuff.
A veteran driver walks us through next week's Long Beach Grand Prix, and gives us his tips and peeves about driving in LA. ... A first-time film director says he learned a ton about making films...
View ArticleCalifornia's Gold cameraman opens up about working with Huell Howser
Local jazz legend Barbara Morrison celebrates the 100th birthday of Ella Fitzgerald, and gives a master class in scatting ... The band That Dog influenced bands like Weezer, so how come you haven't...
View ArticleEd Asner, Matt Asner, and their autistic kids
Ed Asner tells us what his autistic son and grandsons have taught him ... We to go Disney Hall and sample the sound during an actual concert from all the performers’ perspectives. Surprise: the people...
View ArticleRide that mutant chicken!
It’s an 8-foot chicken with the head of Big Boy, and it’s on San Fernando Road in Glassell Park … staring at you. We track down the artist. ... LA State Historic Park reopens this weekend; was it worth...
View ArticleSome healing, some scars: the LA Riots, 25 years later
We talk with residents, eyewitnesses, about those dark days ... Journalist Joe Domanick tells us how decades of police brutality - including hundreds of police murders of blacks and Latinos - led to...
View ArticleA deep dive on LA history with a member of local "royalty," a real Californio
An Angeleno family going back 3 generations here is considered ancient; but Theresa Chavez is a real Californio, dating back to 1771 when her family owned an original rancho ... How many Romanian...
View ArticleBig Jay McNeely still has sax appeal at 90, and Maestro Kahane says, 'I'm not...
In the 1950s, saxophonist Big Jay McNeely (left) - now 90 - got teens so excited city officials banned him from LA for a while. ... We go in-depth with Jeffrey Kahane, about to play his final concerts...
View ArticleRemembering the 'Buddy Rich' of punk, and Tiny Tim's Tin Pan Alley soundtrack
A new album from the late oddball singer Tiny Tim, who was, among many other things, an astounding musicologist, with a focus on obscure Tin Pan Alley songs. ... A new investigation by NBC4 raises...
View ArticleAn oasis in the Southern California desert: The Institute of Mentalphysics
A seeker and a famous son build a city in the High Desert: Ding Le Mei and Lloyd Wright's Institute of Mentalphysics ... John rides in the last B-24 ... Jean-Michel Jarre is in town this weekend: go...
View ArticleThe quaint husband wife business of 1-800-AUTOPSY
When there's something strange in your neighborhood, Vidal and Vicki Herrera might be the closest thing to Ghostbusters you've got... In Redlands there's a circus even PETA would approve of... an...
View ArticleWhat color are these Muppets? A little blue.
Brian Henson pays tribute to his dad Jim's bawdier side in "Puppet Up! Uncensored" ... the new book "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone" ... A restaurant where you're served by...
View ArticleNeil deGrasse Tyson and Grassroots Trans Pride
We sample astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson's talk last weekend at the Aero Theatre, including his top StarTalk guests ... For Trans Pride: punk singer Drew Arriola Sands, whose career took off after she...
View ArticleThe Penultimate Off-Ramp ... and a naked neutered mummy and the Italians who...
On the second to last episode: an expert on relics, mummies, crypts, and the way we live with death ... KPCC's Matt Bloom looks at the fungal disease killing LA's ficus trees ... The amazing career of...
View ArticleDon't make me stop this car! (The Off-Ramp Finale)
It all happens in John's car: Tom Petty's keyboardist, Benmont Tench and his Casio get in the back seat to play a very Off-Rampy song ... Queena Kim conducts a creativity masterclass ... Food writer...
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