Photo: Jordan Michelman
4222 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 980-8000
“The Valley” isn’t just one place, either—a collection of unique towns and subcultures that inhabit the northern LA proper, this is the land of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, immortalized in the music of Tom Petty and Frank Zappa. If you’re in the Southlands for events near the television and film industry, or to explore the Universal Studios theme park complex, you’ll save time and money by staying nearby.
Garland is your home port for Valley adventure. This place has a neat trick to being hip and outstanding facilities: You can come here to sit by the pool, take in the gardens, and relax in the busy areas and restaurants, or you can use this place as a place to drop off your bags in between all the other things to do in town. There’s a surprisingly beautiful outdoor pool (with a large fireplace), guided neighborhood tours (the Brady Bunch house is nearby), and ample parking. The whole thing has a Spanish colonial flair with a hint of 1970s tiki. This place gets double points if you’re traveling with your family—kids love Garland.
Photo: Jordan Michelman
8221 Sunset Blvd., (323) 656-1010
I don’t know what you came to town for, anything that suits you, personally, like a business trip. The hotels I’ve recommended so far are all booming, but I’ve put them first for practical and country reasons. That’s not why you live in a Chateau. You come here instead of legend and history, blasphemy and its best form: here, where Duke Ellington composed “Swingin’ Suites,” where Stephen Stills wrote “For What Its Worth” (“stop, hey, what’s that sound”), when Jim Morrison swings in the rooms, when Dominic reports the case of OJ Simp. Vanity Fair. God only knows what goes on in these elevators, to say nothing of the guest rooms, designated as apartments and filled with a wonderful, California-baked atmosphere.
You it can be work here; There is a lot of incredible work done here! Nicholas Ray and James Dean rehearsing Riot Without Reason here! Whatever project you have cooking—a novel, a screenplay, a symphony, or the humble pitch deck—I don’t think there’s a concept in the world that couldn’t be improved by injecting a little Chateau mystique into its DNA. You will see celebrities; you will find quiet moments for yourself among ghosts; you will find yourself silently pondering, alone in your room, “Wow shit, I can’t believe I’m really here!” There is no other hotel in the world remotely like it.
Where You Will Work
LA is the epicenter of the freelancer, and the kind of place where working on your screenplay (or anything) from a bar or coffee shop has reached a kind of legendary status. The city has a lot to offer with traditional workshops, independent clubs, and laptop gardens. Here are some of my favorites.
360 E. 2nd St., 8th floor, (213) 433-2400
Central Office’s co-working spaces are well represented throughout Los Angeles, with locations in Downtown and Marina Del Ray, as well as two locations in the South Bay city of El Segundo, popularly known as “Silicon Beach” (at least one part of the wider array known by this moniker). Each location has its own approach to the “creative campus” vibe, offering a wide variety of amenities from suites and meeting rooms to day offices, open meeting workspaces, and virtual office options that allow for mail and package delivery. Central Office does what it says on the tin—this is a classic co-working space model, and sometimes it’s just what you need, with high-speed Wi-Fi and printers and kitchens and lounges.
1370 N. St. Andrews Place, (323) 381-5996
Part workshop, part event space, The Preserve has a different LA feel. Truly a collaborative campus, the facility features over 6,000 trees and plants, an excellent array of indoor/outdoor workspaces, a library, bungalows, studio offices, and meeting rooms, as well as an on-site cafe and soundproof phone rooms. Wi-Fi here is 1 GB per second; there is valet parking and nursing rooms and health classes and Corian desks; people take out entire companies from this center, and they manage weddings. The building, which underwent an award-winning multimillion-dollar renovation in the late 2010s, was originally designed by Paul Revere Williams, a Los Angeles-based architect and designer whose other works include the iconic LAX space shuttle tower and the Beverly Hills Hotel. If you’re looking to experience Los Angeles for your work needs—perhaps with the intention of hating multiple days, to catch everything that’s going on here—the Preserve is for you.
5971 W. 3rd St., (323) 933-2112
Like the Preserve, the Rita House could only be here, in Los Angeles, but the two spaces couldn’t feel more different. Rita is located inside a 1927 Spanish colonial building that was originally built for prop and costume design in the Hollywood film studio industry. The unique history of the building goes back to the roots of collaboration as a creative activity. There are monthly membership options, daily rates, and a real focus on content production, with dedicated rooms for self-tape auditions and podcast recording, as well as large meeting and testing rooms. You’ll find the requisite amenities of high-speed Wi-Fi and a business center here, but it’s within a space that feels more like old Hollywood Boulevard than Sand Hill Road. Every big city has a workplace that doubles as a people-watching and networking hub, and in LA I think it’s here.
4334 Sunset Blvd., (213) 200-0969
I love working in coffee shops in Los Angeles, and Dinosaur is one of my favorites of this particular life. Located on the border between Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and East Hollywood, this place is a smart laptop chain for people whose names you’ve seen in the end credits of various movies and television shows—or who would like to be one day. The coffee is from Woodcat Coffee, whose flagship store is over on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, and the store is bright and full of that beautiful California light. It is what it is feels get creative here—get dirty in the front yard, or listen to the interesting conversations around you. I visit almost every time I’m in LA.
Where to Eat
How can I choose 10 places to eat in Los Angeles? How can one choose 20, or 50, or 101 like they do each year in the LA Times Food? That category’s weekly (daily!) coverage of food across LA should be something you start checking out now, in the weeks leading up to your trip, to keep up with the latest interesting happenings across the region. For me, these are 10 restaurants that I personally visited and enjoyed, that run the gamut in price, location, and experience. They don’t even see my 10 favorite LA restaurants, but they’re all places I’d happily return to, and in a city completely spoiled for choice, that’s saying something.
2736 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 913-6850
Avish Naran cracked a previously unknown atom when he opened Pijja Palace in 2022. I think it’s an Indian sports bar? But it’s also a kind of Italian red sauce joint, a cocktail bar that works more or less entirely on its own creative expression, a really sleazy place to watch the Lakers lose their way through the LeBron-James era, and so on. There are masala-inspired green chili wings and korma curry pizzas and dosa onion rings (order required) and plenty of beer from near and far to enjoy with it all. Don’t miss ordering a cocktail here—this is one of the quietest cocktail programs in town, which is saying something, because there’s nothing quiet about Pijja Palace. Go here with a big group, or go into the bar alone. I wish it was three times bigger, but I also don’t want to change anything about it at all.
