It’s been a month chockablock with pot news here in the Golden – and soon to become Toasted – State.
That’s right, grandma. Pot becomes legal in California in just 12 short and very straight days.
What you may not have noticed in all the excitement is the plethora of creatively cuckoo names that pot vendors have come up with for their cannabis Gold Rush storefronts. According to the California State Board of Equalization, there are 500 marijuana clubs/dispensaries in California that are expected to bring in an estimated $870 million to $2 billion in revenue annually. There are both medicinal and recreational outlets, and some will be able to sell both kinds of pot.
Here are some of our favorites:
Big Moon Sky (statewide delivery)
Urbn Leaf (San Diego)
KindPeoples (Santa Cruz)
Purple Lotus (San Jose)
White Fire (San Jose)
Waterfall Wellness (SF)
The Green Cross (SF)
Bloom Room (SF)
We Are Hemp (Hayward)
Golden Angels Seniors Connection (Orange County)
Mr. Nice Guyz (Orange County)
Aunt Zelda’s (Oakland)
Pug Life Collective (Santa Ana)
The Higher Path (Sherman Oaks)
Clean Green (Crescent City)
KushFly (LA)
Auntie Em’s Edibles Company (Marina del Rey)
Buddha’s Buds (Whittier)
Church of Acceptance (Inglewood)
Balloon Room (LA)
Califlower Collective (Burbank)
Pot on the Spot Delivery (Burbank)
Chico Magic Bus (Chico)
Higher Education (Chico)
Backyard Boogie Collective (Penn Valley)
Reefer Gods (Isla Vista)
And finally, from Leafly, here’s an updated list of which of California’s largest cities will be allowing which kind of pot sales (as of Dec. 18):
- Los Angeles: Allowing retail cannabis stores, but they won’t be licensed by Jan. 1. The first shops are expected to open shortly thereafter;
- San Diego: Retail stores are expected to be open on Jan. 1;
- San Jose: Retail stores are expected to be open on Jan. 1;
- San Francisco: Allowing retail cannabis stores, but they won’t be licensed by Jan. 1. Look for the first openings by Jan 5-6 or so;
- Fresno: No retail cannabis stores allowed in the city;
- Sacramento: Retail stores are expected to be open on Jan. 1. Joe Devlin, the city’s head of cannabis regulation, said he expects a few existing medical cannabis dispensaries to be open for adult-use sales on New Year’s Day;
- Long Beach: Long Beach is currently licensing medical cannabis dispensaries but not adult-use retail stores. The city is drafting an ordinancethat could license and regulate adult-use retail stores by June 2018;
- Oakland: Retail stores are expected to be open on Jan. 1;
- Bakersfield: No retail cannabis stores allowed in the city;
- Anaheim: No retail cannabis stores allowed in the city;
- Santa Ana: Allowing retail cannabis stores, but they won’t be licensed by Jan. 1. Look for the first openings by Jan 5-6 or so;
- Riverside: Currently prohibits all cannabis business;
- Stockton: The city has approved four medical cannabis dispensaries but is not yet allowing retail adult-use stores. City officials will study the issue and tailor ordinances and regulations in later 2018;
- San Bernardino: Measure O, which passed in November 2016, authorized the city to regulate both medical and adult-use cannabis. But lawsuits have delayed implementation. Retail stores are likely in the future but probably won’t be open on Jan. 1;
- Modesto: The Modesto City Council recently voted to allow as many as 10 retail cannabis stores, but it’s unclear whether any will be ready to open on Jan. 1.