Local Cannabis Dispensary Closes its Doors

One of the first cannabis dispensaries to be licensed in Pasadena following the passage of Measure CC in 2018 has permanently closed its doors. 

Other than signs on the door indicating that Harvest of Pasadena—at the gateway corner of Pasadena Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena—was closed for good, no other information was available from the company. 

The Google listing for the company also lists the store as “permanently closed.”

Harvest owners signed a 10-year lease for the property in 2020, for $55,000 per month, or $660,000 a year. The agreement included annual rent increases, with the rent increasing to $726,000 in 2021.

Harvest had been sued by WOW Health and Wellness soon after the passage of Measure CC, after WOW finished 56th among dispensary applicants but failed to move forward in the city’s cannabis selection process. WOW’s lawsuit attempted to invalidate Pasadena’s entire cannabis selection process.

Harvest, which finished in the top five of all applicants, was selected to apply for a conditional use permit in District 3. The City’s decision set off a number of lawsuits as other dispensaries sued the city.

Harvest eventually filed an anti-SLAPP motion, asking the court to dismiss WOW’s lawsuit.  

(The state’s anti-SLAPP law allows defendants to seek the dismissal of a complaint early in the lawsuit process before the discovery process begins.)

The trial court denied Harvest’s motion, but the company’s lawyers filed an appeal. In late January, WOW filed a motion to dismiss Harvest’s appeal, but the court of appeals denied WOW’s motion, ruling that Harvest’s appeal could move forward.  

After the court denied WOW’s motion, WOW agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against all parties. 

In March 2020, Harvest then used the anti-SLAPP statute against the Atrium Group to force the dismissal of a lawsuit Atrium filed in the U.S. District Court.