Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Donate
Stay Connected

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

Listen
Donate
Podcasts Off-Ramp
Forgotten history, from Jelly Roll Morton to China Dolls - Off-Ramp for May 31, 2014
Off-Ramp with John Rabe Hero Image
(
Dan Carino
)
Episode 6580
Listen • 48:30
Forgotten history, from Jelly Roll Morton to China Dolls - Off-Ramp for May 31, 2014

Jelly Roll Morton is buried ... in East LA? ... Two new books explore the Chinese-American nightclub scene ... Where wannabe WWE pro-wrestlers go to get noticed ... Orson Bean and the woman who bit his father's knee
(
Why is Jelly Roll Morton buried in East LA? (Sean J. O'Connell)
)

Jelly Roll Morton is buried ... in East LA? ... Two new books explore the Chinese-American nightclub scene ... Where wannabe WWE pro-wrestlers go to get noticed ... Orson Bean and the woman who bit his father's knee

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's WWE hopefuls battle monthly in Reseda
Listen • 4:08
Off-Ramp contributor CJ Greenspon takes us to the minor leagues of pro wrestling, an event at an American Legion hall in Reseda put on every month by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Lisa See's 'China Dolls' & Arthur Dong's 'Forbidden City' explore long-gone nightclub scene
Listen • 13:20
Two new books — Lisa See's "China Dolls" and Arthur Dong's "Forbidden City" — explore the exciting world of San Francisco's Chinese-American club scene in the '30s and '40s.
LeVar Burton's Kickstarter campaign for Reading Rainbow is a runaway best-seller
Listen • 14:07
Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with LeVar Burton about Reading Rainbow and the importance of using books to connect kids with ideas and the world around them.
Dylan Brody on the literary manager who, apparently, can't read
Listen • 4:50
My former literary manager told me he didn’t really like reading. There are reasons he’s no longer my literary manager.
Jelly Roll Morton, 'inventor' of jazz music, is buried in Los Angeles
Listen • 6:10
Buried under an unassuming stone in Cavalry Cemetery are the bones of Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, the self-proclaimed, and not entirely wrong, “originator of jazz.”
Orson Bean, self-confessed "geezer," onstage at Geffen Playhouse
Listen • 5:08
John Rabe talks with Bean, one of the last of the old school Hollywood raconteurs, about "Death of the Author," his father getting bitten during a panty raid, and being Calvin Coolidge's cousin.
We want our D TV! Fans to rally June 1 to tell Dodgers and TWC to cut it out
Listen • 4:39
John Rabe talks with LA Times columnist Chris Erskine about the rally planned Sunday, June 1, to urge the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable to solve the TV snafu.