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TribalSeeds
I bought my first bong, my first pipe, my first everything from this store before I was even 18. They used to let us in the back room every other time we tried. I will be going down there today to buy my first real vape.
This time it’s really happening: Greeko’s is closing.
The 46-year-old smoke and gift shop is considered one of the last vestiges of Old Hermosa, a time of bellbottoms and psychedelics. Although Greeko’s briefly went out of business at the end of 2008 when ownership changed, there’s no coming back this time, store owners said.
That’s because they can’t afford the $6,000 rent. Store owners Amanda Watanabe, 29, and Jason Ahu, 36, would like to relocate to another storefront in Hermosa or elsewhere in the South Bay, but they are not hopeful about the prospect of finding something they can afford. So they are also looking at moving the store to Hawaii where they both have family.
“Wish we could stay,” Watanabe said. “It’s just that rent.”
The man who collects the rent, John Warren, opened Greeko’s Sandals in 1966. Warren, who hand-cut and tacked sandals like the ancient Greeks wore, ran the shop for 25 years and came to be known as Johnny Greekos.
Warren sold the shop to Steve Yerkes in 1991. Yerkes tried to change the culture of the shop away from smoking pipes, but it didn’t really work. In November of 2008, Yerkes announced Greeko’s, one of the oldest head shops in the country, was going out of business and liquidated the store’s merchandise.
Watanabe and Ahu, both longtime clerks at the store under Yerkes, took over Greeko’s empty storefront in January 2009, stocking the shelves mostly on credit. Soon after, Greeko’s lost half its floorspace when a women’s clothing store, Yak & Yeti, opened after moving from its smaller location on Pier Avenue, which also lowered the rent from $9,500 to $6,000 for the new Greeko’s owners.
The proliferation of Southern California marijuana dispensaries selling pipes has hurt the head shop’s business and so has the changing demographics of Hermosa.
“I wish Greeko’s would have made it to 50 years,” Warren said, adding that a bronze plaque will be added to the sidewalk to commemorate Greeko’s after the store leaves.
Times have changed since Warren ran Greeko’s, with its wooden floor and later cobblestone sidewalk out front.
Amanda Watanabe fixes a collapsable handbag inside Greeko's. Photo by Ed Pilolla.
“There are so many hair-cutting places [in Hermosa],” Watanabe said. “The character of the area is not what it used to be.”
“People are drawn here. They don’t even know why. They end up inside here. It’s probably energies. That’s all we are anyway,” said Ahu, who just returned from scouting potential store locations on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Many musicians have worked at Greeko’s over the years, including Mike Odd and Nathan Maxwell, as well as various artists. Customers have been known to bring in artwork that finds a place on the walls, and a plumber doing repairs ended up painting a mural on the back wall.
Warren, who made a pair of custom sandals for The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson in the early ‘70s, said he recently lowered the rent while looking for another tenant. He did this in order to help give Greeko’s a “jumpstart” before moving to a new location, he said.
“I’m sorry to see the store go and a lot of people are, too,” Warren said. “Times change and they change certain businesses. As Bob Dylan said, times are a-changing, and you’ve got to change with them. If not, they change anyway.”
Next Tuesday, the planning commission will hear a proposal for a gourmet taco stand to occupy 1120 Hermosa Avenue.
This time it’s really happening: Greeko’s is closing.
The 46-year-old smoke and gift shop is considered one of the last vestiges of Old Hermosa, a time of bellbottoms and psychedelics. Although Greeko’s briefly went out of business at the end of 2008 when ownership changed, there’s no coming back this time, store owners said.
That’s because they can’t afford the $6,000 rent. Store owners Amanda Watanabe, 29, and Jason Ahu, 36, would like to relocate to another storefront in Hermosa or elsewhere in the South Bay, but they are not hopeful about the prospect of finding something they can afford. So they are also looking at moving the store to Hawaii where they both have family.
“Wish we could stay,” Watanabe said. “It’s just that rent.”
The man who collects the rent, John Warren, opened Greeko’s Sandals in 1966. Warren, who hand-cut and tacked sandals like the ancient Greeks wore, ran the shop for 25 years and came to be known as Johnny Greekos.
Warren sold the shop to Steve Yerkes in 1991. Yerkes tried to change the culture of the shop away from smoking pipes, but it didn’t really work. In November of 2008, Yerkes announced Greeko’s, one of the oldest head shops in the country, was going out of business and liquidated the store’s merchandise.
Watanabe and Ahu, both longtime clerks at the store under Yerkes, took over Greeko’s empty storefront in January 2009, stocking the shelves mostly on credit. Soon after, Greeko’s lost half its floorspace when a women’s clothing store, Yak & Yeti, opened after moving from its smaller location on Pier Avenue, which also lowered the rent from $9,500 to $6,000 for the new Greeko’s owners.
The proliferation of Southern California marijuana dispensaries selling pipes has hurt the head shop’s business and so has the changing demographics of Hermosa.
“I wish Greeko’s would have made it to 50 years,” Warren said, adding that a bronze plaque will be added to the sidewalk to commemorate Greeko’s after the store leaves.
Times have changed since Warren ran Greeko’s, with its wooden floor and later cobblestone sidewalk out front.
“There are so many hair-cutting places [in Hermosa],” Watanabe said. “The character of the area is not what it used to be.”
“People are drawn here. They don’t even know why. They end up inside here. It’s probably energies. That’s all we are anyway,” said Ahu, who just returned from scouting potential store locations on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Many musicians have worked at Greeko’s over the years, including Mike Odd and Nathan Maxwell, as well as various artists. Customers have been known to bring in artwork that finds a place on the walls, and a plumber doing repairs ended up painting a mural on the back wall.
Warren, who made a pair of custom sandals for The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson in the early ‘70s, said he recently lowered the rent while looking for another tenant. He did this in order to help give Greeko’s a “jumpstart” before moving to a new location, he said.
“I’m sorry to see the store go and a lot of people are, too,” Warren said. “Times change and they change certain businesses. As Bob Dylan said, times are a-changing, and you’ve got to change with them. If not, they change anyway.”
Next Tuesday, the planning commission will hear a proposal for a gourmet taco stand to occupy 1120 Hermosa Avenue.
