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Aug 5, 2025  |  
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Kurtis LeeMark Abramson


NextImg:Minimum Wage in L.A. Could Rise to $30 an Hour for Olympics

Jeff Zarrinnam scanned the ground-floor cafe at the Hollywood Hotel and longed for its former bustle.

Tourists from around the world once packed the tables, sipping lattes and thumbing through brochures for celebrity-home bus tours. But one morning this summer, a lone couple vacationing from Tijuana, Mexico, sat in a corner, nursing coffees and scrolling their iPhones.

“We don’t have the customers,” Mr. Zarrinnam said. “It’s becoming difficult to run this business.”

The Hollywood Hotel’s troubles aren’t unique. A report from the nonprofit Visit California, which tracks tourism in the state, forecast a decline in international tourism of around 9 percent in 2025, driven in part by negative sentiment toward the United States as a result of the Trump administration’s trade policies. Los Angeles has seen a 5 percent decline in international air arrivals this year.

On top of it all, payroll for owners like Mr. Zarrinnam could go up more than 40 percent because the city passed a measure to increase wages for hotel and airport workers to $30 an hour over the next three years.

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The Hollywood Hotel is a short drive to Hollywood and Highland, a popular area along the Walk of Fame.

It would be among the highest minimum wages in the nation and apply to workers at hotels with at least 60 rooms.


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