First Open-Air Cannabis Restaurant In US Opens In West Hollywood

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA — Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Cafe, a new restaurant and bar in West Hollywood that will allow diners to smoke marijuana inside and out, is set to open today, October 1. Thanks to a new license issued by the city in July, the restaurant will be the first of its kind, KTLA reported.

Lowell Farms is an open-air restaurant at 1201 N. La Brea Avenue, and promises cannabis cuisine and a smoking area.

However, the cannabis cafe will sit across the street from a synagogue, which has an outdoor area used by the congregation. A rabbi at a July city meeting asked for the business license to be rejected, and left without a word when it was approved, NBC4 reported.

Lowell Farms promised an air filtration system like the one used in casinos to gain unanimous approval from the city.

“We have families reaching out wanting to bring their kids or grandparents and high school groups of friends flying from all over the world,” restaurant director Kevin Brady told KTLA. “I feel like we’re Disney World.”

West Hollywood pot shops have been open since January 2018, but the approval of the restaurant is considered historic and many believe the move by the progressive city is only the start — even though the cannabis consumption area licenses are only good for a year. Skeptics are watching to make sure these marijuana milestones are here to last. The restaurant will be alcohol free since state law prohibits the consumption of cannabis and alcohol on the same site.

A National Restaurant Association survey released earlier this year showed that plant-based ingredients, including cannabis and CBD, were considered some of the top trends in the industry. Seventy-six percent of the 650 association-member chefs surveyed identified cannabis/CBD-infused food as the second-most popular trend. Cannabis-infused drinks were identified as the top trend.

City News Service contributed to this post