An invitation to lunch in the seaside Pacific Palisades neighbourhood always triggered a very Los Angeles series of mental calculations. As a resident of the city’s east side, the thought of how long it would take to drive to the coast and back made it tempting to cancel.
But I always went. Though the trip meant battling hellish crosstown traffic, the last leg delivered everything you could want from Southern California: a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, then a turn on to a steep, twisty road uphill. The ocean air and village setting were always worth it.
Last week, I drove to the Palisades for the first time since fires ignited there on January 7. Inside the sealed-off area, earthmovers are still clearing the remains of destroyed homes and other buildings. On many streets, the only things left standing are fireplaces, walls and staircases.
Amid all this destruction, it was surprising to see that the place I used to have lunch looked largely unchanged. The neat red-brick walkways of the Palisades Village shopping centre are still lined with manicured flower beds, and the storefronts for Lululemon, YSL, Chanel and other upmarket retailers are pristine — except for the metal barriers and guards stationed outside.
I asked Rick Caruso, the billionaire property developer who built Palisades Village, how it had held up so well. “The materials are all fire resistant,” he told me. He used stone, brick and Hardie board — a type of siding that looks like wood but is made of cement, sand and fibres — in the development. He also had the help of privately contracted firefighters.
Caruso spent $100mn running for LA mayor in 2022, and he has made no secret of his disapproval of the way that Karen Bass, a former congresswoman who beat him in the election, handled the fires. Bass faced criticism for being on a trip to Ghana when the fires broke out. Her sacking of the fire chief who publicly disparaged the city’s management of the fire department has also drawn scrutiny.
“I don’t think she’s got the [support] in City Hall or the ability in terms of judgment to make good decisions [about rebuilding fire-damaged areas] on her own,” Caruso says.
Such talk has led to speculation that Caruso, a 66-year-old who switched from the Republican party to the Democrats, will challenge Bass in 2026. (Some think he may run for governor of California instead.)
He has launched Steadfast LA, a group of business and civic leaders that he says will accelerate rebuilding of the Palisades, Altadena, Malibu and Pasadena with more fire-resistant materials. Among its members are well-known Hollywood Democrats, including Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos and his wife, Nicole Avant, who was ambassador to the Bahamas in the Obama administration.
Caruso appears to be tapping into frustration within LA’s wealthy elite at the city’s seeming inability to fix its biggest problems, including homelessness.
With his new initiative, he is arguing that private industry can help the government rebuild homes and other damaged structures more efficiently. He believes it can create a new public-private model for solving LA’s problems.
It is a worthy idea. But what has been lacking in the public discussion is a bigger vision to inspire a demoralised city. Shouldn’t the LA fires — perhaps the costliest natural disaster in US history — prompt a response beyond rebuilding homes with better materials?
In the post-9/11 era, Dan Doctoroff, New York’s deputy mayor, led a series of expansive plans that supported a broad recovery in the city. He left behind a host of successful projects, including the High Line public park.
Some LA residents want their own leaders to ask bigger questions in the wake of the fires. Are there ways to use this moment to address the city’s severe lack of affordable housing? Should LA — a sprawling city of single family homes — consider more housing blocks?
And is this even a time to commit more to public transport that can ease the city’s famously congested traffic? With fewer cars on the road, just imagine how many potentially productive lunch meetings might go uncancelled.
christopher.grimes@ft.com
