Justin Caruso is launching a new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio, taking over the space occupied by Pearl Dragon. Justin Caruso/Instagram Only in LA can you buy an $18,000 Brunello Cucinelli blazer, pick up a Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie from Erewhon and get put in a chokehold by a celebrity in the same luxury mall.
When the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio Ludus has its grand opening in the newly revamped Palisades Village next month, it will not just be a surprising new neighbor for high-end retailers Zimmerman and Jennifer Meyer, but a full circle moment for the area.
The new martial arts studio is the brainchild of Rick Caruso’s son Justin — a DJ who has collaborated with Tiësto — who is taking over the space previously occupied by Pearl Dragon, a beloved sushi restaurant and watering hole where locals could catch a live music act. For local Jiu Jitsu aficionados, the opening represents a call back for a town that played a crucial role in the explosive growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which in turn helped fuel the multi-billion dollar mixed martial arts industry and the UFC.
“Caruso and his team have some extremely big shoes to fill,” says Peter Maguire, a writer, filmmaker and former war crimes investigator, who spoke to Page Six Hollywood from his North Carolina home. Maguire grew up in Malibu and the Palisades, attended Crossroads High School and is the son of screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury. He is also received his black belt from Rickson Gracie, considered by most experts to be one of the greatest fighters to ever lived. (Maguire and late actor Ricky Hillman were among Rickson’s first generation of Palisades students.)
Gracie moved to LA in 1989 to help his older brother Rorion establish and run the first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, California, (Rorion is credited with creating the UFC in 1993 before it was bought by Dana White and the Fertitta brothers in 2001). Shortly after he arrived, Rickson opened a studio on Pico and Sepulveda Blvd., and then a second satellite studio in Pacific Palisades where he shared space with a Taekwondo instructor and longtime resident named Gerry Blanck.
“Those were serious schools, especially the Pico Academy and a lot of tough guys and fighters rolled through there,” says Maguire who remains close with Rickson having co-wrote two of his memoirs: the New York Times best seller, “Breathe: A Life in Flow,” and its follow-up, “Comfort in Darkness.”
After the Gracies arrived in Southern California, those early days were marked by what was known as the “Gracie Challenge.” That was effectively an open invitation to other fighters from all martial arts disciplines to test their skills against the family’s style of fighting. No one was ever successful, and those challenges usually took place in converted mechanic garages or in dingy, poorly lit industrial buildings.
Nowadays, training BJJ feels decidedly less brass-knuckle, as the sport has been pulled further and further into the mainstream. Hollywood A-listers who’ve taken it up include Keanu Reeves, Tom Hardy, Jason Statham, Henry Cavill and Ashton Kutcher. And BJJ as an industry is now estimated to be worth around $3 billion, with roughly 44,000 studios across the United States.
Gyms like Ludus are vastly more upscale and state of the art than the gyms of the early 1990s. While the core offering remains BJJ, newer gyms also offer classes like cardio boxing as they try to broaden their appeal to a wider demographic that includes women and kids.
Some of the old guard like Maguire, who once trained a young Spencer Pratt, don’t love this newly sanitized version. “Honestly, I just don’t recognize much of what passes for Jiu Jitsu anymore,” he says. “When Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are training in Jiu Jitsu it’s pretty clear you’ve jumped the shark.”
Rickson now resides in Florida, but members of his family still reside on the Westside.
As the Palisades slowly rebuilds its identity after the fires, figures like Maguire are here to remind residents of what came before them like preservationists of a culture that is now long gone.
“Palisades wasn’t a rough place, but it produced a lot of incredible athletes over the years — whether they were swimmers, surfers, or football players. There were also a fair amount of tough guys and brawlers mixed into that crowd and fighting was just part of the culture.”
Ludus will be tasked with carrying on that tradition.
