LOS ANGELES — Behind the doors of a beautiful art déco building along the Broadway Theater Row, a vision is becoming a reality for business partners Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley, who are bringing Green Qween to DTLA.

The partners describe Green Qween as a queer-driven cannabis dispensary in an industry where LGBTQ+ and BIPOC representation have been lacking.

“When we looked at cannabis, we just really didn’t see ourselves anywhere in the industry,” Rigal said.

Green Qween will also be an incubator for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC cannabis brands and growers, and a portion of proceeds will go directly into supporting the DTLA Proud Community Center, which will offer a variety of services for the community.

Rigal said their venture will be an engine for change in DTLA’s growing LGBTQ+ landscape.

(Spectrum News/ Green Qween)

“Like here in downtown LA, you’ll have one gay bar open and then you’ll have another queer business open,” explained Rigal. “Then, you have another gay bar and then soon you have a ‘gayborhood.’ What we’re trying to do is create that gayborhood in cannabis.”

While Green Qween looks to the future of socially engaged cannabis culture, Rigal and Bazley also want to acknowledge those who paved the way for cannabis, figures such as Dennis Peron who championed cannabis as a treatment for patients suffering the symptoms and side effects of medication during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Said Bazely, “[Legal cannabis] started in the Castro. So, when we think about the history of medical cannabis, and especially in California, in history of the LGBT civil rights movement, they’re conjoined.”  

Bazely and Rigal are excited to be collaborating with LGBTQ+ and BIPOC-owned brands so that consumers can feel that direct connection with their communities.

“We give a space for LGBTQ consumers to discover those brands and authentic way and learn about who they are and what they stand for,” added Bazley.

Green Qween has also been generating some serious buzz on social media with people welcoming the creation of this safe, supportive retail space and its mission to give back to the community.

“We wanted the space to be representative of the community and serving really using cannabis as a vehicle for change.”

Now, it is a sprint to the finish line for the Green Qween team, which will open, not surprisingly, on 4-20.