Off-Ramp's John Rabe and Kevin Ferguson enjoy a happy hour at The Barkley with Eat-LA's Colleen Bates, talking about the best happy hours in town.

There's still a month to go until the election, so you have to wonder what LA City Councilman Jose Huizar and challenger Rudy Martinez will come up with next in their battle for LA's 14th District. Off-Ramp host John Rabe and Jon Regardie of the LA Downtown News met at Colombo's to talk it over.

Back in the day of silent films, Hollywood studios could market their movies all over the world easily: all it required was a few translated title cards and you could ship any film anywhere. But as talking pictures crept in, things got a little more difficult. CLICK THROUGH to see what the solution looked (and sounded) like!

For our series Hard Times, Off-Ramp correspondent Hank Rosenfeld asks people in Pasadena, "What's the richest you've ever been?"

One of the people Off-Ramp correspondent Hank Rosenfeld spoke with about their past riches admitted that he'd been jailed for an insurance scam, and he told Hank exactly how it worked (until it didn't).

KPCC engineer and KPFK music host Steve Martin hosted New Music Night at our Crawford Family Forum the other night. He tells Off-Ramp host John Rabe there were three hot local bands and scores of dancing public radio listeners packing the forum. SOUND FUN? In the comments section below, let us know if you plan to come to the next New Music Night. Meantime, tell your friends. CLICK THROUGH for more events at KPCC.

LA is generally considered one of the hardest places to start a business ... not because of taxes, but because of red tape. So many different departments need to sign off on every aspect of a new business, and the requirements are often conflicting or nonsensical, that one group says the city is downright "hostile." Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with business commentator Mark Lacter about the problem. CLICK THROUGH for Mark's LA Magazine article, "The Tale of the Tape."

As NFL fans prepare for Super Bowl Sunday this weekend, Los Angeles still stands on the sidelines without a local team. Football followers in LA have long supported out-of-city teams but a proposed stadium looks to bring a team, and hopefully fans, back to LA. Off-Ramp intern Raghu Manavalan and producer Kevin Ferguson went to Downtown's LA live this week to ask....Are you willing to change your loyalty?

Center Theater Group believes that theater is a place for young people, and their Young Audiences Program gives thousand of students the opportunity to attend a main stage performance of a real full-length professional show at the Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum, and Kirk Douglas Theaters in Downtown LA. Cyndi Bemel joins students from Perris High School at the Mark Taper Forum for a performance of Stories by the Heart with John Lithgow.

Alexander Israel (who you might know for his LA themed line of designer sunglasses) doesn't necessarily create anything new with his art. His museum pieces consist entirely of props rented from movie studios: ephemeral installations of borrowed random items, juxtaposed to tell a new story.

As previously reported by KPCC and LA Observed contributor Mark Lacter: back in 1994, Couric and Gumbel needed a little help with the concept. CLICK THROUGH to see what I mean:

Custom car parts -- the parts that transform a junker into a hot rod that burns rubber and turns heads -- are a huge industry. 30-billion dollars a year - and they mean a lot of jobs in Southern California, as KPCC's Brian Watt reports.