Inside L.A.'s First Co-Working Space for the Cannabis Industry

It looks like any of the dozens of 
co-working spaces that have popped up around L.A. in recent years — a cluster of long tables with easy access to electrical outlets, a whiteboard next to a comfy couch, a fridge stocked with boxed water. But there's something that makes ParagonSpace a little different. When the Hollywood spot opens its doors to members Sept. 1, it will become the city's first shared workspace for the cannabis industry. Look a 
little closer and those angular green chairs 
in the cafe do resemble marijuana leaves.

"I wanted to create a space that a soccer 
mom could feel comfortable in, an athlete 
could feel comfortable in," says Paragon 
CEO Jessica VerSteeg as she shows off the four-building complex (on a 4,300-square-foot lot on Tamarind Avenue, just off Sunset Boulevard) that she purchased entirely with cryptocurrency earlier this year. "I'm thankful to those who stuck with their stoner image 
and helped pave the way. But in order to 
welcome the rest of the world, we need to show that those stoners also have jobs."