Weed is cheaper than food in America today
Promotion for Rebud, a weed store in Westwood Village, LA. Rebud was closer to my apartment than any grocery store, bar, or cafe. Imagine if grocery stores, restaurants, and cafes could afford such a promotion. How healthy Americans would look, think, and feel.
Rebud is a clean and compact weed store inside a 1920s fantasy red brick courtyard. It is across the walk from Profeta, the West’s best coffee shop. And where Larry David spilt coffee on a klansman’s hood in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The red courtyard is down the street from Broxton Brewery: the Central Node of Westwood Village. Where okay beers cost $13 with app fees and tips. But you pay for the setting. Broxton Brewery is housed in an Art Decco corporate chapel, with glistening White Domes and floor to ceiling windows. This building was the first to erect in the area, constructed to erect the streetlights which have now hummed orange through a century of night. This chapel was the corporate headquarters of the now deceased Janss Investment Company. The land developer of UCLA, Westwood village, and the web of Mansions snaking out towards Holmby and Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Brentwood.
I met a cute girl out in Downtown Phoenix. She told me she worked in weed, and her mega-dispensary in North Scottsdale had a Holiday Promotion: $1 pre-rolled joints (many surpassing 30% thc). Oh gee, the ATM fees will cost more than the weed.
She confidently told me it costs the dispensary 3 cents to produce their “house pre-rolls”, so they’re practically giving them away. Hard to know if this is even possible, but I am inclined to believe her. That’s the word on the street.
What I do know is that it costs me $25 to have a few drinks at a dive bar in Melrose, and about $20 in midtown Phoenix. And when I look around for eyes to link with, I see they’re entrenched in private parties, or lost into their screens. I can’t afford to socialize with my digitally lobotomized neighbors. I might as well become schizophrenic like the rest of them in the confines of my cult, my cell, my castle — my spiritual core.
No need to worry, I am being dramatic. I have many friends and family around to keep me healthy and coherent. I feel supported. Yet, cooking a stew for my friends cost me about $60. It fed 9 and was made with good ingredients, but $60 was a restaurant price before the pandemic.
Something must change.
New Sage is curious, please comment your answer below:
What is your earliest memory of “going out to eat?” Was it at Sizzler, McDonalds, Pane Bianco? If you need help, answer the 5Ws. If you answer these 5 questions, New Sage will award you $1 for your memory, which you can redeem for Media Slop prizes. Media Slop is your stop for top slop.
When was it?
Where was it?
What made it memorable?
Who were you with?
Why were you there?
