Welcome to LA

This is a piece I helped produce for the The New Yorker Radio Hour and Transom.
A few months ago, the great American historian and writer Jill Lepore shared a documentary with us that was presented by the National Park Service for the nation's bicentennial in 1976. In it, Americans shared what they thought about the 200th year of the republic: how the country was doing, what it meant to be an American, how they planned to celebrate (or not). 
Jill said the piece reminded her of The Listeners, Transom's hyperlocal storytelling project. The Listeners is all about ordinary people and the stories of everyday life that add context to the news. 
We watned to try to represent, as best we could, people of every age, gender, race, socioeconomic class, and political belief. So we reached out to reporters across the country -- rural, urban, suburban, north, south, east, west, middle:
The Peabody Award winning producer Erica Heilman, in rural Vermont, who helped create The Listeners at Transom and whose podcast Rumble Strip is a major inspiration for the project.
Yohance Lacour, in Chicago, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his incredible show, You Didn't See Nothin.
Eve Abrams, an incredible independent producer in Metro New Orleans (urban and suburban areas). Eve's most recent work is Wetlands Radio, all about coastal erosion in Louisiana.  
Scott Carrier, in Utah, a stalwart independent who has created some of the greatest radio stories of the past few decades. Scott was assisted by the terrific independent producer Jenny Ament.
And finally, David Weinberg, Transom's lead teacher and a brilliant independent journalist who recorded both in Los Angeles and in the Salton Sea.
To hear how Jill incorporated it into The New Yorker Radio Hour, including excerpts from the original Park Service film, listen here.

If you would like to help  the Kanji family rebuild their home after the fire you can donate to their gofundme:
 
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sasha-and-azmina-rebuild-after-palisades-fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PSUzUJhQqk
 
This piece was produced by Nick White with help from Emile Klein.

When David first got the email, it just seemed like one of those offers that's too good to be true. The idea that he would be holding the reins of a horse drawn carriage tearing across the high plains of Colorado and that his passenger would be the famous movie star Ethan Hawke, the whole idea of being in a movie just seemed unlikely. This was the dream of millions of people who have made their way to L.A. It's become a cliche, all those starry eyed dreamers flocking to California with a singular vision of becoming a movie star.
And here was this offer sitting in his lap. All he had to do was say yes. 
This is the story of David Weinberg's acting gig on the movie "Tesla" — and the story of Nikola Tesla himself, an inventor who changed the world but who spent his life watching rivals steal his ideas to reap great fortunes.

A crossover spectacular! Richard Parks III, the host of Richard's Famous Food Podcast, helps David find where food meets fame in Los Angeles. And is that Wolfgang Puck in the backseat?