The 4/20 holiday was historic for San Diegans this year. Sessions by the Bay, San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge, welcomed customers to its highly anticipated grand opening in National City.
Sessions’ first-floor dispensary opened on April 7, and the lounge space on the second floor opened on April 18, accompanied by live musical performances and brand promotions.
The weed lounge opening signals a shift in public perception and provides pot enthusiasts with a safe space to consume.
“I think it’s a really good move for National City to bring in Sessions,” Karen Azhocar McManus, chairwoman of the National City Chamber of Commerce, said. “It has a different type of feel. I think what it’s going to do is elevate and lift the perception of cannabis, so I’m very thrilled that it’s going to be here in National City.”
Sessions prides itself on being unlike any other weed lounge. The 16,000-square-foot building is home to a variety of art by local artists, a DJ booth and a full dining menu.
“I think this is something that has never been done, not just in San Diego, but in California and the world,” Brittany Wallis, dispensary general manager of Sessions by the Bay, said. “We’ve been to multiple lounges and dispensaries, and there’s nothing like this.”
Sessions’ founders Alex and Pearl Ayon prioritized the guest experience when creating their lounge. From weed-infused mocktails to sweet chili confit duck wings, the cafe provides a one-of-a-kind experience.
“You’ve got to be thinking about the environment people are sitting in to draw them here. You’ve got to think about entertainment, to keep them engaging. You’ve got to keep them fed and quenched,” Alex Ayon said. “So we’ve kind of thought of all that.”
Visitors new to cannabis can feel at ease thanks to the knowledgeable staff. Every lounge employee is trained to help guests using Sessions’ in-house Cannabible – a guide to their wide array of rentable smoking devices.
“We did a lot of training with both the dispensary staff and the lounge staff,” Wallis said. “We have staff that just do our device technicalities and device cleaning, and they’re experts in their fields.”
Opening weekend drew a large local crowd, but tourism is expected to help support the business long term.
Sessions sits just eight miles from the San Diego International Airport and less than three miles from the new Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center. The resort, scheduled to open on May 15, will host the largest hotel on the West Coast.
“I feel like we’ll see a lot of tourists because tourists don’t have a legal place to consume. They can’t consume in public, can’t consume at their hotel,” Alex Ayon said. “A lot of tourists come here and want to have a little bit of weed while they’re out here.”
Twenty years ago, the brewery scene blew up in San Diego and is now synonymous with the region. Those involved with Sessions foresee a similar future for cannabis cafes.
“I know many, many years ago, when they were bringing the breweries, there were a lot of folks that were against that,” McManus said. “They thought, we don’t want to have all this alcohol consumption, and look how that changes. Look at how it has changed our communities, look at Third Avenue [in Chula Vista].”
Like a brewery, entertaining the patrons is important, but safety and abiding by the local laws are the priority.
National City Ordinance No. 2021-2487 states that consumption may not be visible outside the lounge, no alcohol or tobacco is allowed and guests cannot bring in their weed from outside the cafe. To enter the cafe and dispensary at 700 Bay Marina Drive, guests must be at least 21.
Sessions is ready to serve as a model and pioneer for the local weed community.
“We have Comic Con, we have the Gaslamp and we have the Padres. Why not add cannabis to that?” Wallis said. “In California, that’s what we’re known for: San Diego, sun, surf and cannabis.”
