Rick Caruso buys a golf course

Good morning. It’s Thursday, April 30, and you can expect unadulterated sunshine (mid 70s).

In today’s newsletter, we have a French dip legend’s sawdust status, several vermin infestations, and the hot dating scene at Erewhon. But first, we have an exclusive look at Rick Caruso’s latest venture, which does not include a trolley.

Rick Caruso, the one-time mayoral candidate and mega developer, is venturing into golf.

Caruso’s eponymous company earlier this year quietly acquired an 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and private club near Westlake Village.

The purchase is significant because it marks the latest expansion by Caruso outside Los Angeles, the city he once sought to lead, but where he now says he has questions about the viability of development. 

Known as the Sherwood Lake Club, the property also has tennis and swimming and was owned by David H. Murdock, the former CEO of Dole Food Co. After Murdock’s death last June, his firm sold it to Caruso in a deal that “came together very quickly,” Caruso told L.A. Material.

“It was offered to me on a Friday afternoon, and we signed the paperwork on Tuesday,” Caruso said in an interview, calling the par-three golf course “a little jewel.” 

Caruso, 67, parlayed success in developing small shopping malls across the Valley and nearby suburbs to build The Grove and The Americana, two malls that changed the broader retail landscape with their Disneyfied attention to detail. In later years, he transformed a dilapidated beachfront hotel in Montecito into the Rosewood Miramar Beach resort and revived Pacific Palisades with an upscale shopping and dining complex. More recently, Caruso flirted with running for mayor or governor after he lost his 2022 race to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

For the golf club, Caruso said his company is exploring a different name and has already broken ground on an extensive renovation. The 18,000-square foot clubhouse will have a new Italian-themed restaurant, bar, and state-of-the-art gym. Caruso is moving the pool “to create more open space.” 

“The driving force is an elevated experience, designed around families,” Caruso said. 

The project, set in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains, marks Caruso’s second foray into private clubs after Montecito’s Miramar Club, which opened in 2019. 

While Caruso is known (outside his political pursuits) for building open-air shopping around L.A., the acquisition is part of a longer-term expansion that the developer said is focused on apartments and private clubs. The company recently broke ground on more than 80 luxury apartments at The Commons at Calabasas while also adding more retail space. Caruso also recently posted videos from Nashville, Tenn., and Miami, Fl., saying he was touring developments there. 

When it comes to the City of L.A., however, he is less bullish. “We’ve got a lot of neighboring cities that are well-managed, and clean, and safe,” he said.

In 2017, Caruso got approvals for a 16-story apartment tower at Burton Way and La Cienega — just south of the Beverly Center — but progress has stalled. 

“We love that site. It’s a great location,” he said, but added that the project was “on hold,” citing broader challenges of working in L.A. “We’re honestly just concerned about the trajectory of the city.”

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Quixote Studios — whose film production trucks and trailers used to be ubiquitous at film shoots around town — announced this week that it was laying off 70 people and shutting down much of its soundstage business in L.A. and Atlanta. 

The news triggered a wave of shock and recriminations about the state of film and TV production in the city. Mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt jumped into the fray, declaring that Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman drove Quixote "out of business."

Beneath the headline and political grandstanding, the facts are more nuanced. 

As The Hollywood Reporter's Erik Hayden reported, Quixote is closing its Atlanta-based production business, and earlier shuttered its operations in New Mexico.  Quixote's parent company, Hudson Pacific, also said it was "winding down" the sound stages it leases in West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, but plans to keep its lease at Griffith Park Studios. 

Quixote's equipment and trailer rental business was not part of the announcement and remains "fully operational." 

In fact, Variety's Gene Maddaus reported, Quixote is refocusing on its businesses in L.A. and New York following a significant downturn in production in Atlanta, Chicago, Albuquerque and New Orleans. 

“Those markets are much more depressed,” Victor Coleman, the chairman and CEO of Hudson Pacific, said at a March investor conference. “The tax credits in both Los Angeles and New York have enhanced what we see as the production flow.”

In March, Philippe’s announced that it was removing the sawdust on its floors to “meet updated safety and liability standards.” In an era of venerated L.A. institutions closing, including Philippe’s longtime rival Cole’s, this change was big enough to make headlines in news outlets across Los Angeles.

But when L.A. Material grabbed some breakfast last weekend, a full month after Philippe’s dropped its sawdust surprise, the floors were still covered in the fine wood chips. So what’s the deal?

We first asked one of the veteran sandwich makers — who declined to give her name and was laser-focused on one diner’s 8 a.m. lamb dip — when the change would go into effect: “I don’t know. Maybe in a couple months?” The manager behind the cashier overheard the conversation but when she too was asked, she smiled and pretended not to hear the question.

But the woman behind the candy and gum counter had the answer. “We have a couple bags of sawdust left,” said Crystal Guzman. And when they run out? “That will be it.”

— Pablo Goldstein

One of the most popular and beloved movie theaters in Southern California, the AMC Burbank 16, has a strange feature: The escalator leading up to its lobby and theater entrances is often broken. 

L.A. Material’s Alex Zaragoza conducted interviews in a darkened parking lot and with escalator experts to get to the bottom (and the top, and to everything in between) of it all in our latest installment of L.A. Mystery.

TEED OFF BY FRAT TROLL: In case you missed our latest L.A. Material investigation, Tomo Chien dug into the man who is taunting and intimidating frat guys at UCLA — becoming a microcelebrity among college students.

TALK BIRDIE TO ME: The hot new place to pick up a date or hookup is Erewhon, according to the California Post, which dubs the home of the $25 strawberry glaze smoothie “better than dating apps.”

SANDBAG SCAMMER: At Stagecoach — the annual country music festival in Indio — 48 people were cited for unlawful use of a disabled person’s parking placard, CBS News reported. The three-day festival also saw 119 people get arrested, with most cited for either underage drinking or using a fake ID.

DRIVER(LESS) PLAY: Autonomous vehicles like Waymo had been exempt from traffic citations in California, but no more, the DMV announced on Tuesday (and the SF Standard picked up). The DMV will also now require that robotaxi operators have a dedicated emergency telephone line and that companies answer first responder and emergency calls within 30 seconds. Local officials will also be able to order geofencing to block robotaxis from emergency zones.

PAR FOR THE RAT PACK: The Trousdale Estates lot once owned by crooner Dean Martin, now the site of a modernist, 10,000-square-foot five-bedroom home, hit the market this week for $19.8 million.

GET THE TRAP: A string of rodent infestations have led to temporary closures at some prominent outlets, including the roof garden at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, a kitchen at the San Vicente Bungalows, Dan Tana’s, and an Angel’s stadium concession stand.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, a DJ-inspired vanity plate spotted around town.

AND FINALLY…. A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Our Valley” by Philip Levine.

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