During a recent hotel stay my partner expressed his complete frustration that it is so difficult for anyone who smokes to find a hotel where they can smoke in the room. To smoke a cigarette requires getting dressed, scrabbling under the bed for shoes, schleping to the elevator and finding a dingy corner to light up.
I'm pretty sure the Normandie Midtown Hostel in Los Angeles wouldn't blink if I lit up a Marlboro. This new boutique hotel is the first marajuana friendly establishment in the United States. Dennis Peron, a long-time marijuana dispensary owner and medicinal marijuana advocate, is currently remodeling Los Angeles' Hotel Normandie with plans to turn its 106 rooms into a haven for smokers around the world.
When did the hotel open? On 4/20 of course! Peron's ultimate vision for the hotel is of a "hippie rustic" theme with a rooftop deck where users could light up, framed by the hotel's vintage neon sign.
"We have a motto now," Eastman said. "Forget Amsterdam. Meet me at 6th and Normandie. You won't need a passport to come to the Normandie Hotel. You won't need a plane ticket to come to the Normandie Hotel. All roads lead to the Normandie. On the Metro, the bus, the taxis, we're centrally located in the middle of the center of the universe right here."
Eastman grandly bills the hotel as the United Nations of marijuana, and has been polishing some one-liners, which Peron gamely puts in his own words.
Eastman: "You won't need a towel at the bottom of the door. "
Peron: "Yeah, you don't have to put towels down there."
Eastman: "And there are some no-smoking hotels. We're definitely not one of them."
Peron: "We're definitely not. There are some no-smoking hotels. We're not no-smoking."
The Normandie began as a dignified residence hotel in the 1920s. It touted a $1 turkey dinner prepared by Mrs. H.F. Bruner and was a luncheon spot for women's clubs. In 1938 and 1939, it was briefly home to British author Malcolm Lowry, who was reworking his masterpiece, "Under the Volcano." In 1957, rooms cost $4, and in 1970, they were only $7. In the 1980s, the hotel was a retirement center.
Most recently, with rooms advertised on banners at $49.99, it catered to budget travelers, long-term tenants and Korean-speaking visitors. Its nightclub and restaurant, with their fanciful and outdated decor, are abandoned. Its lobby houses an odd assemblage of furniture and vending machines. Its rooms are decorated in a palette of flesh tones. It is comfortable but worn.
Very little marijuana is evident. But Eastman says the hotel has had some pot-smoking visitors. And Peron and some friends have established an outpost on the fourth floor.
On a recent day, Caroline Lewis had a blunt wedged into a notch in an ashtray beside her bed. She said she smokes pot for back pain from the epidurals she had during four C-sections. She moved in about three months ago and loves the vibe. "Oh, God, it is so freaking terrific," she said. "It'll give medical patients a safe environment where they aren't hassled by the police."
She lives with Dennis Carpenter, who says he has been smoking marijuana to relieve stress. He works for Evangelista and was helping refurbish the rooms. "I was envisioning it to be like a green hotel," he said. "I was expecting it to be a lifelong project."
Dude....
