MISTR is becoming a Qween.
The blue building on the corner of San Vicente and Santa Monica Boulevard is going green as a queer cannabis dispensary Green Qween is set to move in. The venture is led by Tristan Schukraft, owner of The Abbey, who has acquired Zen Cannabis and partnered with Green Qween.
Schukraft, along with Green Qween co-founders Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley, plans to relocate and rebrand Zen Cannabis as Green Qween, providing an inclusive cannabis retail experience. The new dispensary will be located at the former MISTR marketing office at the intersection of San Vicente and Santa Monica Boulevards.
Utilizing Zen Cannabis Dispensary’s license, the team will rebrand the space to offer an environment that celebrates queer culture and identity year-round. The new location will feature a Pride Flag atop the building and a custom mural by queer artist Patrick Church.
“I want to build a cannabis brand for the gay community,” Schukraft said. “We’re excited to bring cannabis to the Rainbow District.”
The building’s proximity to West Hollywood Park might have been a problem if not for City Council’s controversial change to the 600-foot buffer zone in 2021. City zoning laws prohibit cannabis businesses from operating within 600 feet of so-called “sensitive-use areas” — daycare facilities, youth centers, or schools within a park property. Parks themselves are not considered sensitive-use areas, but the park contains a daycare facility that qualifies as a sensitive-use area.
Three years ago, developers of a cannabis lounge, Fantom Flower, had proposed an onsite consumption area on the second floor of the historic commercial building at 8811 Santa Monica Blvd., formerly occupied by Flaming Saddles, where patrons could smoke, vape and ingest edible cannabis products, while a restaurant would occupy the first floor.
City staff crafted a workaround to the problem by altering the map, re-centering the park’s buffer zone on the only section of the park that they believed required it — the southern parcel, where the Tiny Tots day care program was set to operate — leaving Santa Monica Boulevard open for cannabis businesses.
Schukraft, Rigal, and Bazley plan to expand Green Qween’s presence to new markets and queer villages where MISTR and Tryst Hospitality operate.
Green Qween currently operates a dispensary in Downtown Los Angeles and will open a second location in Sherman Oaks in 2024.
Schukraft is a technology entrepreneur turned hotelier and nightlife impresario. An L.A. native now residing in Puerto Rico, Schukraft founded ID90.COM, an e-ticketing platform for airline personnel. He later established MISTR, the largest telemedicine platform dedicated to HIV prevention and long-term HIV care. His hospitality and nightlife portfolio includes The Tryst beachfront hotel and Circo nightclub in San Juan, Puerto Rico, The Tryst in Puerto Vallarta, The Abbey in West Hollywood, and several LGBTQ+ venues on Fire Island and in Chicago.
Longtime residents and older visitors will remember this building as the former site for Don’t Panic, I still have a vintage shirt from when they were in business.
So what happened to Fantom Flower in that old Flaming Saddles location?
So much better getting high and buying pot from a place that celebrates queer culture.
Tristan Schukraft remains bullish about Boy’s Town; it is nice to see a “gay business” that is actually owned by gay people.
I actually don’t care who owns the business I just want the business to be something beneficial to the community. We have enough pot shops, we don’t need to have another one regardless of who owns it.
Yeah, of course he is. It’s where he finds all of the addicts he can make money off of. Abbey: drugs addicts, alcoholics, Mistr: sex addicts, Green Qween: more drug addicts. I’m sure that hotel he runs has all kinds lewd activities going on inside as well.
I don’t understand why you make this sh*t up and post such defamatory b.s. Why engage in a public forum if you just spew vitriolic nonsense?
You mean, why do I tell the truth? I can’t help it, it’s just the way I am.
Sad sad life you live, weho mary…
My life is wonderful, except that it’s flying by!
A queer dispensary? My goodness, does the LGBTQ community have to have separate (kinda) businesses for everything? There are so many dispensaries around that area. Don ‘t need another one.
It appears that Tristan has acquired Zen; so it will just be a relocation of an existing business under new ownership/management.
Has the City figured out who trimmed the 12 or 13 street trees in front of Zen? They are the only business on that block what makes sense for spending that kind of money – knowing Tristan has bought Zen kinda shines a light on who “may” have paid what would have been a several thousand dollar tree trimming cost.
What they say: inclusion, equity, diversity
What they do: bars, weed dispensaries, fast food joints
The City council talks up the place like its a progressive mecca but runs this city like it’s a slum
And it only appears to be getting worse.
A dispensary in that location seems sus. WeHo has a total hard-on for pot everywhere and then they scream bloody murder about cigarettes and ban those even in your own home. Double standard BS and it’s not health driven it’s money driven.
Yeah, remember all the crap that people got for smoking and now they have no problem with opening a pot shop close to the park where kids play. Lovely isn’t it?!
Of course it will. Bars and drugs. Welcome to WH.