ltecato
Well-Known Member
I lived in Salinas for the past four or five years. Now I'm back in LA County. For what it's worth:
The flowers at dispensaries in LA appear to be a lot cheaper that what I could get in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/Bay Area region. So far I've only checked out dispensaries in the area between LA city limits and Orange County, but the places around here are charging a lot less than the dispensaries or delivery services up north.
When I first moved to Monterey County, there wasn't a single goddamn storefront dispensary closer than Santa Cruz. Over the years, the uptight assholes who run Monterey County relaxed a bit, so now there are a few storefronts around Monterey and Carmel, one in Castroville and one in Salinas.
Some strains that are "big" up north are not that common around LA/OC and vice versa. Well, I guess that should come as no big surprise. I personally like King Louis XIII and it was hard to find around Monterey County, but down in SoCal lots of places seem to have it. Sour Diesel was "all over" the dispensaries up north but seems to be a bit rare in LaLa Land.
A general observation about cannabis sales in California: It's almost like the shit is still illegal, because the businesses that sell it get treated worse than the average sleazy massage parlor, headshop, liquor store, tattoo joint or bail bondsman. Santa Cruz is the notable exception: If you go to a dispensary there, it's like visiting a spa or fancy doctor's office. Nice decor, relaxed atmosphere, usually.
But in San Jose, the city council are total NIMBYs and they've pushed the dispensaries in the scummiest parts of town. One place where I went for clones was forced to move from a fairly decent area to a site located next to a railroad with a modern-day hobo camp just outside its door. Now I'm a fairly big scary-looking white guy so I'm not afraid to visit one of these "marginal areas" during daylight hours, but a lot of people are not as adventurous or foolhardy as I am.
But so far, since I've moved back to LA, I've been to two local dispensaries and I'd say that they are shadier (in appearance) than the San Jose place next to the homeless camp. (However, both places had great prices and the employees were very nice and professional.) One place in Whittier is located in an ugly, windowless building that most people would call a "shed" in the parking lot of an auto repair business. If you did not know exactly what you were looking for, you'd drive right past it, and that's a problem with lots of storefronts in LA County -- lousy "signage." There must be a law that bans them from announcing their presence, because, man, unless you know the EXACT street address you're going to have a hell of a time finding the place. It's easier to find an "Asian massage" parlor than a cannabis dispensary!
The second LA-area dispensary that I've visited since I returned was in a strip shopping center also in Whittier, with the usual assortment of doughnut shops, liquor stores, bars, small restaurants as neighbors. The guy in the reception window had a pistol in an open carrying case sitting on the counter behind the glass. There was no sign outside to tell you that you were at the right place. The windows were blacked out and the customers had to just stand outside the door until the guard saw them on the closed-circuit camera monitor and buzzed them in.
I hate to admit this, but I've personally visited (many years ago) whorehouses in Mexico and Amsterdam that were more "respectable" looking and less intimidating than most of the completely legal cannabis dispensaries in the LA area. That sucks, because, remember, some of the cannabis consumers are using for medical reasons. What would it be like if all doctors' offices and pharmacies were forced to locate in run-down buildings in the poorest parts of towns, and banned from posting a "Physician" or "Pharmacy" sign on their doors?
Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I can use legally now, but I have a sneaking suspicion that legal cannabis is being "set up to fail" by the politicians and bureaucrats that want to keep treating it like it's still a jailable offense.
The flowers at dispensaries in LA appear to be a lot cheaper that what I could get in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/Bay Area region. So far I've only checked out dispensaries in the area between LA city limits and Orange County, but the places around here are charging a lot less than the dispensaries or delivery services up north.
When I first moved to Monterey County, there wasn't a single goddamn storefront dispensary closer than Santa Cruz. Over the years, the uptight assholes who run Monterey County relaxed a bit, so now there are a few storefronts around Monterey and Carmel, one in Castroville and one in Salinas.
Some strains that are "big" up north are not that common around LA/OC and vice versa. Well, I guess that should come as no big surprise. I personally like King Louis XIII and it was hard to find around Monterey County, but down in SoCal lots of places seem to have it. Sour Diesel was "all over" the dispensaries up north but seems to be a bit rare in LaLa Land.
A general observation about cannabis sales in California: It's almost like the shit is still illegal, because the businesses that sell it get treated worse than the average sleazy massage parlor, headshop, liquor store, tattoo joint or bail bondsman. Santa Cruz is the notable exception: If you go to a dispensary there, it's like visiting a spa or fancy doctor's office. Nice decor, relaxed atmosphere, usually.
But in San Jose, the city council are total NIMBYs and they've pushed the dispensaries in the scummiest parts of town. One place where I went for clones was forced to move from a fairly decent area to a site located next to a railroad with a modern-day hobo camp just outside its door. Now I'm a fairly big scary-looking white guy so I'm not afraid to visit one of these "marginal areas" during daylight hours, but a lot of people are not as adventurous or foolhardy as I am.
But so far, since I've moved back to LA, I've been to two local dispensaries and I'd say that they are shadier (in appearance) than the San Jose place next to the homeless camp. (However, both places had great prices and the employees were very nice and professional.) One place in Whittier is located in an ugly, windowless building that most people would call a "shed" in the parking lot of an auto repair business. If you did not know exactly what you were looking for, you'd drive right past it, and that's a problem with lots of storefronts in LA County -- lousy "signage." There must be a law that bans them from announcing their presence, because, man, unless you know the EXACT street address you're going to have a hell of a time finding the place. It's easier to find an "Asian massage" parlor than a cannabis dispensary!
The second LA-area dispensary that I've visited since I returned was in a strip shopping center also in Whittier, with the usual assortment of doughnut shops, liquor stores, bars, small restaurants as neighbors. The guy in the reception window had a pistol in an open carrying case sitting on the counter behind the glass. There was no sign outside to tell you that you were at the right place. The windows were blacked out and the customers had to just stand outside the door until the guard saw them on the closed-circuit camera monitor and buzzed them in.
I hate to admit this, but I've personally visited (many years ago) whorehouses in Mexico and Amsterdam that were more "respectable" looking and less intimidating than most of the completely legal cannabis dispensaries in the LA area. That sucks, because, remember, some of the cannabis consumers are using for medical reasons. What would it be like if all doctors' offices and pharmacies were forced to locate in run-down buildings in the poorest parts of towns, and banned from posting a "Physician" or "Pharmacy" sign on their doors?
Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I can use legally now, but I have a sneaking suspicion that legal cannabis is being "set up to fail" by the politicians and bureaucrats that want to keep treating it like it's still a jailable offense.
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