Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso is the man behind iconic high-end retail and residential properties like The Grove, LA Live, The Americana at Brand, The Commons at Calabasas, and more. He ran for mayor of LA in 2022 but sadly lost to current Mayor Karen Bass. You see how that’s going.
One question a lot of people have been asking: how is it that, as the Pacific Palisades continues to burn to the ground, Caruso’s outdoor shopping and dining destination, Palisades Village, still stands?
The answer: he used private firefighters.
Caruso used a private firefighting service to fight the fire at the mall, and was able to save it. Caruso understood fire risks, having served decades earlier as Commissioner for the L.A. Department of Water and Power. And he also understood the limitations of the city’s public fire services, whose budget was cut…
