It's a long ways from the Big Apple to the Little Orange, but the issues and the personalities that shape them are remarkably similar. One key advantage New York had that Ojai didn't was an epic chronicler and columnist with the street smarts and monumental charisma of Jimmy Breslin. He was the perfect fit for his beat — with its charlatans, wiseguys, politicians and police — and the connections that brought them all together to create the vivid world of New York City from the early 1960s onward.

Breslin's son Kevin joins the podcast to talk about his singular father, his connections to Ojai and his own brilliant career.

The winner of every distinction and honor the world of journalism has to offer, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1986, Breslin got his start as a humble beat reporter for the New York Herald who was thrust into the melee surrounding the assassination of JFK. Without having the sources, campaign and government insiders or connections, Breslin found a way into the story that made his mark: Interviewing Clifton Pollard, an unassuming man with the painful task of burying the president. Breslin's gravedigger story announced the arrival of a singular talent who, as much or more than anyone else, created New York City's image as a blue-collar, take-no-bullshit town with a cast of colorful characters including the famous and infamous, the charming rogues and hard-working Everymen for whom he wrote his three-times-a-week column for decades.

Breslin has himself made news, as when Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz wrote him letters about his coverage, and when he was savagely beaten by organized crime figures at a restaurant owned by Henry Hill of "Wiseguys" fame.

Breslin was also a celebrity — besides his column (which included plenty of investigative and breaking news reporting — he also wrote popular novels, was a regular on the talk-show circuit, had his own talk show, ran for public office and starred in TV commercials. Along with his compatriot and competitor Pete Hamill, his beat was the sprawling, noisy and good-hearted metropolis.

Kevin Breslin has had his own brilliant career as an actor and filmmaker. His documentary "Living for 32" about the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and he has also written feature films, including "Blowtorch."

We did not talk about Scottish folk dirges, the invention of cellophane or lunar tides.