Planning a trip to light up at a cannabis lounge in Palm Springs? Reconsider somewhere closer to home. The first one in San Diego County, dubbed Sessions by the Bay, is weeks away from opening in National City. The 16,000-square-foot venue overlooking San Diego Bay will bring a communal space – a legal one, anyway – for friends or strangers to use the drug publicly. “We’re super excited that we get to create something legal and regulated and safe, and also something that will be very unique,” said owner Alex Ayon, who previously owned two dispensaries in San Diego and La Mesa and operates one in Lone Pine. “I think it’s something that the community deserves.” Alex Ayon gives a tour of San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in National City, California. Sessions by the Bay will have a soft opening in Feb. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Just west of Interstate 5, construction crews can still be seen hammering away as the final construction phase comes to a close. The two-story building, leased from the Sycuan Tribal Development Council, was once California College San Diego’s National City campus. Its restructured blueprint showcases how the venue will blend “fine dining, a curated cannabis bar, and immersive art exhibits in an atmosphere inspired by Moroccan opulence,” as referenced on its website. The first floor will offer patrons a typical, self-shopping experience with a fully stocked dispensary that will also sell clones, vapes, glass accessories like bongs and pipes, and merchandise. And for those post-session sweet cravings, floorspace will accommodate a mini market packed with various snacks, frozen treats and refreshments. Upstairs is the focal point: an indoor lounge and open-air terrace to puff and dine. Soon, there won’t be a square inch of the second floor that will be left untouched. The space will have multiple tables, a bar area and caged booth seating tucked under Moroccan-inspired, moody lighting and an assortment of plants. Courtesy of Alex AyonSessions by the Bay's first floorCourtesy of Alex AyonSessions by the Bay’s second floor will house a cannabis lounge. Show CaptionCourtesy of Alex Ayon1 of 2Sessions by the Bay's first floorExpand The menu is thoughtfully curated by next-door neighbor Kimball Coastal Eatery, which shares a wall with Sessions, making it easier to run a full-service restaurant for the cannabis lounge. “We’re basically gonna operate as two different kitchens so we won’t be competing against each other – the restaurant will continue to have their own menu and Sessions will have its own,” said Jorge Bendesky, executive chef at Kimball. The original plan was to have Kimball sell prepackaged food at the lounge because that’s what state regulations allowed. But that changed with Assembly Bill 1775, which took effect this month. The law permits cannabis retailers to allow on-site consumption and to prepare and sell non-cannabis food. Some items on the menu will include sushi-grade ahi tuna on a homemade crispy rice waffle, a breakfast burger with an 8-ounce patty, crispy hash browns and a sunny side egg. It will also offer a variety of salads made with homegrown basil and other herbs. “Something fun is that we will have an all-day breakfast menu because, you know, when you’re smoking you crave sweets, you crave breakfast,” said Bendesky, who predicted its peanut butter-and-strawberry-stuffed French toast will be a customer favorite. Under state law, cannabis lounges cannot serve alcohol, which is why Kimball has prepared an entire selection of mocktails for patrons to pair with their cannabis, whether it be flowers, edibles or other products. Coffee, from lattes to cappuccinos, will also be served. “You eat with your eyes,” said Bendesky. “We really wanted to make sure that every item has that wow factor and is visually appealing.” And what’s a lounge without some entertainment? “We also got a stage,” said Ayon. “We’re gonna have music and comedy shows, magic shows, whatever we can think of.” A view from San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in National City, California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The building has about 8,000 square feet of rooftop space, which will be built out in the future with more outdoor lounging space, Ayon added. To start, he envisions offering the terrace for community events, such as yoga or art workshops. “There’s a lot of people that have been doing their own things in the cannabis industry, like cannabis yoga, cannabis hikers, cannabis artists,” he said. “A lot of them have been reaching out to us because they’ve lacked the space where they can comfortably host these events. So, we’re hoping to sort of be like a nexus for all that type of activity.” Back on the first floor is a trippy addition that won’t be hard to miss but will most certainly have patrons returning “because there’s so many Easter eggs I put in this place that you’ll want to come back and find,” said Mike Davis. He’s the San Diego-based designer behind Sessions’ immersive art space, essentially a whimsical cluster of interactive rooms where visitors can hang out, smoke a purchased pre-roll or edible and make their way through the sensory journey. Alex Ayon gives a tour of San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in National City, California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)Sessions by the Bay will have a soft opening in Feb. Pictured is a room with a state that will have live musical performances and comedy shows. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge is under construction on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in National City, California. Pictured is a room with a state that will have live musical performances and comedy shows. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)Show Caption1 of 3Alex Ayon gives a tour of San Diego County’s first cannabis lounge on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in National City, California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)Expand They will find themed rooms, one with a giant tree of life and another set up as a hotbox corner. There will be moving visuals, dynamic sounds and scents, said Davis. “The cannabis theme, by blending art and the culture’s history, is going to be big in there,” he added. “But other than that, it’s also a space where we’d like to have an art show once a month in there.” Though National City leaders grappled with some public pushback about allowing a cannabis lounge in their community, the City Council unanimously approved the project more than two years ago. Officials saw it as a way to curb the illicit pot market and offer a regulated space to smoke, as well as to generate a new revenue stream, further develop the waterfront area and create jobs. The job interest is high, said Ayon. About 600 people have signed up to attend a hiring fair on Jan. 18. Courtesy of Alex AyonSessions by the Bay is expected to open in February 2025. To approve the lounge, the city mandated a list of conditions Ayon said will be implemented: adding visible signs asking patrons to respect adjacent neighborhoods, making sure odors generated by the business are not detectible outside the premises, hiring at least one, unarmed security guard and that all cannabis waste is properly disposed of. For one, the business has a designated area for rideshare pickup and drop off, something the business is encouraging as some bars do as well. Sessions will have a last call for consumption at 9 p.m. “Our goal is for people to have a great time and part of that means not getting too high,” said Ayon. “It means getting home safely. So, we’re making sure our staff is well trained to engage with the customers, to talk to them about tolerance levels, about dosages and onset timelines, for cannabis products.” The lounge also has advanced HVAC systems with carbon filters to manage odors, said Ayon. “Any air in this space gets filtered before it gets exhausted, and it’s all exhausted at this level (the second floor),” he added. “We also have a good distance between neighbors.” Cannabis has been legal in California for many years, first for medicinal purposes and later for recreational use and the legal market has, thus far, “been a pretty successful experiment,” said Lance Rogers, an Imperial Beach-based cannabis attorney. “But I think the black hole, or the missing piece in California, is where do people consume cannabis,” he added. “Right now, it’s in their homes and every once in a while at a cannabis event. It’s private and isolated.” “So, having a cannabis lounge is exciting,” he said. “It’s not stigmatized to go to a bar and strike up a conversation with a stranger, and maybe you make a new friend out of it. If a cannabis lounge can do that, then that’s a great benefit.” Sessions is planning a soft opening in early February and an official opening date on Feb. 28. The dispensary will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the lounge from noon to 11 p.m.