Hospitality Design - December 2022 - 21

perspectives hdac spotlight
By Will Speros
This is an ongoing interview series curated by the Hospitality
Diversity Action Council (HDAC)
Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley,
cofounders of Green Qween
REIGN SUPREME
Green Qween is building an inclusive
cannabis empire
Green Qween founders Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley may be
cannabis rookies, but their dynamic ethos sparks a movement
toward a more inclusive marketplace. Launched earlier this
year in Los Angeles, the maiden Green Qween dispensary
spotlights products from LGBTQ-, BIPOC-, and women-owned
brands. Here, the founders discuss their mission, their process,
and why they installed an in-store disco ball.
How did you meet?
Andrés Rigal: My background is in LGBTQ nightlife, which I've
been doing for about 18 years primarily here in Los Angeles.
I've created a lot of queer nightlife brands around the city. I was
working as a creative director for a venue in Santa Monica, and
I met Taylor [there].
Why did you want to partner on this project?
Taylor Bazley: When I was working on creating the concept
of the cannabis dispensary to leverage my knowledge of local
licensing, he was the fi rst person I thought to reach out to in
order to create the vision and to build the artistic side.
How is Green Qween different from other
dispensaries?
AR: In nightlife, I learned how important safe spaces are,
especially for queer people, so I knew we wanted to create a
safe space within cannabis. We wanted Green Qween to be a
brand that uses cannabis as a vehicle to empower and change
the queer community. There's litt le to no representation of
queer people in cannabis.
TB: The fi rst dispensaries and the birth of the legal cannabis
movement in California, which was a template for the whole
country, was in the LGBT community. The fi rst dispensary was
in the Castro [in San Francisco] in the 1980s and treated folks
who were suff ering from HIV and AIDS. For us, it was about
carrying on that legacy. We give back 10 percent of our profi ts
to help construct the DTLA PROUD Community Center.
How do you promote the equity brands you sell?
TB: For some of those LGBT brands on the fl oor, we're their
only contract in LA or one of only two or three contracts.
They're nascent, but we wanted to highlight and celebrate
them. We have a mailer campaign. We're sending out coupons
related to them, and we're giving them the opportunity to be
discovered by consumers and succeed on their own merits.
What did you want to create for the design, working
with SevenPoint Interiors?
AR: The interior lends itself to Art Deco, with a bit of
Postmodern and Memphis design infl uences. We also have a
gigantic disco ball that we installed into the wall, which lends
itself to queer history and my background in nightlife. We
wanted the space to be a representation of the diversity, the
extravagance, and the uniqueness of queer people. hd
Located in Downtown Los Angeles, Green Qween
boasts a whimsical design by SevenPoint Interiors
hospitalitydesign.com December 2022
021
Photos courtesy of GREEN QWEEN
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - December 2022

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