You’re in Los Angeles to make some big moves - meeting with bigwigs from Google, SnapChat, and Sony. You have Elon Musk’s TED talk memorized, Ready Player One on your Kindle, and a basset hound named Jobs (after Steve Jobs, natch). So of course, you're staying in the heart of Silicon Beach, at Hotel MdR in Marina del Rey. There’s high-speed Internet, a gym, stylish rooms, a sleek poolside setting that looks like it belongs in a Hollywood blockbuster, and a big bonus: it’s dog friendly.
In the morning, you awake refreshed from a quiet slumber. You pull back the curtains and welcome in the bright Southern California sun. You take in the view of the sweet pool and open your sliding door to breathe in the sea air. The ocean is calling, but first coffee. You tuck into the hotel’s Barbianca Local Kitchen for poached eggs dappled with sun-dried tomato hollandaise and a giant mug of freshly brewed Lavazza coffee.
You hop in your Tesla and cruise the mile and a half to Marina del Rey Harbor, where you stroll along the Pacific and scope out the boats, yachts and endless blue water stretching out past jagged Santa Monica Mountains. A friendly local tells you to look out for dolphins and whales in the open water. You spot a seal and can’t help but smile wide.
Lunch with a Google exec is at celeb favorite Gjelina in nearby Venice. You meet along famed Abbot Kinney, a cool street dotted with galleries, independent boutiques, buzzing coffee shops, and hip bars. Inside Gjelina, there are Gwyneth Paltrow-look-alikes and other attractive diners ordering artisanal pizzas and toasts slathered with burrata or mushrooms. You dine al fresco with a cold IPA in a pretty leafy patio and agree that all business meetings should have such a gorgeous setting. (Should you build an app together for finding outdoor patios that serve beer?).
Jolted by caffeine, you rent a Bird, an electric scooter. Pretty soon you’re flying down the world famous Venice Beach Boardwalk past the t-shirt shops, sunburnt tourists, a skateboarding dog, and a street performer who steps on actual glass. You make a pitstop at Muscle Beach to watch a few meatheads pump some iron.
Dinner is down the street at Venice’s classic Rose Café. You’re meeting with old co-worker pals with some venture capital connections who now work nearby at Sony and SnapChat. You can’t wait to challenge them to a ping pong game at the hotel, but before that there’s another picturesque patio, pints after pint of local beer, a rack of lamb and some pretty young things talking about partnering on their new app. If this means you’ll get to come back to this city, you’re already swiping right.
Hotel MdR - A DoubleTree by Hilton
13480 Maxella Ave, Marina del Rey 90292
(310) 822-8555
