GoKawiilPhotograph: Jordan Michelman
4222 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 980-8000
“The Valley” isn’t just one place, either—a collection of unique cities and subcultures that occupy the environs north of LA proper, this is the land of Paul Thomas Anderson films, immortalized in the music of Tom Petty and Frank Zappa. If you’re in the Southlands for events in and around the television and film industry, or to check out the Universal Studios theme park complex, you’ll save time and money by staying close.
The Garland is your Valley adventure home port. This place manages the neat trick of being both hip and eminently utilitarian: You could come here to lounge by the pool, take in the gardens, and hang out at the busy bars and restaurants, or you could use this place as a spot to drop your bags between all the other things you’re in town to do. There’s an impressively beautiful outdoor pool (with a massive fireplace), guided neighborhood tours (the Brady Bunch house is nearby), and ample parking. The whole thing has a Spanish colonial flair with flashes of 1970s tiki. This place gets double points if you happen to be traveling with your family—kids love the Garland.
Photograph: Jordan Michelman
8221 Sunset Blvd., (323) 656-1010
I don’t know what you’re here in town for, or what qualifies to you, personally, as a business trip. The hotels I’ve recommended so far are all swell, but I’ve included them first and foremost for reasons of practicality and geography. That’s not why you stay at the Chateau. You come here instead for the myth and the history, the infamy and the iconic status of it all: here, where Duke Ellington composed “Swingin’ Suites,” where Stephen Stills wrote “For What It’s Worth” (“stop, hey, what’s that sound”), where Jim Morrison swung from the chandeliers, where Dominic Dunne lived while reporting the OJ Simpson trial for Vanity Fair. God only knows what’s gone on in these elevators, to say nothing of the guest rooms, which are appointed more like apartments and come swathed in spectral haunted metaphysical atmosphere, baked in California sunshine.
You can work here; so much incredible work has happened here! Nicholas Ray and James Dean rehearsed Rebel Without a Cause here! Whatever project it is you’ve got cooking—a novel, a screenplay, a symphony, or just a humble pitch deck—I don’t think there’s a concept in the world that can’t be improved by injecting a little Chateau mystique into its DNA. You will see celebrities; you will find quiet moments to yourself among the ghosts; you will find yourself quietly reflecting to yourself, alone in your room, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m really here!” There’s no other hotel in the world that is remotely like it.
Where to Work
LA is freelancer central, and the sort of place where working on your screenplay (or whatever) from the bar or coffee shop has attained a kind of mythical status. The city has plenty to offer in the form of traditional coworking spaces, private clubs, and laptop gardens. Here are some of my favorites.
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