They're your favorite rapper's favorite label. Thirty years in, Stones Throw still fights for L.A.

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Set us as preferred Chris Manak walked into his Highland Park bar Gold Line cradling a formidable lizard.The DJ, producer and founder of the longtime L.A.record label Stones Throw, who performs as Peanut Butter Wolf, was looking after his daughter’s bearded dragon, Sweet Pea, for the afternoon.

The scaly beast looked curious as it walked atop the reams of vinyl at Manak’s bar, on the ground floor of Stones Throw’s offices, which take up half a block on Figueroa Avenue.Stones Throw, like the creature climbing up his shirt, is a resilient survivor.Founded in 1996 as an indie hip-hop label, the imprint has stretched to all corners of funk, rock and rap music, with records like Madvillain’s “Madvillainy” that influenced generations of artists including Tyler, the Creator and Ye.

It earned plaudits from Questlove and Snoop Dogg, won a Grammy for progressive R&B album, and hung on as the record business imploded and rebuilt in the streaming era.Manak — a new hire into KCRW’s DJ ranks as well — will celebrate his label’s 30th anniversary with a three-day festival in Highland Park on Oct.16-18.

He spoke about staying vital as hip-hop waxed and waned commercially, how his office’s bar revamped local nightlife, and whether technology has changed the value of good taste.Thirty years is a hell of a run for Stones Throw.Could you have imagined still doing this now when you founded the label?When I was in high school, I had a term paper talking about having this record label.

I saw it again years later, going through storage, so I must have manifested it.But we weren’t thinking about making hip-hop beats and rapping 30 years later.I remember as a kid watching the Motown 25-year anniversary on TV.

I was probably 12 at the time, and I was buying contemporary Motown records, Rick James and DeBarge.But I wasn’...