Best Coffee Shops to Work or Study From in Los Angeles

How the Grounded Score works

Every café gets a score from 0–100 based on the four things that actually matter when you're trying to get work done. Each one is graded A through F.

• Wi-Fi

  Reliable, free Wi-Fi earns the highest grade.

• Outlets

  The easier it is to find a plug, the better the grade.

• Seating

  Comfort and elbow room for a long session.

• Parking

  Free lots grade highest; metered spots grade lowest.

Cafés scoring 80 or higher are Grounded Certified — the spots we'd confidently send you to for a full work session.

Frequently asked

Where in Los Angeles should you work or study from a coffee shop?

Depends on what's about to go wrong for you. Koreatown is where to start if you're driving, because free parking is normal there rather than lucky, and it's where the rooms stay open late. Hollywood suits a long sitting, the kind where you arrive with a list and leave when it's dark. Westwood is built around the campus, so it's outlets, a seat after class, and somewhere to read. There's a page for each one, and the rest of the city is in the app.

Is parking going to be a problem?

In most of Los Angeles, assume a meter. That's the normal case across the city, and it's worth planning for rather than discovering at 10am with a laptop bag on your shoulder. Koreatown is the exception worth knowing, because a free lot is common there, and a lot takes the whole question off the table. In Hollywood and Westwood, meters are the usual answer, so either feed one properly or go somewhere you can leave the car. Every café page says which kind of parking it has.

Where can you work late in Los Angeles?

Koreatown first. Awesome Coffee Ktown runs to 2am and About Time to 1am, so a night shift or a finals week is a real option there rather than a hunt. It isn't only Koreatown, though. On the Eastside, Tierra Mia Coffee in Echo Park goes to 11pm. In the Valley, Toasted Verse in Sherman Oaks runs to 11pm and Sugar Fix Boba Cafe in Northridge goes to 1am on weekends. Downtown, Awesome Coffee DTLA is open to 9pm, and on the Westside, Literati Cafe in Brentwood runs to 9pm Thursday through Saturday. After that the city closes earlier than people expect, so check the hours before you drive. The app shows them day by day.

Do coffee shops in Los Angeles limit how long you can use the wifi?

A few do, and it's nearly always the same rule: two hours of wifi for each thing you buy. Bonsai Coffee & Bar, Republic Of Pie and both Boy & The Bear locations run it, and BOUL'ANGE gives you an hour. Highly Likely keeps its free wifi to weekdays. None of that stops a long session, it just means you order again at the two hour mark, which is good manners anyway. Where we know about a rule like this, it's on that café's page, so you're not finding out after you've unpacked.

Can you count on getting a seat?

Most rooms in Los Angeles are mid sized, which means a seat at 9am and a wait at noon. The move is to go early or go after 2pm. The other thing in your favor here is the weather: a lot of these places have a patio, and a patio is seating most cities don't get to count. Bring something for the glare and it's the easiest table in the building. Seating is one of the four things every café is scored on, so the score on each card already tells you how a place does on it.