West L.A.
Stoner Ave. 6:30 AM.
The pink hues of the morning sunrise creep into the sky as the light starts to illuminate my mind, and I begin to plan my day. As a classically trained New Yorker now living in LA, my internal clock frequently has me rising with the sun. I find peace in this golden hour of twilight.
As I hop on my Harley machine, crank my tunes, adjust my camera and head down the 10 to DTLA, I feel like I’m flying through time and space at a low altitude. The vibration of the engine is high as I weave my way through traffic. Approaching my destination, I see the marquis in the distance. GREEN STREET, it reads—located at 718 South Hill Street, in the heart of downtown’s jewelry district.
The 718 immediately stares back at me, reminding me of my old stomping ground, Brooklyn, NY.
A few months ago, when I first came on-site to meet my friend Rama Mayo, the brains behind Green Street, he took me on a tour of a seven-story structure still on the brink of construction as I was looking for a home for my new creative studio. Walking through the building for the first time, I felt an immediate sense of urgency to make this my new HQ. I remember first feeling this way when I was 17, buying tickets for the Grateful Dead. I knew I would have to stay up all night so I could get in line at 4:00 AM at the local record store to score the best seats. The memory is so clear from that morning that I can still taste the toasted sesame bagel with egg salad and bacon that kept me warm while waiting outside in the cold. The FOMO was just as real back then as it was now, touring Green Street for the first time.
As I walked the building with Rama, we started on the roof and worked our way down.
Standing on the roof, he tells me about the planned green space, seating areas, brick pizza ovens, dining tables, and a movie screen on a stage before being directed to the oversized HVAC system.
“We had it built four times capacity,” he says as he throws me a grin worthy of a proud papa.
On the top floor is Alta, which serves as a high-end event space. The name is fitting, considering its Latin origin meaning ‘elevated.’ It’s currently dressed up for the upcoming Green Street festival, but on any given day, members of the building can come upstairs to use the space. Entering Alta for the first time, I am struck by the amount of light filling the room. The floors are high gloss white concrete. It looks like a high-end art gallery/event space. There are oversized couches and meeting areas set up around the room and a more private area in the back with additional offices.
As we walked down to the fifth floor, Rama showed me one of the two coworking floors, each consisting of 14 modern offices behind glass walls. It felt like the future. “How many of these are spoken for?” I asked. “You’ve got dibs,” he assured me. The art displayed in the common spaces was gallery-worthy, and the tables were already stocked with lighters, rolling papers, and ashtrays.
Now his earlier comments from the roof made immediate sense. This place was literally built for weed.
Next, we went down to the third floor, also slated for coworking space but still unfinished. I saw a blank canvas, and I immediately saw my vision start to materialize in a similar way that I had watched the sunrise come into existence earlier that morning. “I’ll take the first four offices on the third floor,” I said – and at that moment, my vision became a reality.
The building is almost fully occupied only a few months later. My studio is starting to take shape, as are the other suites.
My intuition was spot on. I’ve made arrangements with management to park my Harley front and center at the building entrance (I know what you’re thinking, so don’t even try it – the spot is reserved). Walking up to the third floor, I grab the wooden banister, a component left from the original construction in 1913, and make my way upstairs.
As I slide the door open to my studio, the smell of fresh donuts combined with undertones of garlic and haze is already in the air. Haze has always had a special place in my heart. Some used to call it The Church because of its frankincense-like nose. Today, the complementing aromas feel like an olfactory dream. It’s Friday at Green Street, which can only mean one thing – Donuts and Pizza.
While walking up to the fourth floor, there are about 50 people mingling around the showroom space; this is not your typical cast of characters. There are many legends in the game amongst us. Some of them have residency in the building, and some are here just for the event. There is a life-size Connect Four in the back of the room and a classic arcade table set up.
I reach into my pocket immediately to check my terps. It’s important that I have enough to bestow upon my friends, and not in the way you would think. These days I’m laser-focused on using cannabis terpenes as fragrances to be worn, not smoked.
Events for me are typically measured in steps. How many steps can I take before having to stop and give this one a hug or take a hit from this joint? In typical form, it’s not more than two steps before I see Jason Beck, who hands me “the best weed in the world.” Here, smoke this. As I take my first hit of the day (OK, maybe not exactly my first hit), I’m reminded of what actual weed tastes like. Beck always brings the heat.
Several of the building residents are using the showroom space to show off the flavor of their respective brands. One company built out a newsstand, and another has a slot car race track set up. A life-size JetSki represents another brand across from a Cracker Barrel country store buildout.
I am almost immediately intoxicated by the familiar smell of fresh pizza, something near and dear to my heart. And, while I would normally talk shit about imposters that aren’t from my hometown, I’m pleasantly surprised by the focaccia-style crust created by the building’s resident eatery Gusto Green – a plant-forward restaurant on the ground floor whose menu includes a hemp leaf tempura and several terpene-infused mocktails.
Gusto Green also serves as the in-house custom catering department for the building and even has a secret stoner menu for residents.
Toward the middle of the room, there’s a copious amount of donuts and pizza, reminding me that time is an illusion because both are readily available no matter what part of the morning you show up. It feels like a new paradigm on a modern brunch. It makes perfect sense – you walk up, light a joint, have a coffee, smash a donut, work the room, take two steps, hug someone you haven’t seen in a while, and talk about business. “How can we collaborate? How can we work together? What’s new in your lane?” Smoke some more weed, “Try this joint. Check out this fire.” OK, I’m fuckin high… Where’s the pizza?
Feeling fully satiated, I’m also feeling the anxiety of getting back to work, but instead of having to leave the event and sit in LA traffic, all I have to do is take a stroll downstairs to jump right back into my workday. (OK, to be fair, I split lanes on the Harley, so technically speaking, traffic doesn’t exist the same way for me as it might for others).
As I move from the fourth floor down to my lair on three, I enter the coworking suites in the building. One company makes hash; another has a delivery service. Next door is a buying office, and down the hall is a creative agency. To the left and right are countless brands in the industry, some of which have become household names amongst consumers.
This is where you really get a sense of the power of community. While some of these companies embedded within the fabric of Green Street sell similar products, there is a deeply ingrained feeling of being stronger by working together. The community aspect of the building not only holds true amongst the coworking floors, but the public spaces in the building really magnify the value of connection.
There is also something to be said about working together with people in person. There is a certain energy exchanged in person that just can’t be replaced in a zoom meeting. In a world where virtual meetings have become the norm, Green Street embodies a new style of doing business, one that includes the spliff dangling out of my mouth as I write this piece from my studio on the third floor.
They say the network is the net worth, and the community within this building, combined with the people who visit on a daily basis, exemplifies that fact. When you have something special, the whole world seems to gravitate toward it. Green Street feels exactly like that not only because of the pull of the building itself but also the combined weight of all the heavy-hitting residents within it.
Check out the Green Street social media:
https://www.greenstreetfest.com/
https://www.facebook.com/greenstreetfestival
https://www.instagram.com/greenstreetfestival/
@jasonpinsky
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Feature Photo: Jason Pinsky
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