The Hotel Lobbies Where Hollywood Takes Meetings During AFM

A few very special hotel lobbies around town can truly claim they are Hollywood’s unofficial offices, either by history or design, with better seating, better lighting and a professional to make the drinks.

In these liminal spaces, an intro becomes a pitch, and if things go well, the conversation goes on after your calendar says it should end.

During AFM, the Fairmont Century Plaza brings the industry under one roof. But a few familiar Beverly Hills addresses — and a new arrival on Sunset — are worth a trip.

Fairmont Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles
At AFM headquarters
At AFM’s home base, getting to your meeting may involve a few stops to say hello. The Fairmont’s lobby brings together the market’s buyers, sellers and filmmakers over drinks, with the next introduction potentially just one table away. Behind The Bar, glass walls retract onto the patio, letting the conversation move outdoors. The hotel marks its 60th anniversary with “Sip the Century” cocktails, including an Olive Oil Martini and the saffron-honey-spiked Golden State 75. The regular DJ schedule runs Tuesday through Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m.

The Peninsula Beverly Hills
9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills
Approximately 1 mile from AFM
At the Peninsula, you can conduct business accompanied by a live harpist. The Living Room’s sofas and armchairs surround low tables, with twin fireplaces and oversized windows overlooking the garden and fountain. Afternoon tea brings tiered trays of finger sandwiches, scones and bite-sized pastries, with Champagne for anyone inclined to toast the occasion. If the conversation outlasts the teapot, move into the Club Bar and ask about Table 9, the hotel’s exclusive Wolves Whiskey collaboration. Named for its most coveted table, it’s an appropriate pour whether you’ve just won — or lost — the deal.

Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills
9850 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
Approximately 1 mile from AFM
Pierre-Yves Rochon’s Art Deco interiors rise through a three-story lobby, an appropriately polished setting for making an impression. Once you’ve found each other, the Lobby Lounge brings the occasion down to a conversation over drinks. Its location at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards puts Beverly Hills on the invitation without taking you far from Century City. Useful when that “quick catch-up” turns into something with an agenda.

PUBLIC West Hollywood
8300 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
Approximately 5 miles from AFM
When Ian Schrager creates a lobby scene, he knows very well what he is doing. At his newly opened PUBLIC West Hollywood, glossy white floors shine like ice underneath colorful sculptural chairs, while Anselm Reyle’s metallic magenta sculptures double as check-in desks. Lighting inspired by James Turrell and Dan Flavin gives the public spaces a dreamlike glow. There’s a setting for every conversation: the lobby, the communal tables in the walnut-lined library or Adirondack chairs around a rooftop campfire.

Chateau Marmont
8221 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Approximately 5 miles from AFM
The Chateau is always worth the trip up to Sunset. The hotel has an accumulated Hollywood spirit that newer properties spend fortunes trying to summon. Sink into a charcoal velvet sofa with deep rolled arms and patterned pillows beneath iron chandeliers, and watch who comes through the cloisters. Then move to the lobby bar. While you’re up there, make an evening of it: The recently reopened Bar Marmont brings New York’s Indochine west, with French-Vietnamese dishes including shaking beef and crispy rock shrimp. Whether you’ll actually get in, though, remains as mysterious as the Chateau itself.