Mr. Mayor, What Are Your Thoughts on Good Charlotte and Charcoal Water?

Eric Garcetti, perhaps more than any city politician in power today, is a pop culture polymath. Aside from being the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles, his résumé includes appearances on TV shows such as The Closer and Angie Tribeca, a friendship with Jay-Z, and an R&B single he recorded to notify Angelenos about the closing of the 6th Street Bridge. (It was called “101 Slow Jam.”) Here, L.A.’s youngest mayor on record—and frequent mention on the 2020 presidential shortlist, despite his insistence that he has no plans to run—responds to 13 topics chosen at semi-random.

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BAGELS

“Your average New York bagel is absolutely better than the average L.A. bagel, although we are enjoying a revival. We lost a lot of good places during the carb crash of the ’90s. That put us behind, but we’re rebuilding.” 

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 CHARCOAL WATER

“I don’t have much use for charcoal water. As mayor, I sell water for a living. Our water is cleaner than anything that is bottled, by the way. It’s much tastier and cleaner than you think. We don’t do underground water like New York does. When I became mayor, we took away that chlorinated taste that everybody thinks defines L.A. water. Under my watch, it’s gained a smoother, better taste.” 

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 STANDING DESKS

“I don’t have time for desks, standing or sitting. My desk is usually the front seat of a car. I should say that it’s the passenger seat so that people don’t freak out.” 

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 LEBRON JAMES

“I hope that he gets the team around him to restore greatness to the Lakers, because there’s no question that every great—from Kareem to Magic to Kobe to him—has to play in L.A. at some point. I hope we do well in the off-season, and I hope his groin recovers. He can’t leave his Laker career without a ring or two. I’m ready for a parade.”  

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 THE PRICE IS RIGHT 

“I looked forward to being sick as a kid so that I could watch The Price Is Right. It was my fantasy, one day, to be there and to reach into that pocket and pull out 100 bucks because I had guessed right on the nose what the price was. I’ve never gone to a taping, but I’ve lined up before. Maybe now I can get in.” 

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 POST-PUNK ROCK

“I owned every Siouxsie and the Banshees album that ever existed. I shut down Hollywood Boulevard once for a Depeche Mode concert, and I’ve been into emo rock since it was called death rock. I think that Americans are more and more emotional than ever, and we need emo rock more than ever before.” 

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 GOOD CHARLOTTE 

“I became friends with those guys [Benji and Joel Madden] and their wives [Cameron Diaz and Nicole Richie, respectively] when they came to support me during my race for mayor. We just hit it off. My challenge is to try to tell stories in politics better, and for them, it’s bringing the political to the storytelling. I’m going to plead the Fifth right now on recommending a song of theirs because I don’t want the brothers to get jealous, but if you twist my arm I’ll say ‘Girls & Boys.’” 

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 WOLFGANG PUCK

“Wolfgang embodies what’s great about L.A. We don’t care where you come from, what corner of the earth—come here and make the future. I mean, who thought of putting lox on pizza? And now, he’s the template you see for this city, which has the most creative, explosive food scene in the world.”  

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AM RADIO

“I listen to the news on AM radio, but I miss KDAY, which was the first hip-hop station on AM radio here. They’re still around, but they’re on FM. I miss the purity of the really crappy AM acoustics. This was back when I was 13, when I had a breakdance crew and was breaking into Electric Boogaloo with my parachute pants on and challenging people to popping contests.” 

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 DEL TACO 

“I love their new color and logo. There’s something that was always cleaner about Taco Bell, but Del Taco secretly has great fish tacos—the best breaded fish tacos.” 

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 WEST SIDE STORY 

“It’s Romeo and Juliet meets New York meets love meets passion meets dancing meets race meets police corruption meets, like, everything. It holds up. Having played Bernardo in high school, I’m really sorry to have seen him pass. He’s really the glue that holds it all together.” 

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 MOON JUICE

“I have somebody here who loves Moon Juice. I’ve never tried it, though, so I have no idea. Here’s what I say: Go to a Mexican restaurant and get the jugos and aguas for a fifth of the price.” 

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 MAYOR QUIMBY FROM THE SIMPSONS

“He’s an inspiration to me. He has the right accent. He’s always focused on the right things. He’s just had a string of bad luck. I assure you my aide didn’t whisper in my ear once during this interview. Never.”  

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Special Thanks: Grand Hyatt New York