I intended to transfer to CA & start a dispensary for years, but the idea didn’t come to fruition until years after I finished school out east.
- I had a close friend who was slowly turning into a venture capitalist & he had another friend who was a great marijuana grower.
Three of us came together & started drafting ideas for a marijuana business. At the time, CA only had access to medical marijuana. There were attempts to legalize cannabis for recreational use, but they failed to garner enough votes in the end. When CA finally legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2016. By the end of the following year, the state had issued licenses to existing cannabis corporations to offer recreational sales as well as medical a singles. Since my friend’s family lives in Encino, all of us all made the executive decision to start a corporation closer to the San Fernando Valley instead of Los Angeles proper. ThoUSnd Oaks had real estate that was affordable for our marijuana business. Both of us decided to go seed to sale & opened a grow facility on the outskirts of neighborhood by Moorpark before starting our actually first dispensary store in the Conejo Valley. Now all of us have 3 separate cannabis dispensaries in southern CA & we’re considering heading north next. I can’t see myself leaving the Santa Monica mountains now that I get to see them out my study room window everyday when I’m cooking or drinking my afternoon coffee. It’s not the cheapest place to live, but it beats being in Laurel Canyon or West Hollywood with their exorbitant rent rates.