Union North Park
Est. 2012
It started at a table in North Park.
In 2012, a group of entrepreneurs, creatives, and independent workers found themselves sharing a retail space on University Ave. They weren't trying to build a coworking company. They were trying to find a better place to work near where they lived.
That shared space became Union North Park, the first location. What they built together became the blueprint: a professional workspace in the neighborhood you already chose, where 90% of members can walk or bike to the front door, and the person next to you might know your coffee shop, your running route, or your street.
From that first table on 30th Street, Union grew to five California locations. Each one chosen because a neighborhood deserved it. Each one run by a community manager who actually lives there.
Stephanie Lawrence, Owner and CEO, has carried the founding conviction across every new space: community isn't a product feature. It's the whole thing.
The doors were supposed
to close.
I came in as Union expanded beyond North Park, right when it stopped being one space and became something you could build on. It was left to me to build the foundation: the operations, the systems, the feel of walking in. I didn't inherit Union Cowork. I built it, location by location.
So when years of fighting to recover from the impact of 2020 finally ran up against the decision no one wanted to make — the call to close every door — I was the one in the room who said no.
A decade inside these walls taught me one thing: entrepreneurship is the loneliest thing you'll ever choose, and community is what carries you through. Not the cliché version. The real one: proximity to people a few steps ahead, the ones who challenge your thinking and hold you to your vision. Put the right people in the right room, and they grow. Every time.
So I'm not chasing the million-dollar client. I'm here for the people on the way there, and I want Union Cowork to be the place they point back to and say that's where it accelerated. Invest in the room you build in, because the room builds you. I'd make that choice again tomorrow.
— Stephanie Lawrence, Owner & CEO
The commute is still broken.
California is one of the best states to live in and one of the worst to commute across. We chose to fix that for the people in our neighborhoods instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
Community doesn't build itself.
The events, the run clubs, the surf mornings, the neighborhood connections: none of it happens without intention. We show up so our members can. Every week, every location, without exception.
Depth over width.
The thing that makes Union work does not scale infinitely. The community manager who lives in the zip code. The 90% of members who walk or bike in. We protect that instead of trading it away.
The winged rhino.
A group of rhinos is called a crash. When they run together, nothing can stop them. That's the image Union was built on: not the solitary animal, but the collective. A community moving forward, each one stronger for the others around them.
We gave ours wings because we believe in what's possible when neighbors choose to build something together. The rhino runs. The crash moves mountains. That's what community looks like when it's real.
Love Your Neighbor
Relationships that go beyond business. The person at the next desk is more than a contact.
Accelerate Your Business
Hard work, good people, strong community. No shortcuts. No empty promises.
Stay Simple, Stay True
All-inclusive pricing. No hidden fees. No corporate noise. Just good spaces and good people.
Live Near Where You Work
The commute is a choice. We're here to make the local option better than the alternative.
California First
All five locations are in California. We're not trying to be everywhere. We're trying to be right here.
Community Over Cubicles
Anyone can rent you a desk. We're building something you actually want to come back to.