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.

Alex Baskin is the executive producer behind some of Bravo’s most recognizable reality series – most notably, The Real Housewives.

But his story starts well before that.

In this episode, Alex shares how his father’s career as a television writer brought their family to L.A., what it was like coming up through MTV in its heyday, and why, fresh out of law school, he took a job that paid just five hundred dollars a week – a decision that helped set the course for everything that followed.

We also get into the evolution of The Real Housewives – from early experiments in a few cities to a cultural phenomenon – including why Beverly Hills became such a defining setting, and what it takes to keep a show like that both relevant and unpredictable.

His is a story about storytelling, cultural influence, and how Los Angeles helps shape what the rest of the country watches.

And yes: we go there on Scandoval … and the Baskin-Robbins connection.