Naming it proudly after a pair of legendary blues singers, two women of color have opened a cannabis speakeasy in The City of Angels. The establishment is the country’s first of its type owned by black women.
CEO and founder Whitney Beatty and business partner and COO Ebony Andersen created the Cali-based dispensary specifically for women of color. Reportedly, Josephine & Billie’s is born from the names of American-born French actress and entertainer Josephine Baker and the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday.
The partners wanted a welcoming and educational experience highlighted by a unique speakeasy-style cannabis concept.
Called also blind tigers, tea pads, gin joints, or blind pigs, speakeasies were prominent in the U.S. during the Prohibition era. There were thousands across the country after 1920 and into the 1930s. Often called the worst-kept secret, people gathered to indulge in alcohol consumption. Many of these illegal establishments were set up in black communities as the presumption was law enforcement wouldn’t care.
Today, the speakeasy is usually a retro-designed bar made to recreate the feel of the Prohibition era. The owners of Josephine & Billie’s admit this was their intent, to develop a cannabis retail shop inspired by those black community speakeasies.
The business owners note their first investor was The Parent Company, a cannabis organization backed by Jay-Z.
The dispensary happily announces its stock includes a broad array of high-quality cannabis from a variety of well-respected brands such as Cann, Monogram, Select, and Kiva Confections. Josephine & Billie’s also put a unique emphasis on queer, POC, and women-owned brands, including Leune, Ball Family Farms, and California Rolls.
The Parent Company says of the partnership, “Josephine & Billie’s unique and necessary mission to develop a welcoming and educational retail experience, particularly for Women of Color, exemplifies why Whitney and Ebony are the exact types of entrepreneurs that we want to stand up and stand behind with our social equity fund as we focus on shaping this industry’s future and uplifting all communities.”
Josephine & Billie’s interiors are a distinctive throwback to the forbidden gin joints of the Jazz Age. Among its modernized designs are the poetry of Billie Holiday and the pearls and feathers Josephine Baker never left home without.
You’ll find Josephine & Billie’s along Martin Luther Jr. Boulevard, an east-west thoroughfare in L.A. The owners are happy to have created a space where patrons can enjoy music and cannabis, embracing an opportunity to connect and relax, feeling valued and safe.
