Adam Carolla Show
Rick Caruso Joins Adam Carolla to Talk LA’s Future, Politics & Accountability
10 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What is the background of Rick Caruso and his connection to Los Angeles?
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Chapter 2: How does Rick Caruso view the future of LA and its challenges?
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Chapter 3: What are the main issues affecting Los Angeles according to Caruso?
Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never. This episode of the Adam Carolla Show is brought to you by SimpliSafe. Live from the Americana in Glendale, this is the Adam Carolla Show. Today, Adam sits down with Rick Caruso. And now, the Grove is also what his barber calls his Brillo hair. Adam Carolla. Adam Carolla. the carpet, he's going to be pissed. So I just want to... I use those words, too.
He's very clean. He said muss up, but I wanted to drive his point home, so I used a little profanity. Thank you guys for coming out tonight. Rick is a guy I admired from afar from quite some time, and now I get to do it in a much closer proximity.
Chapter 4: What solutions does Caruso propose for LA's homelessness crisis?
So I've always been a fan of Rick and his work and his process and what he's trying to do and what I still think he can do here in LA and possibly even in California. And I've, yes.
Yes.
Yeah, we did a little poll. It's a partisan crowd, but I'm just a big fan of this guy, and I'm so glad that I've had an opportunity just to get to know him a little bit, and he's even better than I could have imagined. So thanks for doing this tonight, Rick. Thank you, Adam. Thanks for having me. And thank you, everybody, for being here. I really appreciate it.
Just so you know, parking rates went up 500%, so on your way out... Yeah, so we'll take some questions from the audience at some point. I thought we'd chat a little with Rick before that, and then we'll, again, take your questions. I think Alicia will run around with a microphone and we can get into that. But I'm curious.
Chapter 5: How does Caruso plan to address accountability in local government?
So, Rick, you and I may be one of the few people that were sort of born and bred here in Los Angeles. Almost everyone I know seems to be from somewhere else. But you're out here day one. Day one. Raised in West L.A. My parents, my dad was actually born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. My grandparents on both sides were immigrants, came through Ellis Island.
My paternal grandfather ended up in Uniontown as a coal miner, and my dad was actually born in the coal mining camp. And his family finally convinced them to move to the West Coast, and he moved to Boyle Heights and became a gardener. But, yeah, me and my sister and my brother were all raised here. Yeah, when you have black lung at age eight, it's not a good sign.
Well, and also, he was the dynamiter. Your grandfather was the dynamiter. Which is never a long-term career path, you know. Being the first guy in and having to get the heck out.
Chapter 6: What role does Caruso believe public service should play in community development?
The dynamiter is like right up there with the king's food tester. It's just not a job where you retire. But that plunger thing, man, that's the greatest job ever. And then, of course, when the fat guy sits on it by mistake, hijinks ensue. So your grandfather was working the mines, Pennsylvania, and you came out here, your dad came out here as a young man and was a gardener.
When he came out to Los Angeles. And so I don't think a lot of people know or remember this, but if you're in Los Angeles long enough, Gardner was a job that anyone did. There were a lot of Japanese gardeners in L.A. back in the day. It's a sort of Mr. Miyagi thing. My grandparents had a gardener, and he was a Japanese gardener.
And the reason I sort of bring that up is because everyone can go through a gardening phase, but then you should pass through it, meaning education and college and all that. And then your son doesn't become a gardener. He becomes a landlord. So that's sort of...
Chapter 7: How does Caruso envision improving the quality of life in LA?
And he has someone else do the gardening. But the point is, your dad, of all people, was out here as the Italian gardener. Oh, my grandfather. Oh, your grandfather, sorry. Out here from Pennsylvania, from the coal mines. Leaving the coal mines. And so he came out here and had your dad out here? So my grandmother, my grandfather, and they had three boys.
And they lived in Boyle Heights in a little triplex. They had one of the apartments. And Boyle Heights in those days, not to interrupt you, but that was like the old Italian Jewish neighborhood of L.A. So it was a logical place for an Italian immigrant to end up. Yeah, I want to talk about that because I'm Italian and this city does not have a little Italy. It has a little Ethiopia.
Yeah.
Chapter 8: What is Caruso's stance on the upcoming Olympics and its impact on LA?
Not that there's anything wrong with it. But you get a little Italy first, and then at some point you get little Ethiopia. You know, time permitting. But you don't get little Ethiopia, no little Italy. We need a little Italy, Paisan. I mean, somebody's... Somebody's got to spearhead this, because we need a place to get gelato and listen to guys play the mandolin.
We don't have any of that out here, which is weird, because I don't know... Obviously, New York has little... Well, it's going to have a little Soviet Union coming up, so that's a little communism. It's going to have Stalintown next, but... But at least for now, they have a little Italy. So I'd like you to spearhead that when you get into charge.
And it's a little early in the evening, but I know you're talking about doing something. And I'm guessing, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think you're... Well, I'll speak for you. I'll go sit over there. Rick's the kind of guy...
No, I feel like you would like to go on with your life and build all your amazing projects and enjoy all the fruits of your labor, but this town, the city, and the state have come so unraveled over the last 20 years or so that you feel compelled to get involved. Is that true? I feel compelled to a point, but I also do like public service. So there's a... There's two sides of it.
I do see our city at the edge of a cliff and certainly heading in the wrong direction. And I do see our state definitely heading in the wrong direction. And I do enjoy taking very complex problems, taking them apart and putting them back together. And I love public service. There's a guy right here named Art Gastelum. I'll embarrass Art. Art used to work in the city for Tom Bradley.
And some, what is it now, 40 years ago, Art, I was tapped by Tom Bradley to be a Department of Water and Power commissioner. and worked with art under Tom Bradley, and I really fell in love with public service. So I like that, but I'm getting pushed in a lot of different directions, there's no question. But I feel fortunate that I'm getting pushed.
Is it possible to unravel the bureaucracy and to actually make things work? And I know sort of as a builder... As a builder, you want to hit the ground running. I've sort of explained to people all the time, because I had a background in building as well, it's sort of hurry, hurry, hurry, and subs. Who are your subs? Now, I think you see that with Donald Trump.
Trump wants to build, and then he wants to surround himself with good subs who can get the job done. Because building is always sort of about, well, we got to get the land graded. And then we got to do the foundation. And then where's the framing? And then where's the exterior guys? And what about the drywall guys? What about the door and window guys? It's like boom, boom, boom.
Like what's holding us up? Let's go. And every guy I know who does building, especially commercial stuff, has a sort of hit the ground running versus a kind of Karen Bass. You know what I mean? Maybe I'll just go to Ghana. find a hammock and stretch out a little bit. And you could see it when they had that little meeting after the big fire. Trump was screaming, let's go, let's do it now.
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