‘The Hills’ cast and crew on Pratt’s mayoral bid

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, May 27 and you can expect possible drizzle in the morning, then crisp May Gray (high 60s). 

In his campaign advertisements, mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt portrays Los Angeles as a tent-strewn hellscape. It’s a far cry from the sparkling city MTV viewers saw depicted on The Hills, the reality show that made Pratt famous in the mid-aughts. 

Twenty years after The Hills first aired and roughly five months into Pratt’s mayoral bid, L.A. Material contributor Amy Kaufman called up some of Pratt’s former reality TV castmates and crew from The Hills to hear their memories and see what they make of his campaign. The picture his former colleagues painted is of an uber-focused — at times obsessive — Pacific Palisades native who was unafraid of ruffling feathers and remains exceptionally skilled at controlling media narratives. 

“Spencer was better than his castmates at spinning the press and making sure he was at the forefront of public attention. I had to keep up with the tabloids to make sure the episodes stayed relevant,” one former producer told Kaufman.

In the final days before the June 2 primary, Mayor Karen Bass and her campaign allies have been working hard to court the Latino vote. In part this is simple math: More than 35% of L.A.’s electorate is Latino and any path to victory requires substantial Latino support. But the voting bloc is especially crucial this election cycle for the beleaguered mayor, as her popularity has sagged among many other groups amid deep voter dissatisfaction over homelessness, city services, and the response to the Palisades fire. Latino voters have been a bright spot; polls show the mayor has a wide lead over her rivals with this group. 

In a new story, L.A. Material contributor Maeve Reston unpacks how independent groups supporting the mayor’s reelection have increasingly decided to put money and energy into turning out Latino voters. 

With Gustavo Dudamel heading east in August after the world’s longest goodbye, the Los Angeles Philharmonic finally announced a successor Tuesday: Daniel Harding will be the orchestra’s 12th music director. 

A Brit by birth who now lives in Paris and, rather incredibly, works part-time as an Air France pilot, Harding has long been fêted on the international orchestra circuit.