LB Green Room manager Adam Hijazi (surrounded by employees) holds his newly attained business license. Photo by Stephanie Rivera.
Whether you call it the green rush, the green age, or just the next smart money trend, the residents of Long Beach may wonder how the city is going to set the cultural standard as eyes both on a state and national level await the new blueprint to unfold.
As of this week that wait is over.
Enter LB Green Room managed by Adam Hijazi. Its welcoming environs seek to both set the standard for education and inclusiveness in the cannabis community. Hijazi is a previous dispensary owner in Long Beach, having been at the same location on 7th Street and Rose Avenue before the citywide dispensary ban in 2012.
The soon-to-be first dispensary to reopen in Long Beach began to fill up last Saturday afternoon with the Brazilian Bossa Nova sounds of Caro Pierotto and buzzing cannabis allies who joined Hijazi in celebrating his dispensary being the first to receive a business license from the city.
Among those present were representatives with LB Green Room’s union partner, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, and city council members who flanked Adam as he took to the stand in front of a mural of a proud Jamaican lion wearing shades (which is as striking as it reads). Adam addressed the room with both gratitude for the opportunity and many thanks for the allies for the countless hours working towards providing “safe access” to cannabis in the Long Beach community.
LB Green Room. Photo by Curtis Herod.
Among the city council members in attendance was 2nd District Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce who spoke of Hijazi’s personal investment in the community and facing tough one-on-ones with some more skeptical parties in Long Beach.
“This has been a community partnership that is real,” Pearce said, adding that she expects LB Green Room to be a beacon in the city for both education and business.
Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, who represents the 9th District, also lauded the commitment of Hijazi to the arduous process that brought medicinal marijuana back to Long Beach. He summed up his assessment of the journey as he stated the standard that Hijazi and the LB Green Room have set.
“Meet this. Match this or beat this—this is how we turn around the stigma of having neighborhood dispensaries,” Richardson said, wrapping up with words of Hijazi’s character and congratulating the Long Beach Collective Association (LBCA), which Hijazi is a part of.
Councilman Roberto Uranga and wife Tonia present Adam Hijazi with a certificate. Photo by Curtis Herod.
Seventh District Councilman Roberto Uranga also found time in the spotlight and was quick to recognize UFCW Local 324 as a catalyst to the successful equation, ensuring both well paying working class jobs and safe conditions for the emerging marketplace. He concluded by deferring to his wife and former Long Beach Councilwoman Tonia Uranga, an early champion of the medicinal marijuana cause back in 2006 and part of the collective vision of many groundbreakers who helped champion the cause to bring its medicinal use back to the city.
As Long Beach often does, Hijazi and the LBCA seek to set the standard in the cannabis game. Get to know both as the doors of LB Green Room are scheduled to open for business sometime this week.
LB Green Room will be offering all types of lab-tested, cannabis-infused products, including edibles, tinctures, gels, capsules, raw flowers and more. The dispensary is located at 1735 East 7th Street.
{FG_GEOMAP [33.7755417,-118.17014699999999] FG_GEOMAP}
Find Curtis Herod on Twitter @86cujo.