This Kern County Outlier Looks to Broaden Its Horizons with New Strains of Cannabis Industry
Can California City become a pot oasis in a dying desert?
In the early 1970s, California City was a lakefront community bustling with real estate promise. Since then, however, the city has taken on a new nickname, one that mayor Chuck McGuire is hoping to change with the cultivation of a new cannabis-friendly approach. “We won’t have to be known as Cal Shitty anymore,” says McGuire. “It’s the beginning of an image change for us.”
Along with Arvin, a small farming town, Cal City is an outlier in the notoriously pot-unfriendly Kern County. The state freed the weed and legalized recreational cannabis back in January 2018, but it left it up to municipalities to allow or prohibit sales.
If Mayor McGuire and other local politicians like City Manager Tom Weil get their way, Cal City will be a pot oasis in an area that’s very much weed-free, which McGuire says will benefit everything from their local veterans to the once promising lake community.
To read the full story, click here.
Photo by Craig Dietrich.
Mapping Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Love Letter to the San Fernando Valley
Behind the scenes of Oscar contender Licorice Pizza.
Thinking Inside the Box: A Taste of Our Favorite Boxed Wines
Don’t let the packaging fool you. These are quite drinkable summer wines.
The Archive of One of Los Angeles’ Most Important African-American Architects Finds a New Home
The extensive collection was thought to be lost in a building fire.



