Hayley FoxWhile it won’t be available via room service (we already asked), guests at the West Hollywood outpost of the Standard may soon be able to head downstairs in their pajamas to purchase a sweet treat with a little something extra.
Lord Jones, an L.A.-based luxury cannabis brand, has plans to open a retail shop inside the Sunset Boulevard hotel next year. Here, it will sell a selection of their signature products, which include naturally flavored fruit gumdrops, chocolates and body lotions boosted with CBD — a non-psychoactive and painkilling component of cannabis. This all relies, of course, on the company securing an adult-use, retail cannabis license from the city of West Hollywood, a process that will begin alongside the rest of the state in 2018.
“The Standard is proud to be at the forefront of this cultural shift, becoming the first hospitality company to enhance our guests’ experience in this manner,” Amar Lalvani, CEO and managing partner of Standard International, said in a statement. “Cannabis is gaining enhanced relevancy as a key component of wellness, awareness and discovery.”
Weed also happens to fit snugly into the retro, rock & roll vibe of the Standard’s Hollywood property, said Corey Tuttle, vice president of marketing and communications at the hotel. In fact, the Standard has long worked with “partners within the realm of cannabis” to the fullest extent legally possible, Tuttle said. This habit extends to the broader realm of drug culture as well, with the hotel not only hosting special musical performances in celebration of 4/20 and pop-up shops for Lord Jones’ all-CBD products but also presenting events featuring DJ, photographer and archivist Roger Steffens and images from “The Family Acid,” a collection of psychedelic-heavy images named for his artistic collective.
Both the Standard and Lord Jones have demonstrated an affinity for brand partnerships and exclusive offerings over the years. For the upscale cannabis brand, this came in the form of a limited-edition, Icelandic berry flavor gumdrop in honor of Sigur Rós, released earlier this year. As part of its promotion, Lord Jones hosted a sound bath in which attendees ate the Sigurberry cannabis candies and listened live to the Reykjavík band.
The Standard says Lord Jones fits in perfectly with the hotel chain's brand.; Credit: Courtesy Lord Jones
For the Standard, this pattern of cross-promotion stretches back many years and is always in line with the luxurious, freewheeling lifestyle touted by the hotel chain. For instance, the Standard in downtown L.A. hosted an outpost of Rudy’s Barbershop — the no-appointment-necessary, utilitarian hipster chain started in Seattle — for nearly six years until it closed at the end of 2012. At the Hollywood location, the Standard still has a small Warby Parker glasses shop, where guests or visitors can purchase the now-ubiquitous frames or sunglasses.
“We’ve always tried to embrace what’s new and what’s next, inside and outside our respective industry,” said Tuttle.
So it comes as no surprise that in addition to opening a retail shop at the Standard, Lord Jones and the hotel plan to develop “an exclusive line of co-branded THC and hemp-derived CBD products” that they expect will eventually be available to guests at all of the Standard hotels. In the meantime, Lord Jones will stick to selling its current roster of items, leasing the retail space from the Standard in West Hollywood and functioning as an independent owner-operator of the shop — for legal purposes, Tuttle explained.
“As longtime fans of the Standard, we are thrilled to partner with such an iconic, forward-thinking company that truly markets at the speed of culture,” said Robert Rosenheck, founder and CEO of Lord Jones. “The Lord Jones flagship in the Standard Hollywood will break new ground as we continue our mission to bring the cannabis movement into the mainstream.”
Rosenheck’s co-founder, Cindy Capobianco, comes from the fashion industry; she has worked at Vogue and Allure magazines and later in public relations for major clothing brands. Her celebrity clientele seems to have followed her to her new venture at Lord Jones, which has amassed an actress-heavy following that includes the likes of Olivia Wilde and Busy Philipps. Prior to launching the high-end cannabis brand, Capobianco co-founded a nonprofit weed collective, Hollywood Hills Wellness Association, which catered to “Academy Award–winning actors, Grammy Award–winning recording artists and professional athletes.”
Now, Lord Jones’ attention to product quality and aesthetics — a blend of sophistication, modernity and a logo that looks like a crest adorned with woodland creatures and the slogan “For Your Royal Highness” — has garnered the company coverage from the likes of VICE, Vogue and W Magazine.
While Lord Jones has stated that its shop — should it receive a license — will be the first weed retail location inside a hotel in the country, the hospitality industry is no stranger to cannabis. In addition to many marijuana-friendly hotels and vacation rentals in states where adult-use cannabis is legal, entire lodging facilities have been dedicated to the increasingly accessible drug, including Denver’s Bud and Breakfast, a weed-friendly lodge that includes a 4:20 happy hour and wake-and-bake morning special.
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