Trips With Jane: The Artist Tree Lounge in Hawthorne
By Rekara Gage
A new cannabis lounge opened its doors nearby and so we just had to stop in for a smoke.
Art on the wall in the smoke lounge of the Artist Tree dispensary.
We’ve been eager to check out the newest Artist Tree location since it opened in September/October of this year. If you’ve been following our adventures, Trips with Jane, you might remember that we saw a comedy show at the Artist Tree in West Hollywood (get the recap here) The new storefront is open, bright and modern with lots of glass paneling. One of my favorite things about this dispensary is that they always showcase artwork everywhere: around the sales floor, hallways, bathrooms, etc. This location was no different—there was art not just on the walls but arranged between the cannabis displays. So the whole store is just a gallery featuring a great selection of weed products.
You’ll check in with your ID and the lounge is around the front desk towards the back. We went in the mid-to-late afternoon on a weekday and it wasn’t crowded at first. Walking in, it did feel like an exclusive back room: the lighting was slightly dim and most of the tables resembled smaller coffee or cocktail tables. I had been looking forward to settling into a booth or something but nothing was too bulky or cozy. There was a silent flatscreen mounted on the wall and some low music as background noise. Once seated we were given an ipad that served as our cannabis menu, choosing from the selections in the dispensary, and a printed menu of infused drinks and snacks. Yes, infused drinks! That was a nice surprise. With these drinks, you can choose 3 mg of THC or 10 mg of THC. We ordered water, a 10 mg infused drink and some kettle chips—with the snacks, think movie theater concession stand or convenience store aisle.
Mello helped us and recommended the 710 Z-Cubed preroll, indica-dominant. It was a smooth high. Very relaxing in the body but still functional and fun. Another thing that I loved was this 710 preroll. It was a solid 1 gram non-infused joint and the crutch, the part of the joint that you hold (sometimes people roll and fill the whole paper with bud, no crutch or “filter’), it was a pasta noodle! Stoner hack. If you don’t have official tips, thin cardboard strips of paper, to turn into a crutch, you can use a pasta noodle. Or flexible cardboard, or a strip of a sturdy business card or playing card, or whatever you have lying around that fits the description. We got a good laugh from that; it’s so fun. Bravo 710.
To the Moon infused cocktail
The crafted drink was fruity and colorful and came with a separately packaged infused unflavored syrup. To my surprise, the infused syrup actually came with equal parts CBD; so, the infusion is essentially a 1:1 edible. Was not expecting that but I like this approach because I can completely control my dosage and enjoy my whole drink without worrying about getting too high. And having CBD incorporated automatically gives my high some balance and grounding, which is cool. I actually only ended up using about 1/3 of the little syrup bottle; the pre-roll was already doing its job. I also got excited by the idea that I could use the rest of the syrup for any other drink at another time.
The traffic ebbed and flowed—as more guests came in and began to unwind, so did the atmosphere. It got darker outside, more smokey inside and started to feel more like a hookah lounge than a premium lounge at an airport. It felt like a new lounge and I think it just needs to be broken in a bit. The space is a great place to stop and pregame before a movie or unwind after work while traffic dies down. There are board games like ConnectFour that you can pull out and play while you’re there, but we were just happy hanging out. We weren’t hounded about the time limit, so use it as a guideline for your visit—it probably will depend on how busy it is on the day that you go. It felt like just enough time to get a little high and sober up before moving on to your next location. We paid—don’t forget to factor in cannabis taxes and tip— shopped for another preroll-to-go and went somewhere else for round 2. See you next time, Artist Tree Hawthorne!
Tips:
· Pack light—If you need to send some emails or do some work from a phone or tablet, great. But if you’re looking to spend an afternoon somewhere with your laptop and a couple of books or references, this isn’t the place.
· Arrive with your party—There’s a 90-minute time limit for guests so coming in together gives you a more shared experience and doesn’t leave you worried about check-in times.
· Bring Cash—There’s usually some kind of surcharge or work around when it comes to cards and cannabis business. Save yourself the trouble and just get cash before you go.
