PHP: Set Datetime with a Specific Time Zone

// Some databases or systems use GMT or UTC, so we need to 
// get the correct date time format at this point
$UTC = new DateTimeZone("UTC");
$dateTime = new DateTime($date, $UTC);


// Set your preferred time zone
$dateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/Los Angeles'));


// Extra: Format your date time 
$dateTimeFormatted = $dateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
echo  $dateTimeFormatted;