IN MAY, A BUSINESS ENTITY called Convenience in Central Park Corporation registered an address in the ground-floor retail space at 200 Central Park South. Signage appeared to indicate the business would be selling tobacco, but the co-op board became convinced that at least one of the conveniences on offer would be weed. According to a lawsuit the board filed in August, such an enterprise, on the leafy stretch between the Plaza and Columbus Circle, would “detract from the dignity” of the address and violate zoning that bars any business “not in character with the district.”
If even Billionaires’ Row is fending off gray-market cannabis retailers, the city is truly experiencing a wave. In the year since recreational-marijuana possession and use were decriminalized in New York, it has started to feel as if the only new blood on any given pandemic-blighted retail block is a Blank Street Coffee or a place to buy weed and niche junk food. Because the city’s new Office of Cannabis Management has yet to distribute the licenses necessary for cannabis sales and neither regulators nor law enforcement is cracking down, these retailers operate in an exuberant but temporary state of semilawlessness. As one shop owner told me, “It’s Christmas.”
This story is from the September 26 - October 09, 2022 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 26 - October 09, 2022 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Unmasking Diddy
The rap mogul shook off decades of rumored bad behavior with wholesome PR revamps. Now the allegations against him are his legacy.
Staging Sufjan
How playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury turned a classic indie-rock album into a Justin Peck-choreographed dance piece that's now Broadway bound.
Justin Kuritzkes Serves an Ace
With his first movie script for the erotic tennis drama Challengers, he has gone from struggling playwright to in-demand screenwriter.
To Brooklyn, by Way of Paris and Rome
A whirlwind week with Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri as she stages the brand's first New York runway show in a decade.
A Burlesque Family at Home
Showbiz couple Angie Pontani and Brian Newman’s high-spirited Marine Park house.
A Bistro With Shish Barak
Huda impressively balances its many influences.
THE 'DEBATE ME BRO
Mehdi Hasan's aggressive interviewing style landed him a Sunday show on MSNBC. Until he started talking about Palestine.
THE MAN WHO GOSSIPED TOO MUCH
For almost two decades, JOHN NELSON anonymously published blind items skewering the Hollywood elite on the blog CRAZY DAYS AND NIGHTS. Then his identity was revealed in the midst of a messy affair.
TODD BLANCHE IS A SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT LAWYER. AND HE'S ON TRACK TO KEEP HIS CLIENT OUT OF JAIL UNTIL THE ELECTION. IN DEFENSE OF TRUMP
TODD BLANCHE WAS looking for his man. Or it could be a woman, but probably not.
Self: Emma Alpern
In Outer Space Why do so many women believe their bodies are controlled by the moon?