How does someone go from the Jordan Downs housing projects in Watts to becoming the co-owner of one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated restaurants?

In this episode of Making Los Angeles, chef and author Keith Corbin reflects on the long, unlikely road that led him from gang culture, prison, and the crack epidemic of 1980s South LA to Alta Adams, the acclaimed West Adams restaurant rooted in Black foodways and community.

Keith shares stories about losing his brother, surviving prison, discovering cooking later in life through Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson’s LocoL, and finding purpose through food after years of instability and survival.

The conversation explores Watts, masculinity, grief, fatherhood, redemption, and the complicated relationship between identity and place in Los Angeles.

What does it take to reinvent yourself over and over again — from Chicano kid in South Central LA, to potter living in the Canadian wilderness, to one half of one of the most iconic comedy duos in American history?

In this episode, Cheech Marin reflects on the winding, unexpected path that shaped his life and career. Recorded inside the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, the conversation spans decades of Los Angeles history — from growing up in South Central and the San Fernando Valley, to resisting the Vietnam draft, living off the grid in Alberta, discovering improv theater in Vancouver, and eventually building Cheech & Chong into a cultural phenomenon.

Cheech shares stories about opening for Motown acts, playing topless bars, recording groundbreaking comedy albums, and making Up in Smoke at a time when Hollywood had no idea what to make of them. He also reflects on Born in East L.A., the evolving conversation around immigration in America, and why Chicano art became one of his life’s great passions.

We hear about Muhammad Ali, Bruce Springsteen opening for Cheech & Chong, late nights at the Troubadour, life in Malibu, and the creative instincts that kept pulling him toward music, comedy, filmmaking, and art.

This episode is about curiosity, reinvention, and showing up every day for the thing you love…even when you have no idea where it’s going to lead.

What's different about Season 2? Everything! And absolutely nothing. Because this show is about people, and everybody's story is different. Join us every Wednesday starting May 13th.

Please enjoy this specially featured episode of LA Times Studio's Rebuilding LA. What’s next for L.A. in the wake of its recent wildfires? In “Rebuilding Los Angeles,” broadcast journalist Kate Cagle examines the systems that failed us, the path forward and the innovative fire recovery efforts making L.A. more resilient. This episode features prominent city developer Rick Caruso and a conversation about his role in the rebuilding efforts as the Palisades try to find their new normal nearly a year after the fires.

As we gear up for Season Two, we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at how Making Los Angeles came to life — with a twist. Season Two guest Alex Cohen — NPR legend and Spectrum News 1 anchor — steps into the host chair, and Glenn plays guest for a day as they talk through the show’s origins, how guests are chosen, and the stories behind the stories. They also dig into what makes someone truly part of the fabric of this city, and preview what’s ahead, including the show’s first video episode. And yes — Alex surprises Glenn with the question he wasn’t expecting: who’s his dream guest?

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.

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 moment that first sparked his interest in crime stories at age 16, the unpublished novels he wrote along the way, and why he didn’t quit his day job until his fourth book came out.

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.

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. He’s a Jesuit priest, bestselling author, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient… and a walking masterclass in radical compassion. In this episode: we’ll hear why he asked to serve in L.A.’s poorest parish, how living in Bolivia reshaped his worldview, and what it really means to listen. And yes — we’ll hear how even Jesuit priests aren’t above the occasional mic drop. In this episode: we’ll hear why he asked to serve in L.A.’s poorest parish, how living in Bolivia reshaped his worldview, and what it really means to listen. And yes — we’ll hear how even Jesuit priests aren’t above the occasional mic drop.

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 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 episode: why taking the Rams job felt like a terrible decision at the time, what it was like to have Dan Marino show up to your middle school basketball games, and how growing up in L.A. shaped his approach to building something lasting here — even if that wasn’t part of the plan when he took the job. We recorded this conversation inside Rams Draft HQ — at the Los Angeles Fire Department Air Operations facility in Van Nuys — on the morning of Day 2 of the NFL Draft.