Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.
Funding provided by:
As America gears up to watch the World Series, one thing is certain: once again, the Dodgers won't be there. For Dodgers fans still in mourning we have one small consolation: lunch with Tommy Lasorda, the team's hall of fame former manager at his favorite place. Off-Ramp Producer Kevin Ferguson met Lasorda at Paul's Kitchen, a small and storied Chinese restaurant in downtown L.A.'s Fashion District.
On how he heard about Paul's Kitchen:
"Well about 50 years ago I came here for the first time. A friend of mine, Abe Goldman, he brought me here. And of course, I've been coming here ever since. I had just arrived here. I'd arrived here from Pennsylvania. I was a scout. After I'd quit playing, I became a scout for the Dodgers in Pennsylvania and then Al Campanis asked me to move out here [Los Angeles], to help scouting out here. And that's when I moved out here, in 1963.
"I can remember inviting Kirk Douglas and Jack Valenti to come and eat here with me, when it was at night. And Kirk Douglas said 'Are we eating here?' and I said 'No, we're eating inside!'"
On why he keeps coming back to Paul Kitchen"
"The food is so good, naturally! I come back here because these people are friends of mine. We've been friends for years. And I come here all the time to eat. This place has been here for years, even years before I came here. When you come in here with me, nobody orders. They bring the food."
On his signature dish, the Tommy Lasorda Special:
"Kirk Douglas said 'What are we eating here?' I said, 'What you're eating, is the Tommy Lasorda Special.'
"Now, they've named tunnels after people, they've named buildings after people, they've named highways after people... but I told him you'd be happier eating the Tommy Lasorda special than driving through the Lincoln Tunnel!
"I can't even explain it. All it is is a lot of food, and it's good!"