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It\u2019s impossible to miss. On the corner of an otherwise grey intersection in northeast Portland, Oregon sits a colorful house with neon signs proclaiming \u201cREEFER\u201d and \u201cGRASS.\u201d One side of the building is covered in a mural of bold shapes and bright, distinctive colors \u2014 blue, teal, purple, orange and yellow. A porch with vibrantly colored stairs leads to the main entrance. This is Electric Lettuce, and it\u2019s a recreational cannabis dispensary that\u2019s both a blast from the past and a beacon of the future.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nThe exterior of Electric Lettuce\u2019s dispensary in Portland\u2019s Lloyd District. Photo Valerie Yermal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Inside the building, the interior maintains much of the former home\u2019s original structure. Beyond the check-in area is a living room straight out of 1969 that serves as both a lounge and a cannabis dispensary filled with old and new. There are jars of topicals and tinctures, bright packages of rolling papers and little glass pipes, and nestled between them are pieces of the past \u2014 patches, tins, painted figurines and toys. A small rabbit-eared television sits atop a refrigerator full of cannabis-infused drinks.\u00a0Edibles<\/a>\u00a0are displayed next to books like \u201cRevolution for the Hell of It\u201d and \u201cYour 1967 Horoscope.\u201d Two soft brown, oversized leather chairs with orange throw pillows inhabit the front window nook. A vintage record player and stack of records sit between them and a variety of classic magazines are available to peruse. The opposite side of the room is a wall of large jars filled with cannabis, each carefully labeled to sniff and select.<\/p>\n The lobby of Electric Lettuce\u2019s Oregon City location feels like a vintage living room. Photo Valerie Yermal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Electric Lettuce<\/a> celebrates the time between 1965 and 1971, when cannabis was illegal but was gaining popularity nonetheless. It was the era that birthed American counter-culture. There were protests against the Vietnam War and the administration that supported it, with widespread cries for \u201cno nukes\u201d and draft cards set ablaze. There was Woodstock, the Beatles went to India and rock music became more psychedelic and experimental. There was a desire for something more than the status quo that didn\u2019t seem to be working anymore. Young people began to question authority and act accordingly, which included lighting up reefer despite its\u00a0prohibition.<\/p>\n Today, Electric Lettuce is a place designed for multiple types of cannabis consumers. For baby boomers who may be returning to cannabis after decades of hiatus, there\u2019s the comforting nostalgia of an environment that feels familiar. Budtenders are referred to as \u201cGrass Guides.\u201d There are \u201cfrequencies\u201d of cannabis to choose from like \u201cmellow,\u201d \u201cgroovy\u201d or \u201cactive.\u201d Each\u00a0strain<\/a>\u00a0is mapped on a chart ranging from head to body and mild to strong. For more experienced users, there is also detailed information like cannabinoid and terpene content. Younger generations can also find much to explore in the curated collection from a time when cannabis couldn\u2019t be embraced so openly. Brand Director Cambria Benson Noecker says the goal for the dispensary\u2019s d\u00e9cor was to \u201cfeel like you went into your now-square uncle\u2019s closet and you opened his box of cannabis stoner paraphernalia from \u201960s and unpacked it lovingly onto the shelves.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Photo Max Noecker<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Marketing a canna-business presents some challenges, as advertising marijuana is regulated like the plant itself.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Oregon<\/a>, cannabis companies cannot \u201cmake claims that recreational marijuana has curative or therapeutic effects,\u201d create ads that \u201ccontain material that encourages the use of marijuana because of its intoxicating effect\u201d or \u201cdisplay consumption of marijuana items\u201d in them. All advertising on television, radio, billboards, print and online must prove that less than 30 percent of the audience is under 21. Add the diminished but present social stigma, and many traditional ways to reach customers can become limited.<\/p>\n Canna-businesses have found other ways to reach out. Electric Lettuce engages the community by sponsoring charities and events and curating a presence on social media platforms. Instagram, in particular, has been important to Electric Lettuce, which has two locations in Portland, as well as shops in Oregon City and Beaverton.<\/p>\n Photo Kenton Waltz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201c[Social media is] a way we can engage with our customers and communicate with them directly, it helps us create brand-loyalty and express our brand voice,\u201d Noecker says. \u201cIt also is a method for us to explore and discover other brands that we work with and collaborate on products with.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to see why Instagram works for Electric Lettuce. The distinctive brand lends itself well to the platform with visually appealing components. Each location is tailored to the original building it inhabits, whether it be a house or a former Pizza Hut, and all share common features. Each store sports a mural on its exterior with the same bold colors and shapes. Each lounge has a vintage record player with spots to relax, and old odds-and-ends spread throughout to discover while picking out pot.<\/p>\n The interior of Electric Lettuce\u2019s Cedar Hills location is home to a vintage turntable and records. Photo Max Noecker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s also the Electric Lettuce comic series \u201cZooted,\u201d with a different comic strip as a mural inside each dispensary. In addition, legally required signage has been translated into Electric Lettuce language at all locations. \u201cBe Here Now, Toke Up Later\u201d tops the sign about no cannabis consumption on the premises. Even the website asks if the viewer is least 21 years old before they can \u201cget on the bus, Gus\u201d to see further content.<\/p>\n The exterior murals are also a great backdrop for a funky selfie or souvenir shot and knick-knacks around the store are unique and photogenic, especially next to Electric Lettuce\u2019s brightly branded merchandise.<\/p>\n Photo Ben Sellon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve designed this space \u2014 the murals, our neon \u2018DOPE,\u2019 \u2018REEFER\u2019 and \u2018GRASS\u2019 signs and more \u2014 because we want that to be a moment people share and it\u2019s fun that you get to post \u2018reefer\u2019 on Instagram and you\u2019re not in trouble, you\u2019re part of the movement,\u201d explains Noecker. We\u2019ve never told our customers to snap a photo of us and share, but we have gotten a lot of user-generated content from customers taking photos of or with our murals and it\u2019s taken on a life of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n The brand\u2019s design continues into their Instagram account, blending old and new. Photographs of products displayed in late \u201960s aesthetic and images of the stores are intermixed with vintage photos from the era that inspired the brand and, at first glance, it can be hard to tell which is which.<\/p>\n Inside Electric Lettuce\u2019s Oregon City location. Photo Valerie Yermal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Though the older generation that influenced the brand might not be as active on Instagram, they\u2019d find the images being shared are familiar ones, new technology arousing old nostalgia, just like Electric Lettuce\u2019s brick and mortar locations in the Portland area.<\/p>\n Originally published in Issue 33 of Cannabis Now.\u00a0<\/i>LEARN MORE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, what\u2019s your favorite dispensary or cannabis retail location?<\/p>\n The post Old Vibes & New Technology at Oregon\u2019s Electric Lettuce Dispensary\u00a0<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s impossible to miss. On the corner of an otherwise grey intersection in northeast Portland, Oregon sits a colorful house with neon signs proclaiming \u201cREEFER\u201d and \u201cGRASS.\u201d One side of the building is covered in a mural of bold shapes and bright, distinctive colors \u2014 blue, teal, purple, orange andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":31760,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,4189,99,1077,6921,85,6071,185,636],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31761,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759\/revisions\/31761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Electric-Lettuce-Interior-Windows.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nMarketing Marijuana Online<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Old Vibes & New Technology at Oregon\u2019s Electric Lettuce Dispensary\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"