It’s been well over a year since 1019 Smoke introduced itself to the community during a public meeting in August of 2022, but the new cannabis dispensary is on its way to opening on Ingleside’s stretch of Ocean Avenue.
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The dispensary will open near City College of San Francisco and join KOLAS, five blocks down street, as the neighborhood’s second cannabis dispensary.
Tyler Makras and Patrick Hall won approvals for the business from City Hall last year after hosting public meetings, communicating with the small business community, attending neighborhood events and more.
Though progress has been slow moving for the duo’s new storefront, they are still looking forward to officially being open.
“We are currently in the construction phase and still going through the city project management pyramid scheme,” Hall said. “Probably won’t be open til we go bankrupt.”
Hall and Makras met with the San Francisco Planning Commission in February last year to request conditional use authorization for the 888-square-foot storefront.
The proposal for the dispensary drew complaints mainly around its proximity to school and children including one childcare facility being as close as 28 feet away from the site. Per planning code section 202.2, the storefront must be at least 600 feet from a school or other cannabis retail business.
Planning Department staffer Ryan Balba said that among the childcare facilities listed, they are not identified as schools under the Planning Code and the storefront is designed to shield products from street view while maintaining transparency of the facade along with a strong security presence and staff monitoring the space.
“We’ve met with a lot of organizations within the community and we think that we would be a great contribution just for the fact that that district alone is very underserved, especially in the Ocean Avenue,” Hall said.
Makras emphasized the outreach work they conducted.
“We’ve been taking our community outreach very seriously,” Makras said. “Patrick and I are excited to serve our community.”
Makras also said they have received over 150 letters of support from residents including the tenants above the retail space, 12 from local business and seven from community groups such as Ocean Incubators, the nonprofit founded by Expert Pet’s Mike Sorrels and Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside Cultural Participation Project and Ocean Avenue Association. Simon Timony, the founder of Advocates 11 and District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio’s legislative aide, gave in-person testimony supporting the cannabis shop.
No opposition was put forth at the time.
“We're in support of the dispensary,” a representative for WestWood Produce said. “We think it’s going to be a lift to the community. We don’t want to keep our retail vacant.”
The commission unanimously vote to approve the request and their application is still being processed, according to the San Francisco Office of Cannabis website.
“I just want to commend the project sponsors for doing really thorough outreach,” Commission President Rachael Tanner said. “I want to say it’s probably one of the most exemplary examples of community outreach for a cannabis dispensary we’ve seen in quite a while so thank you and it certainly shows through today in the hearing.”
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
