The city’s second recreational cannabis dispensary has finally opened on Wilshire, on the 1400 block, after years of uncertainty. Moreover, users of the happy herb have been blessed as a smoke shop has chosen to open immediately next door.
Called Harvest House of Cannabis, it’s located at 1418 Wilshire Blvd, just a few blocks down from the already established Local Cannabis Company, located at 925 Wilshire. That store actually opened in the city of Santa Monica in June 2023, more than a year and a half after the permit was granted in October 2021, six years after the application was requested in December 2017 and over 26 years since medical marijuana was made legal in the state of California.
Per the previous Santa Monica municipal code, only two dispensaries are currently allowed in the city and they were originally limited to medical use only, not recreational use, which means that customers will be required to have a doctor’s recommendation to purchase products. The Local Cannabis Company was finally granted a permit to sell on a recreational basis in December 2023.
Harvest was granted its initial license in January 2022 and now, two years and seven months later, it has officially opened its doors. The Daily Press has spoken to a number of new businesses that have recently opened in Santa Monica and many have expressed frustration with permitting issues and other related problems. However, Manager Sam Dabbs, says that hasn’t been the case with Harvest. Mostly.
"They've [the City] worked with us very well. They've helped us with a lot of our issues … Yes, inspections and you know, the permitting was difficult. I'm not gonna say it wasn't difficult. And every time we had construction issues, that was difficult, but otherwise, really, the City has been helpful," Dabbs said.
Harvest House of Cannabis was formally operated by Trulieve, but it is now 100% owned by Dabbs and investors local to the Santa Monica area.
Dabbs explains that they were already familiar with the owners of the Lion’s Lair chain of smoke shops, a family operated business serving the San Fernando Valley.
"We know the guys, so I mean, that's really a no brainer, it's a great idea. It's a great idea to have a smoke shop, accessory shop right next to a cannabis shop. So it wasn't a coincidence," Dabbs said.
Lion’s Lair Manager Chris Huynh, said that when the company was scouting around for a new location, they heard that Harvest was set to open and made every effort to secure this location. According to Huynh, they were able to "cement the deal" last year. However, in January of this year, a spokesperson for the City told the Daily Press in a statement, "We do not [currently] have a business license application for a smoke shop and are verifying whether a smoke shop would be permitted in that location."
Harvest occupies approximately 1,000 sq ft in size, while the smoke shop is slightly smaller. However, both businesses benefit from a gorgeous renovated interior, with almost church-like, high, wooden, angular ceilings.
"The whole building was totally remodeled from the ground up. You know, the building needed a lot of work," Dabbs said, adding, "There was a lot of fun remodeling the building, but of course, construction takes a long time."
"And every nail in here was inspected," he said. "They [told us] this was wrong, this was wrong. They wanted us to redo, redo it. So the inspections took a while," Dabbs said.
"We built a safe room. They came in, they didn't like a certain part of the safe room for safety reasons. They made us redo it, they made us redo some exit signs," Dabbs said, adding, "So they were great to work with. But they wanted to make sure safety is number one in Santa Monica."
In addition to Santa Monica, Harvest also delivers to Brentwood, Sawtelle and Pacific Palisades. And since the bygone behemoth of recreational cannabis Med Men has all but disappeared because, as Dabbs puts it, they expanded too much, too quickly, it’s nice that local consumers in Santa Monica have purchasing options.
Harvest House of Cannabis is located at 1418 Wilshire Blvd and is open Mon-Sat, 10am–8pm and Sun, 12–7pm.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
