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 Our minds catch what's real, and there's psychic income, for lack of a better word, when your eye catches what's real and gives you pleasure.
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What you smell, what you see, what you touch, right?
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And the more real it is, the more...
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 Welcome to the School of Greatness.
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My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
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And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
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Thanks for spending some time with me today.
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Now let the class begin.
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 Did you ever dream that it would be this big?
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That the business would be this big, the impact and your ability to serve would be as large as it is now?
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No, the short answer is no.
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But, you know, listen, first of all, thank you so much for having me, because I'm a big fan of yours.
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So I really appreciate being here.
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I got to tell you, when I started the business, I was a lawyer to start out and I was practicing law and I was doing corporate finance work.
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 And my dream was always to be in some form of real estate.
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I didn't really know what it was.
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And even as a small child, I still remember to this day being with my father like maybe six years old.
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And I would tell my dad, I want to build a building like that, or I'm going to buy a building like that.
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It's just wild.
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 Why real estate?
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I don't know.
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Was there someone you saw who owned real estate or was there, did you watch a TV show or?
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Maybe, I don't know.
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It's just sort of what was in my brain.
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It was my DNA.
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It was how I was made.
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And so it was always in the back of my head.
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And when I was practicing law, I was with a firm that at the time was one of the, I think it was the largest law firm in the United States.
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 I was not a particularly great lawyer, right?
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And it was not a career that I wanted to have my whole life.
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But what happened was is the law firm literally went out of business.
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And the senior partner walked into my office one day, I'd been there for about six years and put a check on my desk and said, I'd highly recommend you go downstairs and cash it because it probably won't clear tomorrow.
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And I went home that night, I had just gotten married.
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 and I said to my dear new wife, still my wife after 37 years, I said, I'm out of a job.
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How old were you?
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I was probably in my early 30s at the time.
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Okay, wow.
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And so we literally went down, we lived in Westwood, we went down to the local McDonald's and we sat there.
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 And I said to Tina, I said, I don't know what I'm going to do.
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I'll go look for another job practicing law.
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And she was the one that said, Rick, you've always loved real estate.
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Go do it.
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 Now's the time to do it.
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Really?
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It was a game changer for me.
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Had you done any real estate?
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Did you own an apartment or a house at that time?
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Well, it's a good question.
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I bought a duplex.
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Before then, or right around then?
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Yeah, I bought a duplex, and the duplex was a test model of some theories I had, all right?
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But at the time, I was the gardener, the painter, and Tina and I did everything together, right?
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You know, because I was this young lawyer.
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I was making good money, but not a lot of money.
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Sure.
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So anyway, I convinced my assistant at the time, Laura,
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 I'm going to go start this company.
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And I did it.
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But what I learned from the duplex is I took it, fixed up the landscaping, because I love landscaping.
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My grandfather was a gardener, so I grew up riding around in his gardening truck.
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There were immigrants from Italy, and he was just this incredible gardener.
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 I fixed it up and I was there one Saturday with the for lease sign trying to get it leased out.
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And there was a unit right across the street for lease.
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And a gentleman was looking at that unit and walked across the street to mine.
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And I had priced mine above the one across the street.
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And he said, why would I spend a couple hundred dollars a month more?
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 And I had beautiful flowers out and all this kind of stuff.
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I said, cause every morning you're going to wake up and grab the paper.
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You're going to look across the street and you're going to wish you lived here.
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And he was a resident for like six years.
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Just a great guy.
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It's good marketing.
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It is.
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But I just, I don't know.
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I just inherently learned.
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 that if you make something nicer, a better experience, if something really has a higher purpose to it, it creates value.
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And that was the premise of starting the company.
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Yeah, you're on the same street, you're across the street, it's the same type of house, same amount of rooms probably, it's wood, it's brick, it's whatever it is, but you add an experience to the front yard and you tell a story.
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 I think that's something that I've experienced, you know, living in one of your buildings and also going to the Grove and other places that you've developed.
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There's a story and an experience to the real estate.
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It's not just, here's a storefront, here's a restaurant.
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It's a journey that you enter into a new world.
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And I think that's a beautiful thing that your mind has developed over the last, I guess, 40 years now in the real estate space, which is really cool.
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 but with an incredible team of people.
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I mean, I can't even take the lion's share of the credit on this.
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The team is amazing, but for me, it started with, and I think with any great company, no different what you do, you have to say, what business am I in?
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Right?
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What business is that for you?
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We're in the business of enriching lives.
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We're in the business of making people happy.
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If I would have,
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 I told everybody that started with my company and is in the company today, we're in the business of building retail centers or we're in the business of building a resort or apartment buildings.
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We would all have blinders on that that's what we're doing every day.
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If we had that premise, we would have never built the Grove.
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Because if you're in the business of building a retail center, why the heck are you putting a trolley?
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 A train runs every day.
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It actually doesn't go anywhere, but it's full every day.
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It goes 100 meters and back or whatever.
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That's it.
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It's 1,600 feet, basically, that it goes every day, right?
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But the purpose of it is to bring people here to enrich their lives, to give them joy, to make them happy, that the child says to the mom, let's go to the Grove today and ride the trolley, and that's a shared experience.
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If it was just about shopping,
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 or dining, yeah, we'd build an indoor mall.
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So that's what's been so fun about my company that I've experienced along with my team and sharing that experience with my team is that mission of enriching lives gives us permission to do things that we would never otherwise be able to do.
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Now, did you know this from the start, I guess, around 40 years ago, or is this, did you make a lot of mistakes the first five to 10 years
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 and then eventually learn this from a mentor or just see this and intuitively say, like, how can we just go to the next level?
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How did you learn about hiring, training, and culture?
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Yeah, that's a great question.
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I'm not sure I have.
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You're still learning it, yeah.
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Constant learning.
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You know,
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 I've made mistakes like everybody all along the way.
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Fortunately, none of them have been fatal, but mistakes all along the way.
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I think the trick of doing that is learning from them.
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I spent a lot of time with my team members over the last 30 some odd years.
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We not only go around the world and look at things that are great, and we really do go around the world and look at things.
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 You'll experience other properties, other... Right.
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Down to what's the height of the curb?
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What's the crown on the street?
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Really?
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Oh, yeah.
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Oh, and it's so much fun.
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The height of the curb on the street.
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Because your eye catches it.
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So if you go to the Grove and then you walk King Street and Charleston, we patterned
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 the dimension of that street off of King Street, which is a really cool street.
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Yeah.
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Interesting.
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Because your eye will catch the pattern of the trees, the rhythm, the rhythm of the lampposts.
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If we built the Grove and it didn't have a crown in the street, like a regular street has, it wouldn't feel like a street.
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It'd feel like a plaza.
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You mean if it was just a flat?
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Flat.
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But it has this crown.
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It has a crown.
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And the trolley goes over that crown, right?
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It's going down the top of the crown.
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Interesting.
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And it's no different that those are real train tracks
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 That's a real trolley that we built from the ground up.
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We used a Disney guy, which is a whole other fun story.
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Because our minds catch what's real.
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And there's psychic income, for lack of a better word, when your eye catches what's real and gives you pleasure.
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What you smell, what you see, what you touch, right?
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And the more real it is, the more organic it is,
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 the more comfortable you are in that space.
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So that's always what drives our design.
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And so we go around the world and we have fun doing it.
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So you're an experiential space designer more than a real estate developer.
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Right.
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Because I want to get people to come someplace and stay.
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Right.
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The original premise of shopping centers was how quickly can you turn the parking lot?
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 If you can turn the parking lot quicker and have people do their shopping quickly.
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You get more people in the door.
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And you have to build less parking.
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It's cheaper.
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Interesting.
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Right.
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So that was a McDonald's model.
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You're right.
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Make the seats in McDonald's a little bit uncomfortable so people don't stay too long.
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As fast as possible.
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There's better turnover.
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Interesting.
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I wanted people staying longer.
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The longer people stay, the more money they'll spend.
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Wow.
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 And that's sort of what drove our designs also.
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So you build a bigger parking garage.
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Yeah.
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You build more parking, but you've got to give people a reason to stay.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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So there's, this is like, I've got to give you a reason to stay at 8,500.
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Exactly.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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And you've got the nice restaurant downstairs.
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You've got the Trader Joe's, so I can just go in the elevator to the grocery store.
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And we can, we'll bring up your food, we'll go grocery shopping for you.
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 Oh, really?
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I didn't know that.
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I'm going to have to start doing that part.
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We will do that.
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Oh, the one thing that I forgot, I should have read all the details early on because they gave me the package that told me the whole thing, but I forgot that the Caruso card gives me free valet to the grow.
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Absolutely.
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 I didn't realize until about six months in, I was like, oh man, you gotta use it.
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And I think it helps you out at Merrimar too.
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I think we got special benefits from Merrimar.
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Yeah, so you add all those benefits to that, which is really cool.
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I'm curious, I mean, what made you think this way?
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How does your mind come up with these things of like, I want the curb to be a certain height, and I want the road to be a certain curvature, and I want the sights, the smells, like, how did you come up with that?
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Is that something you had when you were making this duplex?
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Or was it just over time you said, how can I continue to innovate?
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 and evolve this brand.
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If I can just like bounce back for a minute.
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Give it to me, yeah.
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I was really lucky that when I went into real estate, I had no idea what I was doing.
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And had I known the rules, I would have never been able to have the courage to break the rules to do something else.
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There's a permission structure that you have with
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 You know, frankly, trying something new and getting over your skis.
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Right.
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So I was building things that I enjoyed, that I would go to, you know, and being of Italian descent, it was about being in the piazzas.
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It was about being around people.
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It was about smelling the food of the restaurants, watching everybody enjoying life.
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Right.
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 And so I wanted to create that.
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And if you look at each one of my properties, it starts with sort of pretty modest open space, and each property evolves.
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I've learned from it.
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With more open space.
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With more and more and more.
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There's a place in Glendale that I've been to a few times, right?
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The Americana.
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It's got more open space.
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Right, it's got a bigger park, almost two acres.
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Interesting.
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Yeah.
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And that came after you built the Grove, right?
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That's right, that's right.
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Interesting.
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So what does more open space do for you?
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 You know, there's more sunlight, there's more fresh air for people, there's more programming that we can do in the parks.
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Music and activities.
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Mommy and me's in the morning and yoga in the morning and all these kind of things.
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And frankly, it's just pretty.
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I like building things that are nice and pretty and enjoyable, right?
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 Because again, if my mission is to enrich your life, I want you to go there and feel enriched.
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And if I have beautiful lawn and beautiful flowers and beautiful trees and you're watching the sunset and you're having a glass of wine and you're with somebody you care about, your family or your friends,
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 That's a beautiful day.
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How about that?
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But when you're starting, I think the grow is what, 20 years now?
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Yeah, 20 years.
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But when you're starting in that and you're either raising the money or it's your money and you know you're paying a premium on an experience,
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 where you could have done it for, I don't know, 30% less or whatever, 40% less, if you didn't have all of the trolleys and trains and, you know, the certain dimensions of everything, like you could have done it for way less without the high quality service and all these different things.
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 How do you know you're going to return a profit and stay profitable when it might take years until you start seeing that return?
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I didn't know.
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Really?
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I didn't know.
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But I learned along the way, right?
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With each project, I learned more.
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 As the company grew, I was really lucky that I hired really talented people that were incredibly passionate.
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A couple of rules I had on outside consultants, I never hired an architect that designed shopping centers.
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Never?
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No, because I don't want a shopping center.
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Who, what type of people did you hire?
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People that did downtowns, people that did streetscape, right?
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I hired landscapers, one of the all-time greats, a guy named Don Brinkerhoff.
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 He did resorts.
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Because if you hire a landscape architect with all due respect to the shopping centers...
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 You got a little tree and you got a little plant and you don't have big lawns and you don't have fountains.
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And then wet design, I got inspired by Bellagio.
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The fountains are so cool.
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The fountain, same company, that's wet design.
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Can you take Bellagio in Vegas and miniaturize it?
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How do we do that, right?
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Interesting.
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And so just surrounding myself with people that challenge me, push me, but the numbers, I never lost sleep over the numbers.
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Really?
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Yeah.
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 Maybe it's because I was sort of naive or blind, but I always had confidence that people were going to come and enjoy the place.
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If I just got them to enjoy the place, they'll end up shopping and dining.
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It was never about, am I getting them into the store?
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I wanted to get them to the front door.
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 and then the store's gonna convert them inside, right?
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And I don't know, it's been an incredible journey.
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I can't explain it.
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I don't have a set of rules necessarily.
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I have thoughts about how to do it looking back.
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You sort of fill in the blanks.
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But God, I was really just blessed with talented people around me.
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That inspired me.
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I mean, Walt Disney inspired me, no doubt.
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He inspired me on operations.
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 You go to Disneyland, it's so operationally nice.
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It's clean, it's pristine, the landscaping, all the little details.
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The fact that he designed all the buildings, I think it's in seven eighths scale.
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So the buildings are not full size.
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They sort of look full size, but they're a little smaller to get more storefronts lined up, to get a rhythm and a pace as you're walking along.
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 which I thought was cool.
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And like I mentioned, we hired a gentleman that was retired, George McGuinness, who was the last Imagineer actually hired by Walt Disney himself to do the trolley.
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It was an amazing experience.
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 But I mean, the trolley alone must have cost a fortune.
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The Bellagio style water fountain experience must have cost... I mean, over Christmas, there's like a Santa Claus with snow coming out.
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It's like this whole these things must have cost so much more.
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It did.
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How did you, I mean...
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 When I ran numbers, I was just, when I ran numbers, there were a lot of assumptions, right?
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I ran numbers.
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But again, think about it this way too.
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And we do build something that's more expensive than your typical mall or whatnot.
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What I wasn't building is a roof.
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Instead of a roof, I'm putting in a lawn.
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What I wasn't building are escalators.
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Instead of escalators, I was putting in fountains.
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 I wasn't putting in air conditioning in big common space.
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I was putting in a train.
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Interesting.
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Right?
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Because it's all outdoors.
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Right.
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And the outdoor nature of it was driven by the fact that human nature, we want to be outside.
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Yes.
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It's unnatural for us to always be inside.
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Right?
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Right.
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So why force somebody inside a box to go shop?
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Let's enjoy the outdoors.
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And people say, well, you can do that in Southern California.
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You can't do it anywhere else.
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It's just not true.
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 In Columbus, Ohio, we were just talking about, there's a decent town center that has an outdoor experience.
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They've done a great job where it's half indoor, half outdoor.
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So in the cold months, you can do it indoors.
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What was the big first financial success that you had?
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Was there a business deal you did?
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Was there a building that was like, OK, now
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 I'm not just have this little duplex with some flowers outside, but, oh, this is like a thing that I can build.
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What was that?
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It was an evolution, but I think, you know, where I knew it was going to really work was the project I did in Encino at the corner of Ventura and Havenhurst.
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It was a, you know, relatively modest outdoor shopping center.
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There was a supermarket and stores.
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There was a Barnes and Noble there.
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It became very much of a community center ground, a little bit bigger common area.
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Not a lot.
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 Is this pre-Grove?
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Oh yeah, this is pre-Grove.
0
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This was number two.
0
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It was the second thing I built.
0
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And a lot of different pieces came together.
0
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And I knew there was a formula here that I could build off of and ramp up.
0
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But listen, it's sort of an evolution.
0
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 You fast forward to Miramar and I'd never built a hotel.
0
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And what the hell am I doing building a hotel?
0
SPEAKER_01
I hear it's amazing, I ought to go check it out.
0
SPEAKER_01
My team did an incredible job.
0
SPEAKER_01
I mean, we were right on the beach in Montecito.
0
SPEAKER_01
 And we have a railroad running through it.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's right.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's that hotel that goes through that?
0
SPEAKER_02
Oh my gosh.
0
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Because there's a train that goes up the beach.
0
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Through the actual hotel?
0
SPEAKER_01
I mean, no, it's running down the middle of the grounds.
0
SPEAKER_01
That's crazy.
0
SPEAKER_01
It was crazy.
0
SPEAKER_01
It was like the craziest thing in the world.
0
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And my dad at the time, who was alive at the time,
0
SPEAKER_01
 who is my dearest friend, I loved him.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he wasn't involved in my business, but he said, Rick, you're nuts.
0
SPEAKER_01
How are you gonna build a five-star hotel with a train running down the middle?
0
SPEAKER_01
How loud it is and all those things.
0
SPEAKER_01
How did you do it?
0
SPEAKER_01
I have a rule.
0
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Every piece of property has an issue.
0
SPEAKER_01
You can either isolate the issue or celebrate the issue.
0
SPEAKER_01
I chose to celebrate it.
0
SPEAKER_01
And so we designed it where that train now, as it runs,
0
SPEAKER_01
 There's a great outdoor bar.
0
SPEAKER_01
You look in one direction, you're on the ocean.
0
SPEAKER_01
The other direction, you're looking at the mountains.
0
SPEAKER_01
As the train is coming along at the same exact grade that you're sitting there, nobody ever sits along a train, right?
0
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So it's cool.
0
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We put a $200 bell at the bar.
0
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The bartender starts ringing the bell when they hear the train coming and everybody starts cheering.
0
SPEAKER_01
It's an entertainment.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now it's the thing where everybody says, what's the schedule of the train?
0
SPEAKER_01
 Come on.
0
SPEAKER_01
It's crazy.
0
SPEAKER_01
You gotta go up there and see it.
0
SPEAKER_01
How often is the train going by?
0
SPEAKER_01
Now I did lose some sleep on that one.
0
SPEAKER_01
I can imagine.
0
SPEAKER_01
Do people lose sleep when the train goes by?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, because we actually built the rooms near the train on shock absorbers.
0
SPEAKER_01
So you never feel the vibration.
0
SPEAKER_01
Come on.
0
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I'm serious.
0
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Right on the beach.
0
SPEAKER_01
That is cool.
0
SPEAKER_02
It's right on the beach.
0
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So you've got a view of the beach, the ocean, and you get to see the trains.
0
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And you see the train.
0
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And the kids love it.
0
SPEAKER_01
The families love it.
0
SPEAKER_01
That's pretty cool.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's inspiring.
0
SPEAKER_02
Who was the most influential mentor
0
SPEAKER_02
 Growing up.
0
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Yeah for you.
0
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And what was the biggest lesson they taught you and then also The most influential person in your business career and what did they teach you to two answers?
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay Well, the most influential person was my dad, you know, he was just an amazing guy and he was a brilliant businessman and marketing guy so he was just creative and and
0
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 You know, he was a guy that was a very, very large car dealer when he was young.
0
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You know, famous at the time.
0
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I think he was the largest car dealer in the country and he was about 30 years old.
0
SPEAKER_01
 It's amazing.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it was all about how we marketed and whatnot.
0
SPEAKER_01
And then he lost everything and he got into trouble.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he actually, which is something we never really talked about much until he was literally in his eight eighties, he actually went to jail, lost everything.
0
SPEAKER_02
Really?
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it, you know, people say, you know, do you believe in second chances?
0
SPEAKER_01
I lived with a man that got a second chance.
0
SPEAKER_01
 lifted up by his own strength in his bootstraps.
0
SPEAKER_01
This was a guy that was the son of immigrants, so the shame, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
The pride of an Italian family.
0
SPEAKER_01
But anyway, he came back and he started a company called Dollar Rent-A-Car and it became a global company.
0
SPEAKER_01
And so I'm a big believer that as a father or a mother, more is caught than taught.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I caught so much from watching him and growing up with him.
0
SPEAKER_01
 and the hard work and integrity and just not giving up.
0
SPEAKER_01
This was a guy that had to build himself back.
0
SPEAKER_01
So he was inspiring to me in so many great ways and we had a lot of fun together, even though, like when I was building the Grove, he said, you're nuts again.
0
SPEAKER_01
He said, what are you doing this for?
0
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You're in the middle of Fairfax.
0
SPEAKER_01
Nobody goes to Fairfax anymore, which was true at the time.
0
SPEAKER_01
It was 20 years or 25 years ago, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
It was 20 years ago.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it started probably 23 years ago.
0
SPEAKER_02
 But that's also an opportunity that the land might have been cheaper at the time if no one's going there.
0
SPEAKER_02
So there's opportunity There's challenges.
0
SPEAKER_01
There's all sorts of stuff and it was also goes back to the rule.
0
SPEAKER_01
I didn't know what I was doing, right?
0
SPEAKER_02
It's gonna be a blessing or you're gonna fail miserably.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you're right.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, you're right I was really lucky so fortunate in so many ways it and I'm a big believer in this one passage which I actually have at the Miramar and
0
SPEAKER_01
 from the Bible that says, dear Lord, you've given me so much, please give me a grateful heart.
0
SPEAKER_01
Because every day you gotta wake up, at least I do, with a grateful heart.
0
SPEAKER_01
This isn't all about hard work and wisdom and intellect, it's about a lot of good luck and you have to be grateful.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yes, okay, so that's your growing up, your dad.
0
SPEAKER_01
You know, Disney was a big influencer in my life.
0
SPEAKER_01
When did Disney pass?
0
SPEAKER_01
 Disney passed when I was a really young kid.
0
SPEAKER_01
I forget the year.
0
SPEAKER_02
I feel like five or seven or something.
0
SPEAKER_01
I was probably about that age.
0
SPEAKER_01
I remember listening to it on TV as a kid, and I think like everybody, brokenhearted.
0
SPEAKER_01
And again, Disney, and I read a lot about him, was influential to me because his core talent was a cartoonist.
0
SPEAKER_01
That's what he did.
0
SPEAKER_01
And if he would have just stayed a cartoonist, none of us would have ever known or remembered Walt Disney.
0
SPEAKER_01
 And then he became a really good manager, starting the Walt Disney Company, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
But if he just was a great technician as a cartoonist and a great manager, we still wouldn't remember the guy.
0
SPEAKER_01
What he combined was an incredible vision that he was passionate about and actually had the courage to execute against all odds.
0
SPEAKER_01
And that's what really inspired me, because so many of us can be good technicians and good managers, and we can have a really cool vision,
0
SPEAKER_01
 but not necessarily have the courage or the ability, you know, to go say, I'm going to go do this.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he was constantly failing.
0
SPEAKER_01
Right.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he just never gave up.
0
SPEAKER_01
He just stuck to his vision.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I mean, look what's been created today.
0
SPEAKER_01
It's unbelievable.
0
SPEAKER_01
So he really inspired me, but I, I watch a lot of people and I do this thing where I will randomly call people that inspire me.
0
SPEAKER_01
 no matter what industry they're in, and I'll reach out to them and say, you know, my name is Rick Caruso, you don't know me, I have no agenda at all, I would just like to grab a cup of coffee and hear about how you're doing, what you're doing, and how you're successful.
0
SPEAKER_01
And just try to learn.
0
SPEAKER_02
 what's the most fascinating conversation you've had with someone you've reached out to, randomly, that you still remember today?
0
SPEAKER_02
I'm sure there's a lot of things, but what's the first couple things that stand out, and who were they, if you're allowed to share?
0
SPEAKER_02
And what lesson do they share with you?
0
SPEAKER_01
You know, there were so many of them, so I don't wanna- Of course, of course, yes.
0
SPEAKER_01
They're all great.
0
SPEAKER_01
They're all great.
0
SPEAKER_01
But what came to your mind?
0
SPEAKER_01
You know, one of the guys, and he continues to inspire me, is Brian Grazer.
0
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 The filmmaker.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he's great.
0
SPEAKER_02
I've had him on the show.
0
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He's amazing.
0
SPEAKER_01
He's amazing.
0
SPEAKER_02
He's brilliant.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he knows everyone.
0
SPEAKER_01
He knows everybody.
0
SPEAKER_01
He knows everyone.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I just cold called him.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he took the call.
0
SPEAKER_01
And we went and we grabbed lunch and we've become friends since.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I just sat and listened to him.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I was so taken by what he calls his curiosity.
0
SPEAKER_01
Just keep being curious in life.
0
SPEAKER_01
And then from that, I reached out to Ron Howard.
0
SPEAKER_01
There you go.
0
SPEAKER_01
Because in so many ways,
0
SPEAKER_01
 different but in the same business I'm in.
0
SPEAKER_01
They've got to make something, create something that people literally have to get up and go do.
0
SPEAKER_01
You've got to go to the movie.
0
SPEAKER_01
And so you've got to make it entertaining.
0
SPEAKER_01
And you don't know if you're successful until opening day.
0
SPEAKER_01
Right.
0
SPEAKER_01
Scary.
0
SPEAKER_01
It's scary opening day.
0
SPEAKER_01
 Opening day at the Grove, it was like, okay, he's going to show up.
0
SPEAKER_01
Please someone buy something.
0
SPEAKER_01
But I just learned so much from Brian and he's such a dear guy and smart guy.
0
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And I just love that idea of staying curious in life because I think all of us can become complacent, you know, or
0
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 I think it's death when you start thinking I know all the answers because you never do.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he also was telling me about a funny little thing that he does when he goes to people's homes.
0
SPEAKER_01
He'll take a picture of himself framed.
0
SPEAKER_01
 And when his hosts are not looking, he'll leave it in like their collage.
0
SPEAKER_01
Really?
0
SPEAKER_01
Collage of family pictures.
0
SPEAKER_01
I just think that's one of the most genius things to do.
0
SPEAKER_01
That's funny.
0
SPEAKER_01
That one morning.
0
SPEAKER_01
You're always gonna remember seeing that.
0
SPEAKER_01
Maybe six months later, you realize, why is Brian's picture here on the piano with my kids?
0
SPEAKER_02
But it gives you a reason to think about him, to call him, to say, this was a great thing.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it's just fun.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it's fun.
0
SPEAKER_02
It's just fun.
0
SPEAKER_02
So anyway, that's one of my.
0
SPEAKER_02
What's something that, you know, you're,
0
SPEAKER_02
 You're a public figure more and more now, obviously, but what's something that you are really proud of that most people don't know about?
0
SPEAKER_01
I'm most proud of my family.
0
SPEAKER_01
My kids are absolutely incredible.
0
SPEAKER_01
Tina and I, we have four kids, three sons and a daughter, and each one of them is as good as they can be.
0
SPEAKER_01
They have big, kind hearts, and they're humble, and they're sincere, and they work hard.
0
SPEAKER_01
They're grateful.
0
SPEAKER_01
They've been given a lot.
0
SPEAKER_01
 They're on the campaign trail with me.
0
SPEAKER_01
Two of them were with me today, Alex and Justin down on Skid Row.
0
SPEAKER_01
We walked Skid Row together and just saw the, you know, the incredible inhumanity that's going on down there.
0
SPEAKER_01
But they're just amazing people.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And I'm inspired by them every day.
1
SPEAKER_00
I really am.
1
SPEAKER_02
I really am.
1
SPEAKER_02
Your wife's Tina, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
37 years?
1
SPEAKER_02
38 years?
1
SPEAKER_02
I'm curious.
1
SPEAKER_02
I always like to ask questions about marriage and relationships to really successful men who have been successful for decades because I feel like…
1
SPEAKER_02
 There's a lot of wisdom that you have.
1
SPEAKER_02
I'm not married yet, but I know that there's very few people who have a fulfilling life without a long-term committed relationship.
1
SPEAKER_02
They might make a lot of money, but not be fulfilled.
1
SPEAKER_02
And you look like you have a lot of peace in your heart, which is probably hard to do on the campaign trail.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's probably, you're like five events a day, seven days a week, you're going through all of it, but it looks like you have a lot of peace in your heart.
1
SPEAKER_02
Thank you for saying that, I do.
1
SPEAKER_02
 I'm curious, this may be a question that no one asks you, but I'm curious what has been the keys to having a long-lasting, healthy, thriving relationship?
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, it's a great question.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't know if I know all the answers other than I would say you marry well.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, who you marry really does matter.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I think alignment on what's important in life, what your values are, alignment on values,
1
SPEAKER_00
 and what your hopes are in life.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tina and I never talked about what we wanted to create in terms of a business or wealth.
1
SPEAKER_00
That was never a priority.
1
SPEAKER_00
Before you got married, you didn't talk about that?
1
SPEAKER_00
No, because it wasn't a priority.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was, we want to raise a beautiful family.
1
SPEAKER_00
We want to have
1
SPEAKER_00
 kids and we want to stay close to them our whole life and we want to have a big family and all these kind of things.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I think it's alignment of values.
1
SPEAKER_00
I also do believe that you have to have this commitment that you're going to work things out because it's not always perfect.
1
SPEAKER_00
Nothing in life is always perfect and I'm certainly imperfect and I don't think I'm the easiest person to live with at times.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And so you both have to be forgiving.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I think forgiveness is really important.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not talking about, you know, cheating on your wife and stuff like that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm just talking about, you're in a bad mood one day or.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right, letting stuff go.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then I think you always, I believe, and I know Tina has done this for me in incredible ways, especially now being on the campaign trail.
1
SPEAKER_00
You've always gotta be there for the other.
1
SPEAKER_00
And show up,
1
SPEAKER_00
 Exactly sort of where they need to be at that time without judgment and you know this campaign has been really interesting for me and the family and for Tina because When you meet Tina and I would love to have you meet her I love to she is the kindest sweetest dearest human being in the face of the earth how I ended up with her I have no idea but
1
SPEAKER_00
 She's also very private.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's very protective of her family as, you know, all moms are.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you're out there in the public now.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now we're even more public.
1
SPEAKER_00
We used to be public.
1
SPEAKER_00
Sure, sure.
1
SPEAKER_00
Over the grove, all this kind of stuff.
1
SPEAKER_00
But now you're more public.
1
SPEAKER_00
You're exposing the family, exposing the kids.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's not something she ever bargained for or would ever want.
1
SPEAKER_00
But like me, she loves the city.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
We raised our family here, started our business here.
1
SPEAKER_00
We owe the city so much.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And so jointly we made a decision, let's go do this to try to save the city, not save it, help the city.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't want to overstate it.
1
SPEAKER_00
And all the kids were part of that decision too, because it's a shared experience.
1
SPEAKER_00
One serves, everybody serves, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I just found that so incredibly generous of her to sacrifice a big part of her life, which was just the privacy of being with your family and their security.
1
SPEAKER_00
 to do what was really important for her husband.
1
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_00
And what's the thing you love about Tina the most?
1
SPEAKER_00
Probably that she forgives me a lot.
1
SPEAKER_00
Every day there's something I forget about.
1
SPEAKER_00
 I don't know.
1
SPEAKER_00
It sounds so crazy and canned.
1
SPEAKER_00
I love her more every day.
1
SPEAKER_00
We talked today.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's in New York with my daughter in Fashion Week.
1
SPEAKER_00
They started a company together.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's so incredible for me to watch.
1
SPEAKER_00
They are best friends, which is really cool.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I pop back there to spend a day with them in New York because they've been gone 10 days and I miss both of them.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And, you know, she's just good.
1
SPEAKER_02
She's just good.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's a good person.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, there's nothing fancy.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's the most low key, humble, modest human being in the world.
1
SPEAKER_02
How, I mean, how did you, you're a driven human being, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
You don't build the business you've built in the real estate space in Los Angeles, the way you've built it without having focus, drive and consistent dedication.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And you're all you're also in a healthy marriage It seems like which is amazing after 37 years and you have four kids that that seem like they still love you And they're not they don't hate you right and they're working with you and they're thriving How did you how do you manage to?
1
SPEAKER_02
raise good kids with
1
SPEAKER_02
 you know, the success and the wealth and the things like without raising entitled children, I guess.
1
SPEAKER_02
How do you learn how to do that?
1
SPEAKER_02
I'm asking this for me, for my future, because I want to have a healthy marriage.
1
SPEAKER_02
I want to look as good as you.
1
SPEAKER_02
I want to... I wish I looked as good as you.
1
SPEAKER_02
I gotta tell you, you won the award on that.
1
SPEAKER_02
I want to be able to build the business of my dreams that impacts lives and be able to raise children that are healthy, good human beings that aren't.
1
SPEAKER_02
 you know, entitled to the world.
1
SPEAKER_02
How did you do that with your success and your, you know?
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, first of all, you're going to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I can tell you that you're going to do it because you're asking the questions and the questions come out with sincerity and passion.
1
SPEAKER_00
So that means that's going to be your priority.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
I learned from my grandparents and my parents.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was so simple.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, I think especially when there's immigrant roots, there's a lot of simplicity because life is a little bit extra tough.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And I learned that you have really simple priorities.
1
SPEAKER_00
Priority number one is your faith, whatever your faith may be.
1
SPEAKER_00
Priority number two is always your family.
1
SPEAKER_00
Priority number three were my friends and then community.
1
SPEAKER_00
In those priorities, you don't hear me say work because work is a duty.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's something you need to go do, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
 But if you're true to your faith, if you're true to your family, if you're true to your friends, if you're true to your community and give back to your community, for me, it always helped organize my day.
1
SPEAKER_00
It helped organize my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so people may not believe this, but in the midst of building this company, I drove my kids to school every single morning.
1
SPEAKER_00
Every single morning.
1
SPEAKER_00
 because that's the priority.
1
SPEAKER_00
Everything was organized around it, whether I'm working out, whether I'm going to a meeting, and I did carpool.
1
SPEAKER_00
I picked up the neighbors.
1
SPEAKER_00
I tortured my kids by singing to them in the morning.
1
SPEAKER_00
I've got the worst voice in the world, even though my name's Caruso.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, it was that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I didn't always make dinner when they had dinner, but I was always home at night.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was maybe a little bit after dinner, but then we always had Sunday night dinners, the whole family, the cousins, the uncles, the aunts.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And so I think it's those kind of things that are just basic.
1
SPEAKER_00
And again, I would always tell my kids, I'm going to give you roots and wings.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm going to be your best friend or your worst enemy.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm always going to be here for you no matter what.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tina was an incredible mom.
1
SPEAKER_00
 in raising them.
1
SPEAKER_00
The charities that we've been involved with for the last 30 years, every one of our children to this day work there, down on Skid Row, Parla's, Nino's, Operation Progress.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so they've grown up, just like today, walking Skid Row and being emotional about it, seeing people really suffering, really.
1
SPEAKER_00
And my kids have been on Skid Row before, but we haven't been down there a couple of years because of COVID.
1
SPEAKER_00
 really affected them.
1
SPEAKER_00
But that's a really positive thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that they wake up with that grateful heart.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we talk about it a lot.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then a lot of it, honestly, is just
1
SPEAKER_00
 really being blessed because there's a lot of great parents and sometimes things don't always go right, so you gotta realize that good fortune plays a role in blessing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think I read, correct me if I'm wrong, that you or your businesses have donated and given back over $100 million or maybe $130, somewhere around that range into charities over the last 30 years, which I think is so important for people to hear about because I've been involved in
1
SPEAKER_02
 Charity and giving back for ten years not on that scale.
1
SPEAKER_02
But every year I try to give what I can't give more right to the causes that are meaningful to me and I can't Donate to every cause but I can get to a few key causes that I really speak to my heart, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
It's smart.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's the right way to do it.
1
SPEAKER_02
Good for you Why did you get involved in?
1
SPEAKER_02
 Service of not only your time and community service, but also giving up money within the last 30 years Why was that something meaningful to you?
1
SPEAKER_02
And why do you think it's important for everyone to think about how they can be of service?
1
SPEAKER_02
Once they have a baseline of taking care of their own needs.
1
SPEAKER_02
That's right.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now that it really well said I was raised where
1
SPEAKER_00
 You only need so much and then after that, give back to others that need more.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think we're all in this experience together of whether you're living in the city or whatever, it's a shared experience.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it doesn't matter how much you have.
1
SPEAKER_00
I saw that with my grandparents who had so little, they were so modest.
1
SPEAKER_00
 But everybody was welcome to dinner.
1
SPEAKER_00
There was always enough food somehow, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
The neighbors would come over, whatever.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that really helped inform me.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then there was a really important turning point in my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
At 26, Tom Bradley asked me to serve him when he was mayor.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tom Bradley Airport?
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SPEAKER_00
Top Tom Bradley Airport, the mayor.
1
SPEAKER_02
Where we going?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
The mayor back there, that's right.
1
SPEAKER_00
 He asked me to be a commissioner at 26, which was crazy.
1
SPEAKER_00
But he introduced me to a lady I was actually with last night called Sweet Alice.
1
SPEAKER_00
And Sweet Alice is now 89 years old.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's been in the Watts community for almost 60 years, serving kids.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we sat on her porch, and Alice and I have been friends now for 40 years.
1
SPEAKER_00
And seeing families and kids that are at or below the poverty line,
1
SPEAKER_00
 and how difficult life can be.
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SPEAKER_00
Food on the table, education, healthcare.
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SPEAKER_02
Having one missing parent potentially, whatever it might be.
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SPEAKER_00
Right, safety.
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SPEAKER_00
And so Tina and I just said early on, we're going to focus on children.
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SPEAKER_00
 and families that are at or below the poverty line to help.
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SPEAKER_00
And that's what's driven us.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's cool.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's really cool.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's really cool.
1
SPEAKER_02
Why do you think it's important for people to be of service and to give back in general?
1
SPEAKER_02
And besides just the good deed of doing it, how did it support you in your business by giving back consistently?
1
SPEAKER_00
 Well, for me, and I think for everybody, it feeds your soul.
1
SPEAKER_00
I really do believe that we're all here to serve others.
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SPEAKER_00
We have a duty to serve others.
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SPEAKER_00
It's the right way to live your life.
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SPEAKER_00
But I don't know, I think every business and every human being should have a higher purpose.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't want to just, this is a terrible thing to probably think about.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think you have to protect your obituary.
1
SPEAKER_00
Wow, that's powerful.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because some people live really incredible lives in terms of success, but that's not what I want my obituary written about.
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you want it to say?
1
SPEAKER_00
He was a good dad, a good father, good husband, made his parents proud, and gave back to his community, and made other people's lives a little bit better along the way.
1
SPEAKER_00
 How cool would that be?
1
SPEAKER_02
It'd be very cool.
1
SPEAKER_00
The rest of it is makeup stuff.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
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SPEAKER_00
It's just makeup stuff.
1
SPEAKER_00
How often do you- And it's just the fuel to really do something that's more important.
1
SPEAKER_02
Right, right.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, there's a, I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that there's a country called Bhutan that in the country, the community, the society thinks about their death five times a day.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don't know if this is 100% true, but this is the story I've been told.
1
SPEAKER_02
 They think about their death five times a day to remind them of what's important right now and to live right now in gratitude To let go of things that don't matter to let go of grudges things like that Do you think about your death or your obituary often or is it more of a once in a while?
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SPEAKER_00
You think about I think it's more once in a while.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, I'm not consumed by it.
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SPEAKER_00
But yeah, it's something that
1
SPEAKER_00
 I think we all should.
1
SPEAKER_00
I do think that at the end of my life, whenever that is, as I'm sitting there, I wanna be able to look back and be proud of my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I try to do things that would make me proud, my kids proud.
1
SPEAKER_00
I want my kids to be proud of me, my wife to be proud of me, my friends, things like that.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it's more of a personal thing also.
1
SPEAKER_00
I wanna be proud of myself.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Otherwise, I think to your point, you don't have that sense of satisfaction.
1
SPEAKER_00
And life is complicated and tough.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's never perfect.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And so I like to know that I've got a reservoir of sort of goodwill, for lack of a better word, because you're always gonna fall down and you're gonna need to pick yourself up and move forward.
1
SPEAKER_00
And if you feel good about your life and good about yourself, it's much easier to do.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's easier to pick yourself up.
1
SPEAKER_02
Why, you know, on the internet, it says you're a billionaire, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
You're on the billionaire list.
1
SPEAKER_02
You've got one of the biggest privately held real estate companies in the United States.
1
SPEAKER_02
 You're making people happy every day.
1
SPEAKER_02
You're enriching lives and making people happy.
1
SPEAKER_02
You've got this thriving business.
1
SPEAKER_02
You've got your children who are older and they're happy.
1
SPEAKER_02
You're happily married.
1
SPEAKER_02
Why?
1
SPEAKER_02
 do what is arguably one of the hardest things to do, which is run for public office and really wanting to be the mayor of Los Angeles, one of the biggest cities in the country and in the world.
1
SPEAKER_02
Why put yourself through this experience when life is good already?
1
SPEAKER_02
 Knowing that when you take this on that there's going to be obstacles challenges adversities Your family is going to be getting involved in potentially miss messy things from other people attacking you.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah and long hours hard things to change why
1
SPEAKER_00
 Why now?
1
SPEAKER_00
Why this?
1
SPEAKER_00
It's a great question.
1
SPEAKER_00
I have a history of service to the city.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like I said, starting with Tom Bradley, I served under three mayors, Tom Bradley and Dick Reardon and Jim Hahn.
1
SPEAKER_00
I've been doing it for 40 years, not for pay, not for applause, just because I think giving back to your community is important, like we talked about.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I do love government service.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think it's an honorable service.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And it's the city that I love.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's the city that's my home.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's the city where I was born and raised.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's the city where I got married and raised my kids and all my kids live here.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it's a city that's in trouble.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I believe that if you're given the ability or given a gift to help others, go do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
 what higher form of giving back could I ever be blessed to have than to go serve the city that I love?
1
SPEAKER_00
It sounds corny, but it's true.
1
SPEAKER_00
And this city has given me everything, everything.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I don't want a political career.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't want to go for an office after this.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not looking for that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I'm looking to go serve the city like I've done before.
1
SPEAKER_00
 work really hard, do the best I can, have only one allegiance, serve the residents of Los Angeles, not worry about any special interest.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not obligated to anybody.
1
SPEAKER_00
I just want to wake up and do what's best for the city of Los Angeles.
1
SPEAKER_00
 The problems we're having today can be fixed.
1
SPEAKER_00
Really?
1
SPEAKER_02
What are the three biggest problems we have?
1
SPEAKER_02
I feel like the homelessness is number one.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, we see it everywhere.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Homeless number one.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
It is an actual result of a failure of leadership in this city.
1
SPEAKER_00
And don't even get me started.
1
SPEAKER_00
44,000 people living and dying on the streets.
1
SPEAKER_00
44,000 homeless.
1
SPEAKER_00
Just in LA city.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's bigger than the city I grew up in.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's bigger than 90% of the cities in the United States.
1
SPEAKER_02
 44,000, it's bigger than 90% of the cities in the US.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you talk to the people that are doing incredible work, the nonprofits on Skid Row, like I was with today, walking the streets, they will tell you it's absolutely fixable.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's been the lack of strength and courage and the will to solve the problems.
1
SPEAKER_00
 I know it can be solved.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's what excites me.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you say, why are you doing this?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because you know there's a solution.
1
SPEAKER_00
I know there's a solution and we'll find a solution.
1
SPEAKER_00
Everybody always told me, you can never build the Grove.
1
SPEAKER_00
You can never compete with all these big people.
1
SPEAKER_00
I built my company with no outside investors.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, you can't do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And people now telling me what I can't do as mayor actually excites me more, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
 So you got homeless is number one.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's fixable.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's inhumane what we have allowed in the city to have this many people on the streets.
1
SPEAKER_00
Number two is crime.
1
SPEAKER_00
Crime is running rampant.
1
SPEAKER_00
How big is crime right now in LA?
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, we're on a 15 year high of homicides.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's nothing to be proud of, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, look at what happened this last weekend.
1
SPEAKER_00
Two young kids in Lincoln Heights, teenagers were killed.
1
SPEAKER_00
A guy last night, I think it was in Hollywood was killed.
1
SPEAKER_00
The rapper was killed while he's having lunch.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, this is crazy.
1
SPEAKER_00
And
1
SPEAKER_00
 People are worried today in the city.
1
SPEAKER_00
They're worried about going out at night.
1
SPEAKER_00
They're worried about wearing jewelry.
1
SPEAKER_00
They're worried about their home getting broken into.
1
SPEAKER_00
They're worried about their kids going for a walk down to the park.
1
SPEAKER_00
We need a more livable city.
1
SPEAKER_00
So we have to prevent crime and we have to actually hold people accountable.
1
SPEAKER_00
We have to be respectful.
1
SPEAKER_00
We have to serve the community, do it in all the right ways, but we can't allow crime to just continue.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And then the thing that really bothers me is corruption, because public service should be about service for others.
1
SPEAKER_00
Not for themselves.
1
SPEAKER_00
Not for themselves.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's why you're getting into it, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
That's why I'm getting into it.
1
SPEAKER_00
We've had three council members let out of their office in handcuffs.
1
SPEAKER_00
One's gone to jail, one's about to go to court.
1
SPEAKER_00
City attorney's office was raided.
1
SPEAKER_00
One of the senior city attorneys pled guilty.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Got the mayor's office that's constantly in some kind of corruption.
1
SPEAKER_00
Today, we got a member of the Board of Supervisors home-raided this morning at 7.30 in the morning.
1
SPEAKER_00
Alleged corruption charges.
1
SPEAKER_00
The Karen Bass, who I'm running against, is now named as a critical or the center of a federal investigation.
1
SPEAKER_00
 How do you allow this?
1
SPEAKER_00
And so those kinds of things, I just want to bring the city back to center.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let's make it a little bit nicer, cleaner, better life for everybody, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
What would be the first, in the first 90 days when you're mayor, what'll be the first three action steps you take to support those main issues that we have?
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know, I,
1
SPEAKER_00
 I would call it a state of emergency on homelessness.
1
SPEAKER_00
Take the authority to solve that problem in the mayor's office.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right now it's diffused between 15 council offices.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's like in your business.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you had 15 different people telling- Can't get anything done.
1
SPEAKER_00
Can't get anything done.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's why nothing's getting done.
1
SPEAKER_00
One of the reasons why.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do that, start building shelter beds, get people off the street, get them safe, give them the services they need with dignity and humanity and care.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was seeing that today down there.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was incredible to watch.
1
SPEAKER_00
 and then start building housing to make it more affordable in the city, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
We want young people to buy a place, to buy a condo, to buy a home, to raise a family here, businesses to come back, create jobs.
1
SPEAKER_02
I wish we knew a real estate expert who could help us build some good affordable housing, you know?
1
SPEAKER_01
I'm ready to go.
1
SPEAKER_02
Get me the job, I'm ready to go.
1
SPEAKER_02
I wish there was an expert in office that could help.
1
SPEAKER_02
 that has been doing that for 40 years who could bring their expertise with some real world experience.
1
SPEAKER_00
Listen, I'm going to do my best.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it's going to take all of us to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, the reality is this is a big, complex, diverse city.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's the great beauty of this city.
1
SPEAKER_00
It really is the greatest city in the world.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's incredible.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's incredible.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, here's the thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, to add into that, not to cut you off there, but a lot of people, here's the funny thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I moved here 11 years ago, and I remember
1
SPEAKER_02
 the first year not liking the city.
1
SPEAKER_02
Now, I came from New York City.
1
SPEAKER_02
I had that whole energy for the first year and a half.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was loving New York City for a year and a half.
1
SPEAKER_02
I wasn't there for 10 years and feeling like I needed to leave that city.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like most people after 10 years, it beats them down.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was like, this is incredible.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I moved here.
1
SPEAKER_02
 for a girl that I was dating.
1
SPEAKER_02
And we ended things quickly though.
1
SPEAKER_02
So it was kind of like an emotional place where I was like, ah, this girl, do I really want to be here?
1
SPEAKER_02
Should I go back to New York?
1
SPEAKER_02
But I stayed and I'm so glad I did because during the pandemic, there was a lot of people that I know that left.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And now I'm reconnecting with them and I'm saying, how is Austin and Nashville and Florida and all these places that everyone said, get out of California because of the homelessness, because of different challenges in politics, things that were challenging during the pandemic.
1
SPEAKER_02
 Now they're all like buying homes again in LA or around LA area.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's like, it's just, there's such a great place to be.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's such a great environment.
1
SPEAKER_02
There are challenges obviously.
1
SPEAKER_02
But even with the challenges, I don't know a better place I would wanna live.
1
SPEAKER_02
I agree.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don't know.
1
SPEAKER_02
At least for the next five, 10 years of my life, maybe something changes, but I don't know where else I'd live.
1
SPEAKER_00
I agree.
1
SPEAKER_00
And there's a beauty to this city, not just the physical beauty, there's a beauty of,
1
SPEAKER_00
 The people of Los Angeles, hardworking, caring, entrepreneurial, innovative, creative, and the diversity.
1
SPEAKER_00
One of the greatest things about running for mayor, I've come across communities and people that
1
SPEAKER_00
 I would have never known, never had the experience, and just fallen in love with.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it's so cool.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's just great.
1
SPEAKER_02
Is there anything else you'd like to add before I ask my final three questions about why you're running, your mission, or anything else around your intention for being the mayor?
1
SPEAKER_00
I want to be a mayor of everybody, of all people in this city.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Just love the city, I'm proud of the city.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we can turn things around.
1
SPEAKER_00
I want everybody to really have that belief and that hope that we can turn things around.
1
SPEAKER_02
I love it, I love it.
1
SPEAKER_02
This is a question I ask everyone towards the end.
1
SPEAKER_02
 It's called my three truths question.
1
SPEAKER_02
So it's a hypothetical scenario.
1
SPEAKER_02
Imagine you live as long as you want to live, but eventually it's your last day.
1
SPEAKER_02
And you get to accomplish everything, experience everything the way you want to, you serve the way you want to, you have the family that lives the life, all the things you want to do, they happen.
1
SPEAKER_02
 But for whatever reason, everything you've ever created that people get to experience from you speaking, videos, content, written articles, anything you've ever said is gone.
1
SPEAKER_02
Hypothetical, hypothetical.
1
SPEAKER_02
But on your last day, you get to write down the three things you know to be true about your life, three lessons that you would share with the world.
1
SPEAKER_02
And this is all we have to remember from your messages.
1
SPEAKER_02
What would be those three lessons or three truths that you would share?
1
SPEAKER_00
 That's an amazing question.
1
SPEAKER_00
Off the cuff, you're not prepared.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, off the cuff, not prepared.
1
SPEAKER_00
One is, I believe that you've got an inner soul and inner energy that if you listen to, you will lead a good life.
1
SPEAKER_00
Two would be, and I feel grateful that I've been able to do that, however that occurred.
1
SPEAKER_00
 that I've really enjoyed hard work.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think hard work is a requisite.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it doesn't mean that you're trying to translate it into monetary wealth.
1
SPEAKER_00
It just means that you're dedicated to your craft and to your work and to your passion.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's something that I think gives you great peace.
1
SPEAKER_00
It has for me in my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And I guess the last is just, you know, is the golden rule that I've tried to live by is be good to others along the way because life is a circle.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And it comes back to you.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm a big believer in karma.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_02
I love that.
1
SPEAKER_02
I want to acknowledge you, Rick, for your innovation, for your dedication to your family, to being a great husband, a great father, to your mission of enriching
1
SPEAKER_02
 lives and making people happy.
1
SPEAKER_02
You know, I've been here for a little over a decade and every time I'm in the experiences that you've built and imagined and have come to life, it always brings joy and happiness to me.
1
SPEAKER_02
That makes me happy.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I'm really appreciative and grateful and I acknowledge you for
1
SPEAKER_02
 Taking the call inside of your soul, you're listening to your soul, you're taking the call to what you believe your creator is telling you to do, to be of service right now.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's really inspiring to see someone accomplish so much and continue to want to serve the community that you love so much, that helped build your life and support you in times of success and challenge.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I really acknowledge you for the mission, how you've built your team, I've experienced your team by living in one of your properties,
1
SPEAKER_02
 And I can only imagine that your leadership and the people you've hired has just taken good care of people that they take care of us.
1
SPEAKER_02
I really acknowledge you for doing things the right way in your career from what I've experienced and what I've experienced in our time meeting here.
1
SPEAKER_02
 I have one final question before I ask it.
1
SPEAKER_02
I want to make sure people follow you on your website carusocan.com Rick Caruso LA on Instagram and Twitter.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yep.
1
SPEAKER_02
Follow you Go to the website sign up for the newsletter You know people can learn more about
1
SPEAKER_02
 what you're gonna do once you become mayor, how they can support you, when to vote, all these things that people need to know about, they can go there.
1
SPEAKER_02
Where else can we go to be of support and service to you?
1
SPEAKER_02
Are those the main places?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, those are the main places.
1
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, get the good word out.
1
SPEAKER_00
There's a lot of misinformation going around that we need, you know, I'm not Donald Trump.
1
SPEAKER_00
My opponents like saying that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm a proud Democrat in this city.
1
SPEAKER_00
Again, I think we're in the greatest city, like you said.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And let's go clean it up and let's just make it wonderful and let's enrich everybody's lives in Los Angeles.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's what we want to do.
1
SPEAKER_02
I love it.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, they can follow you, support you there.
1
SPEAKER_02
Final question.
1
SPEAKER_02
What's your definition of greatness?
1
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_02
You've got great questions.
1
SPEAKER_00
The definition of greatness.
1
SPEAKER_00
Boy, that's a tough one.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I think it's having other people just genuinely enjoy your company and in a way that it's made their lives, other lives, just a little bit better.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Rick, thanks so much.
2
SPEAKER_00
You've been great.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you so much.
2
SPEAKER_01
Appreciate it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you so much for listening.
2
SPEAKER_01
I hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness.
2
SPEAKER_01
Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links.
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SPEAKER_01
And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple podcasts as well.
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SPEAKER_01
 I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most.
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SPEAKER_01
And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
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And now it's time to go out there and do something great.