The launch of new cannabis businesses in West Hollywood is moving forward, with the city’s Business License Commission set to hold public hearings on Aug. 13 on applications for business licenses from two of them.
Those businesses are Calma WeHo and the Artist Tree. Calma is one of eight applicants that qualified for a recreational cannabis license. It plans to open a shop at 1155 N. La Brea Ave.. Jason Illoulian, whose Faring is a major real estate developer in West Hollywood, is a co-owner of Calma, which also qualified for a cannabis delivery license.
Artist Tree is seeking a business license for a location at 8625 Santa Monica Blvd. from which it will sell both recreational and medicinal cannabis products and also provide a delivery service. That location is near Westbourne Drive and is the building that houses the Front Runner athletic shoe store. Its owners are Avi Kahan and Mitchell Kahan, brothers who control The Green Easy and Canto Diem dispensaries in Los Angeles and North Hollywood, respectively, and have minor stakes in California Compassionate Care Network (CCCN) and MMD.
The Business License Commission on July 16 approved licenses for Lowell Café, which looks likely to be the nation’s first cannabis café and will be located at 1201 N. La Brea Ave. near Lexington, and for PleasureMed, which will feature recreational and medical use cannabis spaces on the first floor of a new building on the parking lot to the east of Pleasure Chest at 7715 Santa Monica Blvd. On the second floor, there will be a lounge where customers can consume cannabis products. PleasureMed also will deliver cannabis products to customers within a 10-mile radius.
All in all, the City of West Hollywood has approved applications for eight cannabis businesses in each of five categories (with the existing four medical cannabis automatically approved.) To open, the licensees must secure a location for the business and then obtain the appropriate planning permits from the city’s Current and Historic Preservation Planning Division, affirming that the proposed use is permitted within the zoning for the property. After obtaining planning permits the licensees have the hearing before the Business License Commission in which the commission will approve or deny issuance for the business license and set any necessary conditions on the business. Then each licensee must obtain a license from the State of California.
The Commission meeting is open to the public and will take place at 7 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. south of Santa Monica. Parking is free in the five-story structure behind the Chambers with a ticket validated at the meeting.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave the address of the Calma cannabis business as 1107 N. Harper Ave. In
The illustration for the building for the Calma shop looks very boring. I thought that it would be a bit more upscale lookings. That just looks like a stirp mall location.
Talk about corrupt WEHO. Just read this. A City Manager runs the show. And the head of Marathon Communications, the Townscape PR guy, gets a license. I’m sure the three Johns and Horvath helped push that through. West Hollyweed City “Student” Council was on board. What’s going to happen when we see who’s really running WEHO??? All these WHITE MALE DEVELOPERS and their WHITE MALE LOBBYISTS. Backed by tree-hugging council members. Four of no color and one of some color??? West Hollywood is a joke.
Beyond the haze, with all the smoke and $$$$ being thrown around will anyone see the similarities to the White House? The players appear interchangeable utilizing the same formula.
MWHGA Hats for Sale in Blue!!! Welcome to the privately owned monopoly board playground in Weho.
Just read about Marathon Communications claim that they “won over skeptical neighbors and ushered the Frank Gehry designed mixed use development to unanimous approval from Los Angeles decision makers after a multi-year process.” That is a patently false statement on their laudatory website.
Exactly whom are you referring to @ Marathon?
Richard Lichtenstein. CEO of Marathon.
So which license belongs to Lichtenstein?
“Richard Lichtenstein is one of the owners of The Antidote, a proposed restaurant that qualified for an edible consumption license. Lichtenstein is the founder and president of Marathon Communications, a local public relations firm that has represented clients such as Townscape Partners, developers of the 8899 Beverly and 8150 Sunset projects.” The above is from a WEHOville story announcing the licenses. Marathon is closely associated with Duran, Heilman, Horvath and D’Amico since their client, Townscape, gave thousands of dollars in political donations to these politicians. As for 8150 Sunset, Meister (then Mayor) negotiated a terrible on the spot lowball deal… Read more »
Thank you. Did not closely follow the details of the licensing process however am quite informed about the entire 8150 Sunset project and what flaws caused the failure of WH to negotiate a better circumstance and the appeals decision. That project unfortunately in 99% go due to inaccuracies and lack of preparedness of several parties advocating for a better project.
this is the very last thing we need.
Welcome to West Weedville! Nothing good will come of this.
Would like to know what % of these licenses are going to social equity applicants or partnerships with them? These are those applicants from communities that were disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs, economically disadvantaged and disproportionately affected by the criminalization of cannabis.
Very good question.
That question is about 2 and a half years too late and the answer is no.