Greenfellas: How a small group of men aimed to bring retail cannabis to the South Bay
by Garth Meyer As results came in after presstime for Wednesday’s Redondo Beach special election, it marked the close of a chapter in the saga of a handful of men aiming to bring legal cannabis stores to the South Bay. The face of that effort became Elliot Lewis, CEO of the Long Beach-based Catalyst Cannabis Co. Lewis financed the initiatives to put retail marijuana measures on ballots this fall in Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. Lewis also underwrote the push to recall Redondo City Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. He was not the first on the scene. Before there was Elliot Lewis in the Beach Cities, it was Adam Spiker, a third-generation associate at Spiker Rendon consulting firm (based in Los Angeles and Orange County). Spiker arrived in 2018 to speak to city councilmembers in the South Bay, including Torrance and Hawthorne, to gauge their interest in allowing cannabis stores. Spiker’s financial partner in the venture was a multi-state marijuana company publicly traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Spiker said he found no interest from Torrance elected officials. Hawthorne city council members were open to marijuana stores, but wanted to write their own laws. Redondo Beach…
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