Los Angeles as a global innovation ecosystem hub. Pt.2. Takeaways from a European’s 5 year exploratory journey on both coasts of the U.S.
Surprisingly, I start my series of articles with LA not San Francisco and the Bay Area. Los Angeles county is the home and the birthplace to the Western entertainment industry, which has driven and sets trends for the whole world’s entertainment hotspots. TV, music, and other showbusiness stars, agents, future names, and producers are common to meet on the streets of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Venice beach, or Bel Air.
All the main film studios are located in Burbank City, Los Angeles county, while live entertainment agencies and production firms are crowding in Beverly Hills, and advertising and other creative agencies and talents — in West Hollywood and Downtown LA. Silicon Beach on the Westside is the home to headquarters or regional offices of technology firms of large and small size, with young technology professionals living around Santa Monica (with its overcrowded pier) and Marina del Ray with its picturesque sunsets.
Staying on a friend’s boat @ Marina del Ray. I was telling everyone that I am staying on his yacht, to make him more proud. The friend, Jacques, runs a boutique talent (actor) agency. I managed 1 night there instead of the planned 1 week minimum.
That makes LA a very specialized place for everything entertainment. VC funds are mostly founded and funded by movie or music stars, mainly interested to drive innovation for the industries present in LA. UCLA with UCLA Anderson School of Management , University of South Los Angeles are the main educational forces in LA, while professionals mingle around the West coast, moving from San Diego or San Francisco to Los Angeles, or vice versa, in that way mixing the knowledge pool that LA can offer.
In LA, you would not feel that everyone knows everything about all technologies, venture capital, or growing a multi-billion company in 3 years starting from parents garage. That makes it more challenging to those just wishing to network and find possible co-founders for anything the one’s knowledge can work for (think Bay Area), or a technology firm working with, say, autonomous driving and looking for investment or advise.
At the same time, LA is a perfect place to innovate in everything content, media, live scene, and almost anything related to the large entertainment industries with loads of funds. Use of AI to help Youtubers monetize? A technology that allows to save 20% of time for a very specific phase of video production, say flaming? Something that most of the rest of the world would not know even exists. Here you go! There are multiple VC firms that would happily fund you and help with intros, Will Smith’s & Kosaku Yada’s Dreamers VC to mention one, with all the opportunities to test out the new solution with their affiliated Westbrook — an entertainment production company founded by Mr. and Mrs. Smith (nothing to do with the movie starring Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie).
But, wait, it is not like you step into LA and everyone’s willing to work with you, if you are in the space the majority of Angelenos are. The LA’s industries are exclusive, and so is the ecosystem. You do not tap in casually as you would do in Silicon Valley, nor you can network into the ecosystem easily.
So then how do you get into the exclusive ecosystem?
Best, you have to be already in. Within its industries, locally, nationally or internationally, or knowing many enough well connected insiders that can help with intros and infos. Entertainment industries are… entertainment. They are meant to get your attention, take your time and make you daydream. As Netflix states, its main competitor is our sleep. What it means is you can end up connecting with more b*it people than elsewhere, trusting their entertainment stories. Everyone is an actor, agent, or producer in LA, even if their day-jobs are an Uber driver or In-N-Out Burger waitress.
Yes, the movies are not lying again, the ones telling the stories about upcoming and wannabe stars taking any job to cover their living in the city of angels and dreams (think La La Land). Take Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was already a bodybuilding star, but before building his legacy as California’s governor and one of the biggest movie stars, he was ensuring his heritage in LA in another way — by building brick walls and paves. He was literary paving his way to Hollywood. Will Smith was a successful turned broke rapper from Philadelphia whose bodyguard helped him network into Hollywood. That was a consistent and persistent process, a long one, of attending often dull events, shaking hands, trying to impress and remind everyone of his hit songs, and ending up getting his first shot — a challenge he took and succeeded.
This is how Will Smith’s Hollywood journey began. Funny enough, he now owns a mansion in Bel Air, the place known for the Billionaire Row and even a house called “Billionaire”.
Consider that noone will throw money on just an idea so that it would hopefully grow. In LA, it is all about efficiency. Making movies cheap and fast but exciting and big. Creating ads with low-budget but impressive and catchy. You got the idea.
The verdict? Los Angeles county is one of the best places to tap into entertainment & content innovation ecosystem, if you are concentrated, focused, and persistent enough. You have to be 100% sure about your capabilities, preferably know someone who can help you tap in, and keep focus on why you are there, to not get lost in the big city and its popular streets, restaurants and beaches.
While this song by Kanye West, Jay-Z and Rihanna was set out in New York City, it fits perfectly with LA.
Now, a bit about life in Los Angeles.
Commuting.
As you can already guess or know, LA is a big city, and a big county. What makes it even bigger is its challenging transport system. Or absence of one. The city is investing in new public transit lines — trains and metros, there are some buses and trains, but, as locals say, only criminals and homeless people use them. Another truth from movies — everyone drives in Los Angeles. It is nowhere that popular to drive in a big city as in LA. Though the drive is somewhat enjoyable at some moments. If you do not commute daily from Downtown or Pasadena (North LA) to the beach. Forget about residing anywhere in the city and going to the beach for sunsets, or staying next to the beach and visiting, say, Hollywood, daily.
At the same time, if you know what you want, and can carve your path, you would soon realize that everything is actually arranged efficiently in terms of the distance as well, to fit the previously mentioned somewhat limited ecosystem. An example? Live Nation Entertainment, world’s biggest live entertainment production and touring company, and Creative Artists Agency, one of the world’s largest talent agencies, are neighbors in Beverly Hills. Meaning, if you work at one, you can ping your neighbor and invite for a coffee break to discuss a partnership from the both office terraces.
As a European, after getting over the fact that I should forget about the public transport commutes, I see cycling lanes and figure out I could cycle. I remember a German guy — one of the young tech professionals working at a tech company serving big advertising agencies — whom I met while enjoying the friend’s boat. The guy had a leg cast as he said that drivers here are too… relaxed. A truck driver just did not recognize the guy on a motorcycle.
Anyways, I get a $100+ bicycle from Walmart on the next day and start my ventures. I soon learn that almost noone (except for some Europeans and other strange people) cycles here, and the lanes are just a spill of paint on (car) driving lanes. Still, I survive, and manage to enjoy the rides. Though my idea of using the bicycle to go to meetings and networking events anywhere within LA collapse after the first full day trip from West Hollywood to Santa Monica (which is next to the beach) — around 12 miles or 20km one way, with traffic & traffic lights. Would I recommend cycling especially if you have a family, and very young family members? I am not sure, but you can.
It is not without reason that whenever you want to meet someone, you should start with checking at which part of the city, or which city or town — part of LA county — does your connection reside. Without that, your productive days and time in LA will be doomed to inefficiency.
Eating in & out (and drinks)
Los Angeles is one of the most diverse places in the United States to eat out. I absolutely love its food scene, from Mexican taco stands to the special Neapolitan pizza. Yes, you can get burgers and all the American as well (and I appreciate that LA has the San Francisco native In-N-Out Burger). The prices are set in very wide range, too. The average price level is not among the highest in the United States, while you should plan some $20 for 1 person or $60 for a small family dinner. If you are used to the Texas or Finnish size dishes, then double your budget.
Cocktails and beers are on an average price level of the U.S. You can get cheap places with a $3 beer (something you would never find in Miami), but usually be ready to spend between $10–18 for a cocktail at a decent place.
I will skip the grocery part as it is very similar all over the U.S., with very wide range of offerings depending on your preferences (think everything bio vs cheap canned food) and your preferred grocery store, but what I always appreciate in the U.S. is that you do not need to read an ingredient list on each new package, something that I always do in a new country. Regarding alcoholic beverages, California is a friendly place for wine-sippers as you could guess (California is one of the biggest wine producers in the world).
Free time / nature
In California in general, people love nature. Californians are concerned about anything that impacts our future, our planet, and life on the Earth. California is mainly liberal state, while Los Angeles is less than, say, SF.
Many Californians spend their early mornings or late evenings running or hiking, and on weekends, they drive to nature parks, mountains, and villages. I loved one such town, Big Bear Lake, especially. Set around 2h drive away from the central LA, it provided the weather that I was missing while away from Europe or Northern parts of the U.S. It was October, chilly, the trees were in colors, and sun was shining. The people were open, inviting, and talkative. The same always busy people from Los Angeles.
Celebrities
Can you meet celebrities on streets? Yes you can. Often, when walking the streets or sitting at cafes, I saw familiar faces from movies, the ones you know they are popular but you do not recall their names. I also run one night in Jason Statham while walking the Sunset Boulevard. He’s actually one of my favorite actors, but I realized it was him only when we passed each other. What helped was also the fact that the English star insisted on passing me from the RIGHT side.
Another way to spot stars is attending movie premieres or some of the first days of the movie screening. You can also meet them casually while hiking in parks and canyons. My favorite hiking spot is Runyon Canyon. I am blessed with no obsession to stalking stars, so I just enjoy going anywhere and am just excited to see familiar faces.
One of my favorite spots to work at, while in Hollywood, was at Starbucks next to the Directors Guild of America. What I recognized there was not a bunch of popular movie directors (think Steven Spielberg) but absolutely perfectly looking young people sipping their matcha lattes for half day and staring around, hoping to catch their key to the Hollywood dream.
Things to consider
While absolutely packed on daytime, very touristy parts of the city (think Hollywood Walk of Fame, Santa Monica Pier or anywhere in Santa Monica, Venice beach) as well as the financial district at Downton LA are turned into the homeless people camp at night. While Santa Monica is inhabited by many European expats, the Downtown is quite empty during the night. Venice beach is more a hippy place so does not feel uncomfy as long as you do not mind smelling the green cloud everywhere around you. There are blocks around central parts of Los Angeles which I would strongly not recommend to walk alone at night (think near Koreatown). Well, I did walk, but I always try to be too uninteresting to anyone.
Thanks for reading my Los Angeles notes, first in the series of takeaways from my 5y. exploratory journey across the United States. Next up, is a city on the other coast. Another place, shrouded in prejudice. If you have not, please read the intro about the series. I hope these articles will serve the purpose and help you navigate your innovation and growth path in or with the United Sates. If something is missing, please comment.
