He's a Rhodes scholar, jazz pianist, photographer, blogger and environmental activist who managed to squeeze in a weekend trip to the Arctic Circle last year for Earth Day.
Eric Garcetti is also a bit of a comedian, unafraid to spastically dance around a stage parodying fashion models, as he did at a charity event in November.
Well-rounded, to say the least, the 34-year-old Garcetti on Wednesday may need all his skills -- particularly the diplomacy he studied at Oxford University -- when he convenes his first meeting as president of the Los Angeles City Council.
Late last year, in a behind-the-scenes power struggle, Garcetti wrested the job from Alex Padilla, who had held the title since mid-2001.
These have not been happy times for the council. The body was split over last year's fractious mayoral race, besieged by media stories on its windbag tendencies and eclipsed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's long shadow.
"We're going down the pathway of Congress," Garcetti said in a recent interview. "People will say, 'I love my member of Congress, but Congress stinks.' I think we need to change that."
Garcetti said his goal was to have the council take the lead on the core issues that have long faced the city and region.
Last week, Garcetti and Villaraigosa had dinner at Memphis, a Hollywood restaurant in an old Victorian home, where, Garcetti said, they shared their goals for the year ahead.
Garcetti's list, based on talking with his colleagues: traffic and mass transit, housing and the homeless, and more police officers.
The mayor's list was the same, Garcetti said, with the addition of taking over the city's public schools in the No. 1 slot.
The two men have not always been on the same page. Garcetti endorsed the incumbent, James K. Hahn, last year, although he had campaigned and written speeches for Villaraigosa in the 2001 mayoral contest.
Yet Garcetti and Villaraigosa these days seem to be talking the same talk -- about "dreaming" of bigger things for L.A.
Hollywood was already densely populated before Garcetti took office in 2001 and has grown more so during his tenure. Today, with the addition of new housing, especially near transit, it serves as a kind of model for what both men say Los Angeles will become. There have, though, been complaints that Garcetti is pushing for growth too hard and too fast.
