Making Los Angeles: episodes

38 recent episodes from the show's feed. Back to the show

1. Producer's Pick: Kevin Demoff: The Man Who Brought the Rams (and SoFi) to LA

   Nov 5, 2025 · 1h 1m

   We’re bringing back a few of my favorite conversations from last season — Season One Spotlights, as we’re calling them — so whether you’ve been with us from the start or you’re just discovering the show, these episodes capture the people, stories, and ideas that shape how we see Los Angeles. Kevin Demoff is the President of Team & Media Operations for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, where he hel

2. Introducing: Smoglandia

   Oct 29, 2025 · 6 min

   Please enjoy this preview of the first episode of Patt Morrison's latest miniseries, Smoglandia. Smoglandia is a narrative audio series tracing the rise, impact and eventual retreat of L.A.’s most insidious form of pollution: smog. Through interviews with scientists, policymakers, filmmakers and artists who lived through the worst days, Smoglandia explores how Los Angeles became a testing ground f

3. Producer's Pick: Karen Bass: Roots, Resilience, and the Story of Los Angeles

   Oct 22, 2025 · 1h 2m

   We’re bringing back a few of my favorite conversations from last season — Season One Spotlights, as we’re calling them — so whether you’ve been with us from the start or you’re just discovering the show, these episodes capture the people, stories, and ideas that shape how we see Los Angeles. While Mayor Karen Bass hardly needs an introduction, what sticks with me most from this conversation is ho

4. Harry Chandler: Dynasties, Detours, and the LA River

   Oct 15, 2025 · 60 min

   What’s it like to carry one of the most powerful names in Los Angeles history — and still make your own mark? Harry Chandler is the great-great-grandson of Harrison Gray Otis, who took over the Los Angeles Times in 1882 and began a century-long dynasty that helped shape the city’s growth, politics, and mythos. But Harry? He took a different path. In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to

5. Fabian Núñez: Power, Politics, and a Changing California

   Oct 8, 2025 · 50 min

   How does the son of a bracero and a labor organizer become one of the most influential figures in California politics? Fabian Núñez is the former Speaker of the California State Assembly and was a driving force in the rise of Latino political power in California — helping turn what was once the exception into today’s expectation of Latino representation at the highest levels of government. In this

6. Larry Mantle: The Voice of Los Angeles

   Oct 1, 2025 · 49 min

   What’s it like to be the voice that generations of Angelenos grew up with — even if they wouldn’t recognize your face? Larry Mantle has hosted KPCC’s AirTalk for over 40 years, making him one of the most enduring and trusted voices in public radio. Over the decades, he’s interviewed politicians, filmmakers, athletes, scientists, authors — and more than a few unforgettable callers. In this episode,

7. Renata Simril: From Army Boots to Olympic Flames

   Sep 24, 2025 · 1h 5m

   What do the Army, the Dodgers, the L.A. Times, and the 2028 Olympics have in common? Renata Simril. Renata Simril is the President & CEO of the LA84 Foundation — one of the most influential philanthropic organizations in Los Angeles. Her journey has taken her from growing up in Carson to standing in the room when L.A. was awarded the 2028 Olympic Games. Along the way, she’s helped rebuild South L.

8. Fritz Coleman: Weather Words, Comedy Clubs, and Forty Years on Channel 4

   Sep 17, 2025 · 57 min

   What’s it like to give L.A. the weather for 40 years… and still slip out for a stand-up set between newscasts? For four decades, Fritz Coleman was more than just the weatherman on KNBC Channel 4 — he was part of the fabric of Los Angeles life. But behind the “weather words” were some surprising turns: his first TV job came while serving in the Navy during the Vietnam era, he nearly pursued a full-

9. Karen Bass: Roots, Resilience, and the Story of Los Angeles

   Sep 10, 2025 · 1h 1m

   What’s it like to go from community organizer to Congress to the Mayor’s chair — with history rhyming along the way? Karen Bass’s story is as personal as it is political — and as uniquely Los Angeles as they come. Before she was Mayor of Los Angeles, she was a physician’s assistant, the founder of the influential nonprofit Community Coalition, the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the Calif

10. Introducing: Pandora’s Box: The Fall of L.A.’s Sheriff

    Sep 9, 2025 · 8 min

    Pandora’s Box: The Fall of L.A.’s Sheriff is a six-part true crime investigation from the Los Angeles Times about one of the biggest law enforcement scandals in U.S. history. Follow Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Christopher Goffard as he uncovers how Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, once hailed as a reformer, became entangled in a shocking cover-up inside the nation’s largest jail system. F

11. Lori Bettison-Varga: Running the Museum That Runs on Bones

    Aug 27, 2025 · 54 min

    What does it take to lead a museum with 110 years of Los Angeles history — and keep it moving forward in a city that never stands still? Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga is the President of the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, home to more than 35 million artifacts and specimens, the largest such collection in the Western United States. In this episode, she shares how getting a PhD in geology — of al

12. Kevin Demoff: The Man Who Brought the Rams (and SoFi) to LA

    Aug 20, 2025 · 59 min

    How does a guy who wrote his college thesis on Quaker women end up running an NFL team by 28 — and overseeing a global sports empire by 40? Kevin Demoff is the President of Team & Media Operations for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, where he helps lead some of the biggest names in sports — including the Los Angeles Rams, the team he helped relocate from St. Louis back to his hometown. In this ep

13. Lucy Jones: Seismology, ShakeOuts, and String Quartets

    Aug 13, 2025 · 59 min

    What do Chinese literature, medieval string instruments, and earthquake drills have in common? In Los Angeles, the answer is Lucy Jones. Often called “L.A.’s earthquake queen” — a nickname she’s not exactly fond of — Lucy Jones has been the city’s most trusted voice on seismic safety for decades. In this episode, we talk about how she went from refusing to attend her local public high school to gr

14. Michael Connelly: Crime, Craft, and Chandler’s Booth at Musso’s

    Aug 6, 2025 · 1h 2m

    From Bosch to The Lincoln Lawyer to his latest novel Nightshade, few authors have done more to shape how the world sees Los Angeles than bestselling crime novelist Michael Connelly. In this episode, we talk to the man behind more than 40 books — nearly all set in L.A. — whose work has been adapted for film and television and translated into more than 40 languages. He tells us about the chilling mo

15. Bricia Lopez: Mole, Mezcal, and a Koreatown Classic

    Jul 30, 2025 · 48 min

    What happens when your parents leave the country… and hand you the keys to one of L.A.’s most iconic restaurants? Bricia Lopez is the co-owner of Guelaguetza — the Koreatown Oaxacan institution that’s been serving up rich moles, mezcal, and culture for over 30 years. Named a James Beard American Classic and a winner of the L.A. Times Gold Award, Guelaguetza has done more than any other restaurant

16. Father Greg Boyle: The Priest, the Homies, and a Mic Drop

    Jul 23, 2025 · 53 min

    In a city where everything changes, what if the most important people are the ones who don’t? Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries — the world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program — and he’s spent more than 30 years in the same East L.A. neighborhood, still showing up with hugs, humor, a little wisdom, and the occasional twenty for the homies outside his office.

17. Alex Padilla: From Pacoima to Power

    Jul 16, 2025 · 47 min

    What happens when a Pacoima kid turned MIT-trained engineer brings a wonk’s brain — and a line cook’s work ethic — into the halls of power? Alex Padilla is California’s senior U.S. Senator, a national voice on immigration and voting rights — and, as you may have seen recently, someone unafraid to challenge authority, even if it means getting handcuffed at a press conference. (This conversation was

18. Introducing: Making Los Angeles

    Jun 30, 2025 · 1 min

    Even more than its sunny skies, rich history and Hollywood glamor, L.A. is defined by its people. In “Making Los Angeles,” from LA Times Studios, native Angeleno Glenn Gritzner sits down with the dreamers and big-thinkers shaping the city to explore how they got where they are. The result is a singularly intimate deep dive into the incredible lives of everyone from entrepreneurs, politicians and b