Rick Caruso Gilbert Flores/WWD/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment With one day left to declare candidacy in the race for Los Angeles mayor, all eyes are on Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer behind outdoor shopping meccas like The Grove. Caruso ran and narrowly lost to Karen Bass in the last election, then became a fierce critic of the mayor - never more so than in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that wiped out the Pacific Palisades and Altadena in early 2025. Caruso famously hired private firefighters to save his Palisades Village, successfully sparing it from the flames. Bass, alternately, was in Ghana for a diplomatic trip as L.A. burned, a decision she later admitted to regretting. Related Stories Lifestyle Rick Caruso, Chef Nancy Silverton and Filmmaker McG Unveil Steakhouse Plans for Palisades Village News The Righteous Fury of Spencer Pratt Caruso announced several weeks ago he would not be seeking public office. As the minutes tick away to the campaign deadline, however, chatter has grown that he could be lured back into the race. The chatter has grown even louder due to his outrage over a Los Angeles Times report that Bass - who is running for reelection - directed officials to soften details in a fires report, in order to lessen the impression of a failure of leadership in response to the disaster, which claimed 11 lives. (Bass denies the claims.) There are yet even more controversies roiling L.A. politics. The Graffiti Towers still loom over downtown, with the 2028 Olympics a little over two years away. And speaking of the L.A. Olympics, organizing committee president Casey Wasserstein is facing calls to step down amid recent revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein document dump that tie him, via flirtatious emails, to Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, albeit ones dating back to 2003. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Caruso to get his take on all of it. The gloves are off, the language is blunter, and the patience for euphemism is gone. He may be staying private, but he is not staying polite. I'm seeing conflicting reports regarding you and the mayor's race: First you're out, then you're considering it, then the L.A. Times says you're out again. What's your final answer? I'm not running. I said that a couple of weeks ago and then very nicely people were trying to recruit me to come in, and that was very flattering. But I made a decision a couple of weeks ago not to run and that stands. I love the city. I will find many other ways to continue to support it. There seems to be a groundswell of voices who feel L.A. could really use you. I really appreciate that. I really do. And it's such a great honor that so many people have confidence in me, but it's just not the right time for a number of reasons. And as you know, these decisions are so deeply personal. There are a lot of different reasons [why I can't run]. I loved running three years ago. I had a great experience. I obviously didn't like the way it ended, but the experience was great and we had a wonderful time as a family doing it and I gave it my all. It didn't work out. But at this point, there will be no run this time. Is there anyone that you would throw your weight behind that you see in the field? Let's see how the field shapes up. There's one more day. I really don't know. I haven't given it much thought, to be honest, but we have time for that. There will be time for that. Spencer Pratt has served himself up as an anti-Karen Bass candidate, but he's also a reality star. I was just curious what you think of him. I think he's a very well-intended guy. The only thing I would say about anybody who wants to run is that we've had somebody that didn't have the experience to run the city, so I think experience is really important on knowing how to manage a job like that. The last time we talked about these Graffiti Towers, it was two years ago. They stand as a monument to something going very wrong in L.A. Things seem to have moved now in a positive direction with them getting out of bankruptcy and available for a sale, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are, with your real estate expertise. The question I already posed, is can we get this fixed before the Olympics? What do you think? Well, what do you define as fixed? Well, that's a good question. I'm not imagining even move-inable, but something that doesn't look like a big graffiti stained, ugly eyesore on the skyline. I think it's absolutely terrible. It's sitting there as a billboard announcing that we've got a city in some kind of crisis. It just demonstrates the city is not functioning properly, because it shouldn't have happened in the first place. And when it did happen, it should have been cleaned up immediately. So can it get cleaned up before the Olympics?