Lifestyle

OG Cannabis Cafe, L.A.'s first pub for pot people, blazes back after a 4-year hiatus

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2024

OG Cannabis Cafe, L.A.'s first pub for pot people, blazes back after a 4-year hiatus

At first glance, the scene unfolding on a leafy, half-crowded patio in West Hollywood looks like any other gastropub on a Sunday afternoon. In one corner, a table of nine celebrates a milestone birthday around a vase filled with 21 delicate pink roses. In another, a table of five carries on three conversations at once while two propped up smartphones stream football games.

The occupants of a table for two in the middle of the patio whisper sweet nothings to each other and smile widely. Nearby, a party of one in a turquoise blue, flare-legged pantsuit contemplates how to tuck into a generous plate of waffles stacked with fried chicken and drizzled with syrup.

It’s with the second glance — or more likely the first deep inhale — that it all snaps into focus: when you realize that not far from the vase of roses, the birthday honoree is preparing to fire up a Stündenglass gravity bong, the football fans are passing around a dab rig shaped like Baby Yoda and the woman in the flare-legged pantsuit has a fork in one hand and a lighted joint in the other.

And they’re all busy consuming weed at OG Cannabis Cafe, the first place in the state where one could legally get high and chow down when it opened on Oct. 1, 2019, only to shutter 5½ months later because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rumors of its re-opening had come and gone ever since, including a much-hyped re-brand by the owners of High Times magazine. Still, the doors remained closed.

Now, after nearly four years, OG Cannabis Cafe is back open for business.

However, the local consumption-lounge scene has changed dramatically in that time with the opening of three other places to publicly (and legally) puff pot open within 2½ miles of the cafe’s North La Brea Avenue location: the Artist Tree Studio Dispensary Lounge, the Woods and PleasureMed, which includes the restaurant-with-a-side-of-reefer Irie. (They’re all in West Hollywood, the only city in Greater Los Angeles that has legally licensed consumption lounges up and running.)

After recent visits, it was apparent that OG Cannabis Cafe has remained very much the way it was when it opened (and closed) its doors.

“To be honest, we haven’t changed anything — it’s exactly the same except for the cannabis menu and some small changes to the menu,” the original cafe’s co-founder, Sean Black, said about reopening in an environment where he’s no longer the only game in town. “I love the idea of there being different kinds of cannabis experiences. I haven’t yet been to Irie for the high-end dining experience but I’m excited to try it. And I love the Woods. I had such a good time there.”

When asked if he and his partners feel any pressure in the new environment, Black waved it off. “We believe that we have created here a cannabis tourist destination … and we feel an obligation to ensure that people who come from other areas of the world, who are cannabis enthusiasts, have their first public opportunity to consume cannabis and have a meal in [what we believe is] the very first place in the world that you could do that.”

Rosie Aguirre brought her own Grogu dab rig and cannabis concentrate to smoke.

Nayeli Hernandez, right, takes a bong rip on her 21st birthday.

Jackie Palatnikov, left, photographs friend Gal, while the two dine at the newly reopened OG Cannabis Cafe.

What hasn’t changed

The space is still configured so cannabis can legally be consumed inside the cafe (which seats 40) as well as on the patio (which has an 80-person capacity), while beer and wine (but not weed) can be ordered on another patio. A hearty bar-food menu — think Buffalo chicken wings, nachos, smashburgers, truffle Parmesan fries and the like — is available throughout.

Behind the pub-grub menu is a new chef, Jonah Johnson of Jonah’s Kitchen in Santa Monica, who replaced Andrea Drummer, who was at the helm the first time around.

Due to federal banking laws, any cannabis purchased on site needs to be paid for in cash (there is an ATM available), though credit cards are accepted for food and drink purchases. In one small but noticeable departure from the before times, the same server takes orders for both comestibles and combustibles instead of having separate servers for food and flower.

Frederick Marshall says he’s been stopping by the cafe “about five times a week” since it reopened.

What has changed

Speaking of weed (that’s why you’re here, right?), the herbal offerings are probably the biggest switch-up for this incarnation of the cafe.

The cannabis menu features just three brands, two of which have yet to launch into dispensaries. On offer are infused pre-rolled joints and ground flower from flavor-forward, colorfully packaged Dizzies ($25 to $60, the only brand available elsewhere); pre-rolls and flower from indoor-grown Wav ($45 to $100); and greenhouse-grown (and incredibly fragrant) Helena Farms, available in loose flower or pre-roll form (ranging from $20 for 3.5 grams of flower up to $120 for a 1-ounce pack of 70 joints — a crowd-pleasing party-starter if ever there was one).

Among the offerings on the cannabis menu is a 1-ounce box of 70 pre-rolled joints from soon-to-launch, L.A.-based brand Helena Farms.

All three of the brands are owned by L.A.-based Elevate Holdings, for which Black happens to be a partner and serves as the chief creative officer. (He’s also one of 11 partners involved in OG Cannabis Cafe 2.0.) “They lent us the money to reopen the cafe,” Black said of Elevate Holdings, noting that exclusively featuring one company’s herbal offerings leans into the original purpose of his restaurant-meets-weed concept.

“I founded Lowell Herb Co. in 2011,” he said, “and we first opened this as the Lowell Cafe.” Black said the original vision was to feature Lowell’s products on the smokable side of the menu as a marketing play. That all changed when he and Lowell parted ways just months after the doors opened in 2019.

“So [now,] it’s actually fulfilling its original purpose — promoting cannabis,” Black said, “in addition to being a fun little outdoor cafe where you can get high instead of getting drunk. That’s the whole premise. It’s pretty simple.”

The indoor area at the cafe also serves food and cannabis and seats about 40 people.

A pub for pot people

Black isn’t the only one making the alternative-to-alcohol, pub-for-pot-people comparison either. A Sunday visit in mid-January found Montana Alexander, 25, ready to smoke up with a table full of friends. She had made the trek from Santa Clarita after discovering the cafe on Instagram. “This place is literally a dream,” Alexander said between puffs, “because I don’t drink, so when my friends go to bars I’m like, ‘So lame.’”

Alexander’s sentiment was echoed by Nayeli Hernandez of Porter Ranch, the aforementioned birthday girl. “I don’t really drink,” she told The Times. “So from the time I turned 20, I was thinking about doing this,” she said. Hernandez’s mother, sitting next to her at the head of the table, chimed in.

“I was down for it,” said Christina Hernandez of her daughter’s request. “This is what they do now.”

Miguel Aguirre fires up a Wav Purple Zushi pre-rolled joint while watching a football game.

A neon sign bearing the logo of the OG Cannabis Cafe lights up a back wall.

Act Up India, left, and DJ Tricey Trice “shotgun” a hit on the leafy green outdoor patio.

Coming soon: comedy night, queer night and marijuana meditation

Although the cafe quietly re-opened to patrons in late October, things are set to kick into high gear this month, starting with a big watch party for the big football game on Feb. 11 (smoke a bowl for the … well, you get the picture) hosted by former mixed martial arts fighter Nick Diaz.

“The week of the Super Bowl is going to be packed,” Dejanae Evins, the cafe’s experiential marketing and events manager, told The Times. “On the 13th, we’ll be starting our [every-other-Tuesday] queer wine night called Verse, which will be co-hosted by Ashlee Belzo[of cannabis collective] Puff Dao on our wine patio, where people can enjoy a glass of wine, small bites and a DJ. And then, if they want to end their night with a joint and a sundae on the other side, they can do that.”

In addition, Evins said there will be weekly comedy nights from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays (next week, it’s bumped to Thursday because of Valentine’s Day). Also beginning Feb. 13, there will be morning meditations (think sound baths and guided meditation) on the second and fourth Tuesday mornings of each month. “People will be able to come in,” Evins said, “really start their day on a high note and then move into doing something productive, whether that’s co-working or meeting friends for lunch. It’s our way of staying connected to the wellness community.

“We also have some really big plans for 420,” Evins said of the annual April 20 celebration of all things cannabis that’s less than three months away. “So definitely stay tuned for that.”

Cannabis Cafe

1201 N. La Brea Ave.
West Hollywood
Noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
cannabis.cafe

Know before you go

You must be 21 or older to enter the cannabis-consuming side of the cafe, and a valid, government-issued ID is required.
Unlike the other local consumption lounges, you can bring your own cannabis (or cannabis extracts) to smoke here — for a “tokage” fee, which is currently $25 for table of three or fewer and $50 for tables of four or more.
Also unlike other local consumption lounges, the cafe doesn’t operate alongside a traditional dispensary, which means you can’t just pop in, buy a bag and bounce. But you can consume a little and then cut out, Black says.
Rolling papers, grinders, lighters and rolling trays are provided, and you may also bring your own pipe or glass. Bongs and pipes may be purchased on-site, and Stündenglass gravity bongs can be rented for $50.
On-site valet parking is available for $10 (for your designated driver). Remember: When you’re high, you shouldn’t operate anything larger than a soup spoon much less a vehicle of any kind.
Walk-ins are accepted on a space-available basis, but reservations are encouraged and may be made via OpenTable.
Although the establishment serves cannabis and food, it does not serve cannabis-infused food.

Lifestyle

You know the Mayflower. What about the White Lion? Here’s the story of ‘Two Ships’

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Press Room

You know the Mayflower. What about the White Lion? Here’s the story of ‘Two Ships’

Just in time for a contentious 250th anniversary of the United States of America, historian David S. Reynolds’ latest book, Two Ships, helps us realize that any country that couldn’t agree on its own origin story is destined for divisive times.

Two Ships is about the complicated, conjoined legacy of the landings of the Mayflower, which carried the Pilgrims to Plymouth, Mass., in 1620, and the White Lion, which arrived in Jamestown a year earlier, bringing the first enslaved Africans to Virginia.

As Reynolds demonstrates, it’s not so much the facts of these two voyages, as it is the meanings ascribed to them, that made them such a powerful metaphor for two conflicting visions of American identity.

To simplify, the Mayflower’s passengers were separatist Puritans, dissenters to the reign of the English king, James I. As the United States developed, the Mayflower was credited with carrying the seeds of a radical democracy to the New World, one in which all men (in theory, at least) were equal before God.

In contrast, the European settlers of Jamestown were Royalists, also known as Cavaliers. Loyal to the monarchy, they believed in a strict hierarchy.

The 400 Years Project Looks At Native American Identity Through The Native Lens

But the meaning of the images of the two ships shifted depended on who was invoking them and when. Not surprisingly, the metaphor was deployed most vigorously during the Civil War. In abolitionist speeches and writings, the White Lion or the “Slave-Ship,” as it was commonly called, was condemned for infecting America with the “plague-spot” of slavery.

Reynolds says that Frederick Douglass resorted to the “two ships” metaphor frequently, while Lincoln avoided it, hoping to preserve a unified ship of state. Meanwhile, Southern descendants of Cavaliers invoked the Mayflower to emphasize the intolerance and “cruel, persecuting” character of the Puritans. In a comment that resonates for our own times, Reynolds says:

It didn’t matter to the South that … by the mid-nineteenth century, the North had become a kaleidoscope of religious denominations, …, few of which resembled the faith of the Plymouth colonists. Distortion is intrinsic to cultural memory, especially when amplified by sectional or political bias. For Southerners, the Mayflower had brought Puritanism, which had yielded fanatical movements like abolitionism, now a dire threat to the Union.

In a brief-but-fascinating digression into the unpredictable power of literary fiction, Reynolds observes that the South’s fondness for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s anti-Puritan novel, The Scarlet Letter, and, even more, for the medieval historical romances of Sir Walter Scott, bolstered its nostalgia for a largely-imagined feudal society.

Reynolds quotes the always-quotable Mark Twain, no fan of Scott’s, as saying that Scott “did measureless harm; more real and lasting harm, perhaps, than any other individual that ever wrote …”

Two Ships is a dazzling survey of some three centuries of American history through a close reading of a metaphor. By the 1890s, Reynolds says, the interpretive tide had turned again: “Southern and Northern whites, feeling threatened by people of color and by an array of European immigrants, were retreating to a cocoon of racial solidarity that Mayflower celebrations helped reinforce.”

By the later-20th century, the image of the Mayflower was depoliticized and commercialized into Pilgrim hats and Black Friday sales. The powerful metaphor of the two ships receded into the mist.

Seven years ago, however, the 1619 Project piloted the White Lion — “The Slave-Ship” — back into view and anchored it at the center of debates about slavery’s place in the national story. The 1619 Project has been faulted for its historiography, and it does lie outside of the chronological boundaries of Reynolds’ book; still, it seems too momentous a reappearance of the White Lion not to at least acknowledge in this book.

That criticism noted, I think reading Two Ships would be an excellent way to observe this particular Fourth of July. It’s wise for all of us to have a more informed awareness of how Americans have understood, misunderstood and, often, flattened each other into stereotypes. Or, as Ernest Hemingway, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims’ more cynical descendants, might say in response to that sentiment: “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

Lifestyle

A historically hot Paris Fashion Week photographed with a kid’s camera

Published

4 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Press Room

A historically hot Paris Fashion Week photographed with a kid’s camera

I took a kid’s camera to Paris Fashion Week, because was it ever really that serious? Yes and no. This men’s season happened during one of the hottest weeks in France’s recorded history, which inspired that specific brand of collective hysteria brought on by living through yet another unprecedented moment together — taking over our brains and ruining our plans to wear boots — and a grander reflection on what we were doing there and why. The throngs of teenagers doing back flips into the Canal Saint-Martin and playing soccer in the street set the mood for the week. If the world is ending, you might as well swim in dirty water and have fun doing it, no?

As far as the shows went, there was the coastal stoner energy of Tokyo-based Auralee — brightly colored leathers and furry flip-flops — that reminded me of the low-key elegance of hanging out in Southern California. At the Rick Owens show, Rick-heads made minimal weather-restrictive tweaks to their usual uniforms — platforms, leather, ground-grazing garments — making you appreciate the beauty in that level of ascetic dedication. Louis Vuitton built a literal beach as its runway, complete with sand and a giant wave that felt like a mirage: Is this a heat-induced hallucination or yet another buzzed-about set design under men’s creative director Pharrell Williams? At the Dries Van Noten show, there was an ice-cold beer fridge and popsicles, a chic and inspired detail only rivaled by a collection that was a breath of fresh air during a week where I Googled the symptoms of heat stroke more than once. The Willy Chavarria show was air-conditioned, pumped with Xinú perfume and felt expensive. Sven Marquardt, a Berlin photographer and Berghain’s most famous bouncer, was sitting in front of me, which I took as an incredibly good omen. The painted blue feet and Oakley collab sunglasses at the Kiko Kostadinov show felt auspicious as well.

A model walks with his hands in his vest

There were conversations floating around about how apocalyptic it felt sitting at a fashion show in over 100-degree Fahrenheit weather, our backs soaked, our minds dizzied, when the industry is responsible for something like 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The cognitive dissonance contributed to the thickness in the air that week.

At the Comme des Garçons show, called “If the War Were to End..,” models danced and ran and skipped out onto the runway for the finale, soundtracked by the joyous sound of children singing “You’re So Good to Me” by the Langley Schools Music Project. In that moment, we were happy, we were clapping, we might have even been hopeful. Humans have the capacity to hold a lot — a fan in one hand while attempting not to completely melt in the front row, and a fantasy that there might still be a future where we get to wear those leopard-print Dries shoes we fell in love with on the runway.

People stand in front of a wall bearing the words "Paris Tourisme"

A model wears Comme des Garçons, head-to-toe.

A person in black shoes, left, and a person in pink shoes

Seated attendees watch a model on a blue carpet

A woman in sunglasses stands in a beach setting

People use their smartphones to photograph a person in a suit and tie

Scenes from the On X Online Ceramics rave.

Five models wearing sunglasses stand together

Lifestyle

After weeks of speculation, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wed in New York

Published

14 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Press Room

After weeks of speculation, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wed in New York

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, pictured at a basketball game in May, announced their engagement in August 2025.

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NEW YORK — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are officially married.

After three years of dating, The pop icon and Super Bowl-winning football player, both 36, tied the knot in New York, according to a statement from Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine.

There were neither bridesmaids nor groomsmen. “Instead, her brother Austin Swift served as Taylor’s Man of Honor and Jason Kelce was Travis’ Best Man. The ceremony joined both families together,” Swift’s publicist said in the statement released Friday evening.

The ceremony was officiated by comedian and a friend of the couple, Adam Sandler, the statement added.

The singer’s rep said that the couple was dressed in Christian Dior Haute Couture.

“The bride and groom’s wedding ceremony looks have been created by Christian Dior Haute Couture. They are designed by Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of Dior Women’s, Men’s and Haute Couture Collections, in close collaboration with the Bride and Groom,” the statement said. “This is the designer’s first couture wedding dress for a world-renowned celebrity. Their shoes were custom made by Christian Louboutin and the bride wore Cartier jewelry.”

Security around the event was intense, so it remains unclear if the wedding was charming, if a little gauche. But the night before the ceremony the 20,000-person stadium was bathed in a lavender haze.

Details gleaned from a city permit obtained by The Associated Press, showed details of a “special event at MSG” scheduled to begin Friday evening and running overnight Saturday.

As speculation built, fans began gathering in front of the stadium ahead of the expected wedding, despite the couple’s efforts to keep details of the celebration under wraps.

Superfans and sleuths appeared to have their hunches confirmed on Friday, as dozens of black cars dropped off elegantly dressed guests outside of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Lisa Benham and her daughter, Zara, posed for selfies outside the Garden. They’re visiting from England and both told NPR they’re huge Swifties.

“I just remember always listening to her,” said Zara Benham, age 17. The women said they’ve followed all the ins and outs of Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City chiefs.

“I’m thrilled for her. I love it. I love the whole story,” gushed Lisa Benham, 47, who says she became a fan after her daughter dragged her to a Swift concert. “I’m pleased for them, really pleased for them.”

A woman wearing a white veil stands outside Madison Square Garden in New York City on July 3, 2026. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s official wedding plans are tightly under wraps, but New York is bracing to host the celebrity marriage of the year.

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Swift has a massive global platform, and a tendency to pull back the curtain on her personal life in song lyrics and the occasional documentary. But the shared little about her wedding plans since she and Kelce announced their engagement last August.

“You would think that I had been the type of person who would have obsessed over the idea of a wedding my whole life, but I actually never thought about what I would ever do or what I would want until I met the person,” Swift told the U.K.’s Heart Radio in October, while promoting her last album The Life of a Showgirl.

In the months since, speculation mounted over where and when the wedding would take place. In recent weeks, the theories all pointed in the same direction: New York City’s Madison Square Garden on July Fourth weekend.

Swift loves a good Easter egg, and her fans have been known to crack at least some of them successfully. That appears to have been the case with her wedding, even as some wondered for days whether it was merely a high-profile ruse.

Swift and Kelce celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory in Feb. 2024.

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A recap of their romance

Swift and Kelce began dating in the summer of 2023, during the first year of her record-breaking Eras Tour.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end admitted on a July 2023 episode of New Heights — the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, retired NFL player Jason Kelce — that he had tried to meet Swift after one of her shows in the area.

“I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the [friendship] bracelets I made for her,” Kelce said. “I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.”

Swift later told Time she thought that call-out was “metal as hell.”

Within months, she was attending his games — most famously, the 2024 Super Bowl his team went on to win. He was spotted in the crowd — and even onstage — at many of her shows the next year.

Fans got a peek into their chemistry when Swift appeared on New Heights last August to announce her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl (which she said was heavily influenced by their relationship). She said she and Kelce bonded in part over similarities in their careers, in which they both “entertain people for three-plus hours in NFL stadiums.”

Less than two weeks later, Swift announced their engagement on Instagram, with photos of a flower-filled backyard proposal and a massive diamond ring. In an episode of The Graham Norton Show a few months later, Swift deflected questions about her wedding planning but joked about inviting “anyone I’ve ever talked to.”

Sleuths had been eyeing Madison Square Garden

Speculation about a July 3rd wedding at MSG reached new heights this month.

Part of that was through the process of elimination: Swifties descended on Watch Hill, R.I. — where Swift owns a seaside estate — on June 13, but tabloid reports of a ceremony there proved unfounded.

But there also seemed to be a paper trail leading to Manhattan.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemed to drop a hint while talking to reporters in June.

“We are used to big events, and we are incredibly ⁠excited for this one,” Mamdani said, referring to the World Cup. “We know it coincides with the Knicks Finals run. We know it coincides with July Fourth, America 250, Taylor Swift’s wedding all happening at the same time.”

Forklifts and trucks were spotted outside Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday, as speculation about a weekend wedding grew.

Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images

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Then, The New York Times reported that an event company obtained permits for a gathering of up to 1,000 people at Madison Square Garden on July 3rd (and a smaller event the day before). It also cited unnamed sources with details about plans for street closures in the area, later confirmed by City Hall spokesperson Dora Pekec to Reuters.

CBS News shared video this week of trucks unloading “garden party” themed equipment outside the venue earlier this week. And the venue’s online event calendar is suspiciously empty until July 7.

Mamdani appeared to double down Tuesday, while speaking to reporters about the forthcoming heat wave.

“My recommendation to all New Yorkers is to stay inside and stay cool, and if you happen to be getting married at Madison Square Garden you will be staying inside and staying cool, and I think it’s a good example to set for the city at large,” he said with a smile.

This isn’t the first celebrity wedding celebration to take place at MSG. Sly Stone married actress Kathy Silva there in June 1974. As Stone wrote in his memoir, he was talking to his A&R liaison at Epic Records, Stephen Paley, about wanting to marry Silva, and one of them jokingly suggested he do so before an upcoming show.

“I could do a gig, get paid, and get married at the same time. ‘Go, go, go,’ I told him. He went and went fast,” Stone wrote, adding, “Steve wanted everyone to wear gold to keep the shine high.”

According to a New York Times report at the time, the two married in front of nearly 23,000 people, at a ceremony that turned into a full-fledged Sly and the Family Stone concert.

A closer look at Swift’s engagement ring from the 55th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala in New York last month.

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Why New York, and why now?

Madison Square Garden, which can hold nearly 20,000 people, may seem like a surprising choice for a singer who prizes her privacy.

But Emma Fitzsimmons, one of the New York Times reporters covering the wedding, told NPR last week that it makes sense for privacy and security reasons.

“It’s sort of this locked box where paparazzi can’t get inside,” she said. “There’s not going to be helicopters overhead. She can release photos of the event and her dress, which we’re all very curious to see, on her own terms.”

Swift, who owns a sprawling Tribeca compound, is famously a fan of New York City. She even has a song about it: “Welcome To New York,” on the album 1989, inspired by her relocation to the city.

And she has a well-documented love of Fourth of July. Over the years, many photos have emerged — some on Swift’s own Instagram — of the star celebrating the holiday weekend in Rhode Island with friends and fireworks.

And it’s not lost on Swifties that she met Kelce shortly after the holiday in 2023, which she celebrated with girlfriends and shared photos of on Instagram.

“Happy belated Independence Day from your local neighborhood independent girlies,” she captioned the photo. “See you tonight Kansas Cityyy.”