Where to Close a Deal
Downtown's Water Grill has long been a favorite for its raw bar, Deco interiors, and cozy booths. La Cachette, a Provencal jewel near all the Century City law offices, is a favorite for big-occasion celebratory diners. Valentino is in a nondescript section of Santa Monica, near the I-10 freeway, but has a quiet, classy feel and the city's best wine list. For a more private meeting, find a member who can get you access to the City Club, on the fifty-fourth floor of the Wells Fargo Tower. The political elite gather at the members-only California Club, next to the Central Library, where the waiters are old enough to remember the days when the best way to navigate the city was by trolley.

Local Codes
In the entertainment community, committing to lunch is more meaningful than actually having it. That way, when the assistant patches through the inevitable canceling-due-to-scheduling call, enough of a bond has been established for a business relationship to prosper. Punctuality is valued because this means you have factored traffic into your plans. While an appointment book can be kept on a table during a meal, a BlackBerry suggests the sort of 24/7 connectivity and time-crunching that Angelenos do not care for. For men, the question of tie or no tie is fraught with anxiety. (Although it's true that the tie is devoid of any associations with money here: The guy in the torn black T-shirt is often the one ordering the Mouton-Rothschild.) The answer? If in another city you would wear a tie for the occasion, wear it here.

Airport Intelligence
LAX is dated and sorely lacking good shopping and restaurants. The best bet for a pre-flight bite is the Daily Grill, in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Better still, grab a burger and a shake at L.A.'s own In-N-Out Burger, on Sepulveda, just outside the airport entrance. Be sure to allow plenty of time at LAX, where unusually long security lines are prevalent nearly all the time.

The Three-Hour Tour
Richard Meier's much-admired Getty Center, built into a hillside of the Santa Monica Mountains, breathed new life into the Los Angeles art scene. Now there's the Getty Villa, on the site of the original museum in Malibu. Reopened last year after a nine-year, $275 million renovation by Boston-based architectural firm Machado and Silvetti Associates, the villa houses one of the world's largest collections of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman antiquities in a series of galleries and gardens perched above the Pacific. Admission is free, but you'll need a reservation to visit.