Things to Do in LA on Business (2025)

Photo: Jordan Michelman

4222 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 980-8000

“The Valley” is not a single place, either – a series of unique cities and traditions that live north of LA, this is the world of the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, unchanged in the music of Tom Petty and Frank Zappa. If you’re in the Southlands for TV and movie events, or to explore the Universal Studios theme park complex, you’ll save time and money by staying nearby.

Garland is your home port of the Valley. This place manages the famous trick of being hip and very helpful: You can come here to relax by the pool, enter the gardens, and hang out in the many bars and restaurants, or you can use the place as a place to drop your bags in between all the other things you are in town to do. There’s a beautiful outdoor pool (with a large fire pit), guided tours (the Brady Bunch house is nearby), and ample parking. The whole thing has a Spanish colonial feel with a hint of 1970s tiki. This place gets two 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’re in town for, or what qualifies you, personally, as a business trip. The hotels I have recommended so far are all luxury hotels, but I have included them first for practical reasons and location. That’s not why you stay at the Chateau. You come here instead of legend and history, bad history and all its forms: here, where Duke Ellington made “Swingin’ Suites,” where Stephen Stills wrote “For What It’s Worth” (“stop, Hey, what a sound”), where Jim Morrison jumped from the corner, where Dominic explains the case of OJ Simp. Nonsense Fair. God only knows what has happened in the elevators, to say nothing of the guest rooms, which are set up like apartments and come full of atmosphere, baked in California.

You he can work here; Amazing work has been done here! Nicholas Ray and James Dean rehearsed Rebellion Without a Cause Here! Whatever project you’re cooking up—a book, a play, a symphony, or a small theater—I don’t think there’s an idea in the world that couldn’t be improved by injecting the Chateau mystique into its DNA. You will see famous people; you will find a moment of silence alone among the ghosts; you will find yourself silently thinking to yourself, alone in your room, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m here!” No other hotel in the world is as remote as it.

Where to Work

LA is a place for freelancers, and a place where the work of watching your computer (or anything else) from a bar or coffee shop is a myth. The city has a lot to offer such as social hubs, private clubs, and laptop farms. Here are some of my favorites.

360 E. 2nd St., 8th floor, (213) 433-2400

The Central Office is well represented in Los Angeles, located in Downtown and Marina Del Ray, as well as two locations in the South Bay city of El Segundo, known as “Silicon Beach” (at least one part is known by this moniker). Each location has its own way of leaning into the “creative campus” vibe, offering a variety of services from suites and conference rooms to contemporary offices, open co-working spaces, and office options that allow for mail and package delivery. Centrl Office does exactly what it says on the tin—it’s an old fashioned workplace model, and sometimes that’s all you need, with high-end Wi-Fi and printers and kitchens and lounges.

1370 N. St. Andrews Place, (323) 381-5996

Part co-working space, part event, Preserve has a uniquely LA feel. Truly a collaborative school, the facility has over 6,000 trees and plants, a cool indoor/outdoor workspace, a library, bungalows, studio offices, and conference rooms, including an on-site cafe and soundproof phone rooms. Wi-Fi here is 1 GB per minute; there is valet parking and nursing rooms and health classes as well Corian desks; people drive all the companies out of this place, and they also have weddings. The building, which underwent a multi-million dollar, successful renovation in the late 2010s, was designed by Paul Revere Williams, the saint of Los Angeles and an architect whose other works include the famous LAX tower and the Beverly Hills Hotel. If you’re looking for events in Los Angeles for your business needs—perhaps with the intention of staying down for a few days, to get a sense of what’s going on here—Preserve is for you.

5971 W. 3rd St., (323) 933-2112

Like the Preserve, Rita’s House may be here, in Los Angeles, but the two spaces don’t feel very different. Rita is located inside a 1927 Spanish colonial building that was built to produce props and costumes for the Hollywood film industry. This house unique history goes back to the roots of coworking as a creative pursuit. There are monthly membership options, daily pricing, and a real focus on production, with dedicated rooms for self-reading tapes and podcast recording, as well as large meeting and screening rooms. You’ll find the necessary high-speed Wi-Fi and a business center here, but it’s within a neighborhood that feels more like Hollywood Boulevard than Sand Hill Road. Every major city has a co-working space that serves as a social and networking hub, and in LA I think it’s here.

4334 Sunset Blvd., (213) 200-0969

I love working from a coffee shop in Los Angeles, and Dinosaur is one of my favorite places to work. Located on the border of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and East Hollywood, this place is home to the laptops of people whose names you’ve seen in the writers’ books at the end of movies and television shows—or who might want to be one day. This coffee comes from Woodcat Coffee, whose warehouse is over on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, and the shop is bright and full of good California light. That’s it to hear create here—do bad things on the balcony, or listen to the interesting conversations around you. I visit almost every time I’m in LA.

Where to Eat

How do I choose 10 places to eat in Los Angeles? How can one choose 20, or 50, or 101 as they do every year at the LA Times Food? This section’s weekly (daily!) report on food across LA should be something you start checking out now, a few weeks before your trip, to keep up with the latest exciting things happening around the area. For me, these are 10 restaurants that I personally visited and enjoyed, based on price, location, and experience. They are not even my 10 beloved Restaurants in LA, but they’re all places I’d happily return to, and in a city where you’re spoiled for choice, that’s saying something.

2736 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 913-6850

Avish Naran broke some unknown atoms when he opened Pijja Palace in 2022. I think it’s an Indian bar? But it’s a kind of red Italian sauce, a store that works more or less in its literal sense, the best place to see the Lakers lose their way through the era of the chief-made-by-LeBron-James, and so on. There are green pickle masala wings and korma curry pizza and onion rings (a must-order) and plenty of beer from near and far to enjoy. Don’t miss ordering a shop here – this is one of the best shopping malls in the city, which is saying something, because nothing is quiet at Pijja Palace. Go here with a big group, or sneak into the bar by yourself. I wish it was three times as big, but I don’t want to change anything about it.