In ‘El Pueblo,’ producer Mike Schilitt explores the surprising history of Olvera Street – an idealized fantasy of Mexico created in downtown Los Angeles that has supported generations of Agelenos.

The Cabin Notebook

May 26th, 2022 26m 59s

When Aric Allen was 21, he lived in a desolate mountain cabin for 10 weeks. There he planned to write a novel, but instead he learned how to be alone.

Lowrider

May 12th, 2022 23m 9s

Producer Jaime Roque takes a ride with Ernie Moran in his 1965 Chevy Impala to explore the history and culture of the lowrider community of East Los Angeles.

nisha

Apr 28th, 2022 17m 28s

In the U.S., nisha venkat feels safe and relieved to identify as queer and non-binary. But in their home country Dubai, nisha’s gender identity is illegal, and they can be deported or convicted of homexuality, or “cross-dressing.”

The Transmogrifier

Apr 14th, 2022 20m 22s

Imagine entering a giant machine that sucks you in one end, and spits you out the other side as something completely different. That describes the transmogrifier — a fantastical device from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Over the last coup

Los Emprendedores

Apr 14th, 2022 21m 57s

Street vendors are an essential part of Los Angeles’ history and its economy. You can find vendors with mobile carts and food trucks on street corners, outside concert venues, and sporting events selling hot dogs, tacos, burritos, churros, frui

Bonus

Music could be your whole life

Nov 4th, 2021 32m 3s

KCRW’s Bob Carlson talks to some of Deirdre O’Donoghue’s friends and gets further inside her world away from the microphone.

Bonus

This is SNAP!

Oct 28th, 2021 34m 17s

Bent By Nature Episode 1 introduces KCRW DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue, host of "SNAP!," a freeform alternative and independent music and culture program in Los Angeles in the '80s — and goes inside the community she cultivated, her passion for music,

The Man Inside the Radio

1 May 21st, 2020 26m 26s

UnFictional host Bob Carlson’s journey on the inside of rock and roll radio.

Rolling Thunder

1 May 14th, 2020 19m 27s

Mary Lorson explores scenes from her childhood in a personal memoir musical documentary. Featuring an elusive father, A Dancerina doll, a Polaroid Swinger, and a camel hair coat from Saks, all in constant motion.

The Rescue

1 May 7th, 2020 34m 47s

A promising job drew Fedelina Lugasan to the U.S. from the Philippines, she’d start her new life with a family she trusted. But the picture they painted for her was not what her life turned out to be.

The Philosophy of the Flying Saucers

Apr 30th, 2020 23m 44s

A man finds an old reel to reel tape that reveals much more than just flying saucers and alien conspiracy theories.

The Rowing Man

Apr 23rd, 2020 42m 11s

Ove the rowing man. A stranger who came by way of the ocean, and was soon no longer a stranger.

Mauricio Across the Border - Part 2

Apr 16th, 2020 33m 43s

Maurcio, star of a hit Mexican television show, is abandoned in the desert while trying to cross the border.

Mauricio Across the Border - Part 1

Apr 9th, 2020 30m 57s

Mauricio leaves Mexico City for Los Angeles, and his dreams of television come true in a very unlikely way.

UnFictional Wrap Party

Mar 21st, 2019 53s

Are you in Los Angeles? Join us for an UnFictional screening and wrap party on Thursday, March 28. We'll be listening to audio from two stories and talking about how this season was made.The wrap party will take place at Now Instant, a new the

The Dream is Over

Mar 21st, 2019 34m 8s

One man’s treasure is another man’s Olympic gold medal.

Denial

Mar 14th, 2019 30m 43s

It never occurred to Janey that he would put something in her drink. Never in a million years.

Friends in Juggalo Places

1 Mar 7th, 2019 30m 39s

Take a three-day bus trip across the country with a juggalo, and you’ll learn some things.

1-800-KISS-MY-ASS

Feb 28th, 2019 22m 31s

Aric Allen spent much of the early 2000s on the phone – selling get-rich-quick schemes and rapidly turning into a person he didn’t recognize.

Vampire of Barcelona

Feb 21st, 2019 23m 36s

Enriqueta Marti was a real-life monster who roamed the streets of 20th Century Barcelona collecting bones and kidnapping children. Except, of course, she wasn’t.