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If your notice says 1945 S. Hill Street, you are headed to Metro Court, a busy misdemeanor building near the Convention Center. A DUI arrest by LAPD in the central city usually lands here. Weekday hours are listed as 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and arriving late to a criminal calendar can lead to a bench warrant, so the logistics matter. Below are notes on parking and the clerk's windows, how remote check-in works, and the separate DMV and DUI program tracks. The DMV's 10-day window to request a hearing started with your arrest, so do not let it slide while you sort out the court date.
Metropolitan Courthouse — court & DMV details
Why your case is here
Metro Court at 1945 S. Hill Street, near the Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, is the dedicated misdemeanor courthouse for central Los Angeles. DUIs from downtown, Hollywood, Echo Park, Mid-Wilshire, Westlake, and South LA are heard here, and it reportedly handles the largest volume of misdemeanor DUI filings in the county. One key point: it is a misdemeanor court — a felony DUI (such as a DUI causing injury) from central LA goes instead to the Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center downtown.
The LA City Attorney prosecutes here
Because most of Metro's docket comes from arrests inside the City of Los Angeles, your misdemeanor DUI is prosecuted by a Deputy LA City Attorney — not the District Attorney. The City Attorney's office runs its own DUI policies and plea practices, which an experienced defense attorney needs to know going in.
Hill Street: the garage, the windows, and the Pico stop
One courthouse guide says public parking is available for a fee in the parking structure, with metered spaces on surrounding streets. For rail, Metro's A Line and E Line both stop at Pico station on Flower Street at Pico Boulevard, in the Convention District. The walking route from there to Hill Street has not been confirmed here, so check a map and allow generous time.
The criminal clerk is on the second floor at windows one through three, with a listed phone number of (213) 745-3202. The traffic clerk is on the first floor, and a DUI is a criminal matter, so go to the second floor.
Checking in on screen from outside the building
The court's announcement says LACourtConnect became the exclusive remote platform for criminal matters at the Metropolitan Courthouse on June 30, 2025. A participant picks the criminal case type, finds the hearing by case number, calendar, or name, and checks in shortly before it begins. The court then provides a Microsoft Teams link into the courtroom, with audio and video options. No advance registration is required, and an attorney with several cases can check in to all of them under one login.
None of that means you can skip the drive. Whether you may appear remotely is up to the judge and the type of hearing, so Ron confirms it before the date, and it helps to test the link early.
Your license and your classes for a central LA arrest
The DMV hearing runs on a separate track from Metro Court. You request it within 10 days of the notice. Hearings are conducted by Teams video, by phone, or in person, and the Driver Safety phone line is (833) 543-7703. The DMV's office page lists its Driver Safety office in El Segundo. Our DMV hearing page covers what the hearing is for.
For scale, the DMV says a first suspension after a chemical test result of 0.08% or higher runs four months, while a refusal begins with a one-year suspension. Those periods are why the hearing request cannot wait for your first court date.
After a suspension, the DMV requires proof of financial responsibility, usually an SR-22 from your insurer, along with a $125 reissue fee. In court, Vehicle Code section 23538 sets a licensed DUI program as part of a first-offense sentence, and the length depends on your test result and the judge's order. The DMV keeps a directory of providers. If your case might be a felony, our felony DUI page explains what changes.
The 10-day DMV deadline
Your Metro Court case is separate from the DMV's case against your license, and the DMV's 10-day deadline to request a hearing starts at arrest. How the DMV hearing works →
How Ron defends a DUI at the Metropolitan Courthouse
For a misdemeanor DUI arrested inside the City of Los Angeles, the prosecutor is a Deputy City Attorney. The District Attorney takes felony DUI cases, which are heard at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center downtown instead of at Metro. Ron's first job is to find out which category your case falls into, because the charge level changes the courthouse, the prosecutor, and the exposure.
Once you have entered a plea at arraignment, the case moves into pretrial hearings. Ron asks for the police reports, body camera video, and the chemical test records, and examines the stop, the field sobriety tests, and how the breath or blood sample was collected and stored. Some cases resolve through negotiation, and others go to a motion or a trial. No result can be promised.
Metro Court uses LACourtConnect for remote criminal appearances, but under Penal Code section 977 the court may still order you to come in person for a misdemeanor DUI arraignment, plea, or sentencing. Ron's office is in Irvine, and he coordinates your court dates here with the DMV hearing.
Where will my downtown or Hollywood DUI be heard?
Who prosecutes my case at Metro?
What if my DUI is a felony?
How do I keep my license?
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Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office — and works directly with you, not a call center.
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