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It’s not so much that The Redd on Salmon Street is some utopian event space that overtly sanctions on-premises cannabis use. Yet at any given weed-themed occurrence at the Buckman neighborhood venue, doinks smolder freely, dab rigs are used as centerpieces, and there are bong rips from various corners.
The Redd is really just a large, minimally renovated industrial building with a big-ass parking lot. Here’s the thing, though: As the most visible and accessible place celebrating cannabis, it sets a cool new standard for what urban lots and vast warehouses can be (aside from cart pods and storage facilities).
Take, for instance, the Oregon Cannabis Association’s Summer Fair or Oregon Leaf’s annual awards ceremony. These events were hugely successful, not just by promoter standards, but communitywise as well, and in an era defined by empty office buildings and their desolate parking lots, The Redd shows us what is possible when even the most straightforward patch of pavement is transformed into a celebration station. Take note, struggling brick-and-mortars: The Redd is evidence that, if you give the stoners a chance, they will turn your real estate into moneymaking party pods that, against all odds, are remarkably respectful and chill (because, weed).
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2023 here!