cannabis dispensary

Bellflower, CA

Located at the former site of a Chinese restaurant established in the 1950’s during a post-war housing boom in formerly agricultural areas in south L.A., our approach to the design for a new medicinal cannabis dispensary was one of misdirection. The lines formed by the corrugated metal exterior conceal the inner operations of the newly legalized business and juxtaposes the overt stereotypical iconography necessary to advertise one of the few economic opportunities given to minority groups in the United States during a time it was overcoming the Chinese Exclusion Act (the only legislation to explicitly target an ethnicity) along with the Marihuana Tax Act (legislation geared towards implicit marginalization of Mexican-Americans). The legalization of cannabis in California now calls to question both the unfortunate and misguided il-legalization of drugs in America as a veil for anti-immigration policy and who among its now diverse population this new policy will benefit.