Exclusive | Beloved martial arts studio rises from Palisades fire ashes, with a Caruso behind the fight

The Pacific Palisades is getting some of its fight back.A martial arts studio that was destroyed in the Palisades Fire is returning under a new name, new home and with one of its former students helping lead the comeback.Justin Caruso, who also lost his Palisades home in the blaze, has teamed up with instructors James Gavsie and Freddy Cerrato to launch LUDUS, a private Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing gym opening Aug.15 at Palisades Village.Caruso, who is the son of billionaire businessman Rick Caruso, began training at MAX Impact, Gavsie’s longtime Palisades martial arts gym, after discovering it within walking distance of his home.“I just immediately fell in love with it, fell in love with training martial arts and jiu-jitsu with them,” Caruso told The California Post.Then the January 2025 Palisades Fire tore through the neighborhood, destroying the site and the homes of Gavsie, Cerrato and Caruso.But martial arts soon provided Caruso with one of his first glimpses of normal life after the disaster.

“One of the first days that felt normal again for me after the fires was when our community of people that trained together got together in Venice at a temporary spot,” he said.They threw down mats and started training.“It just felt like normalcy again,” he said.

“From that moment, I knew I wanted to bring this community back.”That idea eventually became LUDUS.The three co-founders are rebuilding around the martial arts community that existed before the fire while creating a new gathering place for the community.Gavsie, known throughout the Westside as “Mr.

G,” is a sixth-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with more than 30 years of martial arts experience and will serve as LUDUS’ lead instructor.Cerrato is a first-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with more than two decades of experience across jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, judo and Kali.Before the fire, MAX Impact drew a cross-section of the Palisades, from high school students t...