Picture this.
You’re sitting on a sun-drenched patio somewhere on Bryant Street in Ojai. The pink moment is doing its thing on the mountains above the valley. There’s live music — something local, something good. You’ve got a pour-over coffee from a local roaster, a plate of food from a nearby kitchen, and a pre-roll you just picked up from the dispensary next door.
You are not doing anything illegal. You are doing something California just made legal for the first time.
Welcome to the cannabis café era.
On September 30, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1775 into law. The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, allows licensed cannabis retailers and microbusinesses to operate cannabis cafés — establishments that permit on-site cannabis consumption and sell freshly prepared non-cannabis food and beverages. The bill took effect on January 1, 2025, and under AB 1775, cannabis cafés can also host live entertainment such as concerts and performances, provided they meet local and state regulations.
“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” said Haney. “And many want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a sandwich, or listening to music. There’s no doubt that cannabis cafés will bring massive economic, cultural and creative opportunities and benefits to our state.”
This is the law that cannabis advocates have been fighting for since California legalized recreational use in 2016. It’s the difference between buying cannabis and experiencing it — between a transaction and a culture. Between a dispensary and a third place. Think smoothies, coffee drinks, and sandwiches pairing well with on-site consumption — along with live performances where cannabis consumption is allowed, similar to the Melkweg in Amsterdam.
California just gave cities the green light. The question now is which VC cities will actually open the door.
Here’s what makes this story specifically a Ventura County story: Ojai didn’t wait for the state.
In a unanimous 5-0 decision on August 22, 2023, the Ojai City Council voted in favor of an ordinance granting up to three cannabis lounge licenses — one tied to each of the city’s three existing licensed dispensaries — with outdoor consumption permitted and operating hours extending to at least 10PM.
The lounges may be adjacent to existing dispensaries or in separate spaces subject to zoning requirements — with available zones including the C1 General Commercial Zone east of Park Road and south of Fulton Street, on either side of Ojai Avenue, and the M1 and MPD zones.
One of the most telling moments from the public comment period: “Alcohol is far more dangerous and toxic than cannabis but far more accepted culturally, which means you can go get drunk in a bar every 50 feet in Ojai downtown but if you want to use cannabis you have to go home,” said one local advocate. The council heard it. And they voted 5-0.
Ojai — the city that has consistently been the most forward-thinking cannabis jurisdiction in all of Ventura County — was ahead of the state by over a year.
If anyone in Ventura County is going to open the first real cannabis café — the full Amsterdam-style experience — it’s Chelsea Sutula.
She’s been planning it for years. Sutula has been formulating plans for a cannabis lounge where people can gather together to enjoy the products she sells — envisioning it as out in the open on Ojai Avenue, where everyone can see it, without shame, embarrassment or secrecy. Because Sespe Creek is proud to be a local business and as much a part of its community as any other.
She had eyes on the old Casa de Lago spot with its lovely patios and ample parking — but when Governor Newsom unexpectedly vetoed an earlier version of the bill in 2022, she had to pause plans without the ability to create a full lounge experience including a kitchen and food service.
Now AB 1775 is law. The kitchen is allowed. The food is allowed. The live music is allowed. The outdoor patio consumption is allowed.
The woman who opened the first licensed dispensary in all of Ventura County — who got raided by a SWAT team and came back a year later to do it anyway — is now one ordinance update away from building the first full cannabis café in this county.
If that doesn’t happen, something is wrong with the universe.
Let’s dream for a moment — because this is worth dreaming about.
The Ojai version writes itself. A reclaimed-wood patio somewhere along Ojai Avenue or the east end of Bryant Street. Local organic food — maybe sourced from Farmer and the Cook down the road, maybe from the valley’s own farms. Pour-over coffee from a local roaster. A curated cannabis menu featuring sun-grown, small-farm California flower. Live music from local artists on weekend evenings. The pink moment as a backdrop.
This is not a stretch. This is an Ojai afternoon that already exists in spirit — minus the legal cannabis consumption piece that AB 1775 just unlocked.
One cannabis advocate told the Ojai City Council: “Compare this to the many wineries and breweries around town. Government should not be in the business of policing personal choices around cannabis, liquor, or other drugs. This proposed ordinance is modest and unlikely to promote an unsafe environment.”
The comparison to wine country is apt. Ojai already has tasting rooms, outdoor dining patios, and a deeply embedded culture of gathering around what the land produces. A cannabis café is simply the next iteration of that culture — one that reflects the plant that has been part of this community’s identity for decades.
Here’s the reality check. AB 1775 requires express approval by local jurisdictions — cities and counties have the authority to permit or prohibit cannabis lounges, and operators must obtain an On-site Consumption Endorsement from the California Department of Cannabis Control on top of their existing retail license.
For Ojai specifically, the city already has its lounge ordinance in place. What’s needed now is for local dispensaries to update their applications under the new state framework, work with the city manager on operating details, and secure their state endorsements.
It is not simple. The cannabis industry in California has never been simple. But for a city that voted 5-0 to allow cannabis lounges — and for a dispensary owner who has navigated a SWAT raid, 19 months of legal battles, and a complete exoneration to get to where she is today — a licensing application is a manageable obstacle.
The other 11 cities in Ventura County? That’s a longer conversation. Port Hueneme has already allowed some on-site consumption. The rest of the county — Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, and beyond — would each need their own city council votes to enable what AB 1775 makes possible.
But Ojai could be first. Ojai is already set up to be first.
