Put your hands and feet up and relax while we tell you the story of two of the most corrupt cops in LAPD history: Rafael Perez and the Rampart scandal (3:28) and Christopher Dorner (45:41).
Pull up a cantilevered stool and order a malt while we delve into the architectural style with the irritating name that defined the look of Los Angeles. We'll touch on the architects and establishments that made it possible from the eponymous Googie's itself to the legendary Armet and Davis. No substitutions. We'll cover a brief history of Googie as a style (5:01), Coffee Dan's and Googie's (27:28), Ships Coffee Shop (37:58), Denny's (48:56), Pann's (54:38) and Norm's (1:13:12).
TV's wackiest lady does it again. Don't be a Mertz, come listen to the tall tale of Lucille Ball's inadvertent involvement in World War II.
We're gonna jazz on down to Central Avenue to go over the story of LA's local Jazz scene of the early 20th century and the history of the people and culture that made it all possible. Feel free to scat along with us. We'll cover the trailblazing black community of the city from the Central Avenue neighborhood to Bronzeville (4:05), the rich Central Avenue jazz scene (56:16) and the eventual downfall of the Central Avenue neighborhood (1:45:40).
All great writers are capable of great endings. Here's the story of how F. Scott Fitzgerald met his own.
Chinatown episode leftovers are even better than the first time around. Here's the origin of another native Los Angeles dish: the Chinese chicken salad.
It's Chinatown. Take a non-offensive because they actually had them rickshaw ride through the atrocious history of old Chinatown and the Chinese community of Los Angeles all the way up to the present day new Chinatown or, as you know it, Chinatown. We go over the bad days of Old Chinatown, the unforgivable Chinese massacre, the dueling New Chinatown and China City, the many laws set to keep the Chinese community down, which spawned the endlessly internal support that the community used to flourish. Listen to the early days of Chinese immigrants to the city (3:27) and the creation of China City and then Chinatown (42:02).
This month we explore two of your favorite American authors, one of your favorite heroes from the Old West and one of your favorite Beatles who all spent brief but memorable (and drunken) stays in Los Angeles. Hint: It's not Stephen King, John Ringo, Johnny Ringo or Ringo Starr. We've got William Faulkner (2:44), Wyatt Earp (27:06), F. Scott Fitzgerald (54:35) and John Lennon (1:31:45)
In this brief bonus episode we draw out our announcement of our new episode release schedule for the new year and share a few words about some new occurences around town.
Another year another fear. Our seasonally creepy and haunted look at LA's sordid history is back to take on ghostly hospitals, culty parks, lizardy people and more. Pray to baby Jesus and hold on to your yarmulke. We discuss the Galster Park Butcher in West Covina (1:00:12), the Gates of Hell known as Turnbull Canyon in Whittier (1:07:12), the ghost orderly at Linda Vista Communtiy Hospital in Boyle Heights (36:00), the murder and hauntings at the Greystone/Doheny Mansion in Beverly Hills (45:36), the underground secret tunnels of the Los Angeles Lizard People (19:50), and Greg talks about his field trip to the funeral for the unclaimed bodies at the L.A County morgue.