Lowell Cafe Becomes America’s First Cannabis Cafe

It’s officially happened! Cannabis is having a proper coming out party and appropriately in West Hollywood California. One of the most Cannabis friendly cities in the country is enjoying the fanfare of being the first to show America what is possible.

Cannapolitan was given an exclusive invite opportunity to discover the new Lowell Farms branded Café before the official opening date. Here’s what you want to know.

Is it the coolest thing ever to be allowed to smoke Cannabis in a restaurant in public openly and freely?

YES!!! It is certainly an amazing feeling for a long time Cannapolitan like myself to finally enjoy this moment and take it all in. That is the first thought that comes to mind when you first sit down and light your joint at Lowell Café. After you’ve had a moment to look around and soak up the inviting environment and get into the atmosphere, check out both menus for the food and Cannabis. The Cannabis menu is a fun read and helps introduce the guest in a casual and informative manner. Cannabis offerings will vary on season and stock and it seems that each week there are a few new changes with the menu in just a few short weeks of being open.  Patrons are encouraged to ask questions from the experienced flower servers.

What’s the Vibe Like?

As you walk into the entry the walls are covered in living plants and portraits of famous Cannabis people within the inside dining areas. Outside on the patio area, planters with trees are in the center of the space that also offers seating at the small tables for two. Larger tables and booths surround the walls of the open-air patio. Charming strings of lights are strung across the entire space and accent the huge billboard (featured photo) that is immediately above the restaurant. The tunes are at a respectable level that enhances the vibe and the selection of music had us feeling right at home. The staff members are really friendly and helpful from beginning to end. From the valet parking members, hosts, servers, and casually dressed security had us feeling really welcome and validated. No weirdness here.

The Budget Breakdown

Lowell Café has already raised the bar because they were the first to set it. Hopefully the business model has sustainability for patrons that don’t mind dropping a good amount of money for the experience. We were not made aware of the “tokage fee” when we visited and did bring in our own pre-rolls. I brought a Lowell Farms branded pre-roll to kick off the experience out of respect and appreciation… but I would not be happy if later I learned that there was a $30 per person fee! A bit steep indeed and might I say at that point it’s more feasible to buy one of their pre-rolls starting at around $16-$45 depending on the menu, saving you the ginormous fee for a table of tokers. I was a bit thrown off by that, as I was really enjoying the idea of ordering food and smoking your own Cannabis at your table, after all I am ordering food… Luckily, we were there during a friends and family invite opportunity so the rules were not yet being enforced, but it’s good to note to be prepared to spend some extra dough for the Cannabis experience.

The Cannabis Menu

The ultimate experience all depends on your budget. The Cannabis menu ranges with vape carts, pre-rolls, packs of pre-rolls, eighths, edibles, and concentrates sold by the gram. Here’s where it gets hazy and perhaps it’s a rule that isn’t technically enforced but, you can’t take any of the Cannabis products you buy there with you (I feel you shaking your head, I know!)  I hope you can appreciate us keeping it real here at Cannapolitan. First off, Cannabis isn’t the same as alcohol. Most of us understand that you can’t by an alcoholic drink and take half of it home in an open container, that’s a given. But to spend money on Cannabis (that is priced over an average dispensary) and then not take home what you didn’t consume, is well for lack of a better term is wasteful and ludicrous. I know zero Cannabis enthusiasts that are cool with buying Cannabis and then throwing away what couldn’t be consumed in the allotted hour and half table time. This is not sustainable for the majority of true Cannabis consumers. Whether that policy is enforced is really the bottom line. I watched videos online of other customers that came after the opening and were showing the package of pre-rolls that they purchased and still had a few left inside. The policy makes no sense, so let’s all agree to respect the neighborhood around the restaurant and take our left overs home and we’ll all be happy.

At one point during our meal we watched the table of four next to us order an eighth of flower and four tapered glass bongs for the table and just as I imagined it would happen, it did! Each one at the table packed the bowls and then “cheers” together all the bongs in the center of the table… it was everything a Cannapolitan could want see to happen! Magic!

 

The Food Arrives Perfectly Timed

My counterpart and I decided to split a meal and dessert to keep it fairly light. We ordered the turkey club wrap and the Mexican chocolate sundae. The food menu is very inventive and full of options of sweet and savory dishes. The very WEHO selection ranges from over the top “smash burger” to the elaborate “signature Lowell cobb” salad to the “seriously better than vegan, vegan nachos” there is something for everyone. Reviews on all the food has been outstanding. Our turkey club wrap was good, nothing super exciting other than the homemade potato chips inside was stoner stereotyped. After seeing other tables nearby, it did make me wish I ordered the “smash burger” and gone for broke on the calories. The Mexican chocolate sundae was a sinful array of layers of awesome with: vanilla ice cream, salted caramel, chocolate mousse, brownie, torched marshmallow, and a bruleed banana. The adorable presentation is Instagramable as seen here, but it was a mess to try to eat out of this small mason jar container, other than that it was incredible.

Cannapolitan Dreams Come True

Our overall experience at Lowell Café was certainly one for the books! What a great experience and feeling it was to simply enjoy the freedom that has come with legalization. All of the staff at the time we visited was outstanding and very gracious. Based on my counterpart and myself, we feel with a few policy maneuvers and perhaps a more feasible budget friendly approach on the “tokeage fee” (minimum food order perhaps) would be a more long-term sustainable approach to keeping people coming back. We’re ok with paying a reasonable fee for tokeage if that’s what keeps the lights on so be it, but a reasonable fee for a table should just be a flat fee. If that fee is more than a meal, you’re stretching it. For now, I’m sure that this will be the norm until the other seven licensed Cannabis lounges open in West Hollywood. Then I suspect there will be a shift in competition and prices. With all of that said, we appreciate and respect what Lowell is offering. Lowell Café offers the very finest high-end luxury Cannabis experience with premium Cannabis on the menu and a food menu that will satisfy your decadent munchies. Thank you, Lowell Farms and Café, for a first-time dining experience unlike anything else in the world. We highly recommend that you make reservations with time to enjoy your Lowell Cafe experience with ease, visit thier site here. Lowell Cafe is located at 1201 N. La Brea Ave. West Hollywood, CA 90038.

We also highly recommend that visitors who choose to partake arrive and leave wisely by employing a car service and it avoids the fight for parking in congested weho.

If this is your first time or you are taking a first timer Cannabis user, good luck and also have fun! See the hillarious video below of Seth Rogan and Snoop Dogg talking with Howard Stern in Los Angeles inside the new Sirius XM studios about JD’s first time ever with Cannabis at Lowell Cafe.

Don’t Forget Activism Brought Us Here!

Many of us have been waiting our entire lives for this moment to arrive, this is history in the making! It must be said that this wouldn’t have been possible without the passage of prop 215 in California in 1996. The medical Cannabis movement started this momentous domino effect that would take 23 years to get us where we are today with 33 states with medical Cannabis, 11 states with 21+ legal Cannabis and reduced penalties nationwide. Without this monumental step in history we wouldn’t be where we are today. The work is incomplete and as a nation we need to continue to fight to change these laws and decriminalize nationally then globally! Get involved and get in action so that the next generation of Cannapolitans will not only be able to enjoy the freedoms of Cannabis under less to zero scrutiny but most importantly -no one in jail for this wonderful plant. As I sit in this beautiful establishment that cost 3 Million or more to make happen, I think of the million fellow Cannabis lovers that are in jail for a plant. I’m proud of how far we have come since my generation was a big factor in the success of Prop 215 in California. I was fresh in college when I volunteered to gather signatures to get it on the ballot. It’s now up to all of us to see this fight all the way through now and for the future generations to come. Get involved and get educated with these organizations that are fighting everyday to provide Cannabis freedoms. The nation’s longest running Cannabis reform law organization NORML  Providing patients with medical cannabis advocacy  Americans For Safe Access Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) Drug Policy Alliance