Making Los Angeles

Castulo de la Rocha arrived in Los Angeles from rural Mexico at age ten having never attended school. He didn't speak English. He couldn't read or write it. And … a few years later, he was elected student body president. Twice. What followed was just as unlikely. Fresh out of law school at Berkeley, Castulo thought he'd spend a few months helping a small East Los Angeles community clinic before moving on to whatever came next. He never left. Nearly fifty years later, AltaMed has grown into the largest federally qualified health center in the United States, serving more than 700,000 patients every year through 80 locations across Southern California. In this episode, we talk about growing up on a ranch with no electricity, no cars, and no schools, how a young lawyer became one of the most influential healthcare leaders in California, and why he believed so strongly that art belonged alongside medicine that he wrote it into AltaMed's bylaws. Most of all, this is a conversation about finding the work you were meant to do... even when you had no idea you were looking for it.

John Quinn founded a four-lawyer firm in Los Angeles that grew into Quinn Emanuel — now the largest litigation-only law firm in the world, with more than 1,000 lawyers and nearly $3 billion in annual revenue. Which is impressive. But it’s also only part of the story. In this episode, John takes us from his childhood in Utah to Harvard Law School and then Los Angeles, where an early business model that didn’t quite work ended up helping lay the foundation for one of the most successful law firms in the world. We also talk about the cases that still stick with him after decades of litigation, why he decided law offices should have artists-in-residence — actual working artists creating inside the firm — and how global hikes, contemporary art, and Michelin-starred sushi somehow all became part of the Quinn Emanuel universe. Because John Quinn is, by any measure, a phenomenally successful lawyer. But spend a little time with him and it becomes clear that the more interesting story is how unusually he’s chosen to build the life — and the institution — around that success. And if you’re wondering why we recorded the conversation inside a Michelin-starred Downtown L.A. sushi restaurant called Q? Yeah. That’s his too.

Jacob Soboroff has built a national reputation as a television journalist and author, reporting from the field for NBC News, MSNBC, MS NOW and beyond. But his story starts in Los Angeles. In this episode, Jacob shares what it was like growing up in the Pacific Palisades – and then, years later, reporting on it burning down on live television – along with the unlikely early experiences that shaped his path, from chasing celebrities on the red carpet to an internship where his job was literally to say “no” on behalf of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. We also talk about his latest book, Firestorm, and how covering the Palisades and Eaton fires became both a professional assignment and a deeply personal story – one that reflects how Los Angeles shows up for itself in moments of crisis. It’s a conversation about storytelling, perspective, and what it means when the story hits close to home. We also recorded at a restaurant in Altadena with its own remarkable comeback story after the fires – and, as it turns out, a connection to Jacob that makes for a fun, unexpected start to the episode. And wait until you hear who he says he was starstruck by – it involves randomly running into his journalistic hero… and ending up being featured by him.

Zev Yaroslavsky spent forty consecutive years in elected office in Los Angeles — a run that, thanks to term limits, no local politician will ever match again. And it began with a race he probably wasn't supposed to win. At just 25 years old, Zev ran for Los Angeles City Council and defeated not one, but two formidable opponents: Mayor Tom Bradley's handpicked candidate and former Councilmember Roz Wyman. He announced that campaign at Canter's Deli — which is exactly where we sat down, nearly half a century later, to talk about everything that followed. In this episode, Zev takes us through four decades at City Hall and on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, including that unlikely first campaign, the 1984 Olympics, the long fight to bring rail transit to the Westside, and what it was like helping govern Los Angeles through some of the most consequential periods in its modern history. But this isn't just a tour through a political résumé. It's the story of someone who entered public life remarkably young, stayed there remarkably long, and remained deeply rooted in the city he represented. How rooted? After forty years in office and a lifetime in Los Angeles, Zev still lives within eight blocks of his childhood home.

Susan Feniger is one of the pioneers of modern Los Angeles dining – and one of the first generation of chefs to bring bold, regional Mexican cuisine into the mainstream. But her story starts in a parking lot. In this episode, Susan shares how she set out – very intentionally – to learn from the kitchens she admired, landing at Ma Maison under a young Wolfgang Puck, and how she met her longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken, eventually convincing her to move to Los Angeles so they could open a restaurant together. That restaurant, City Cafe, was a 900-square-foot spot on Melrose where they cooked in the parking lot on two hibachis and two hot plates. And somehow… it worked. People noticed … including Julia Child – a connection that eventually led to City Cafe memorabilia being displayed at the Smithsonian. What followed was a career defined by curiosity, from traveling through Mexico to explore regional cuisine long before it was widely understood, to building Border Grill into one of the defining restaurant concepts in Los Angeles and beyond. Along the way, Susan and Mary Sue also became some of the original stars of the Food Network, hosting more than 400 episodes of Too Hot Tamales, helping shape what food television would become. And wait until you hear just how strong that partnership really is… it involves a relationship story that could probably only happen in Los Angeles.