The Weedmaps Museum of Weed is turning out to be an experience you must inhale to believe.
The jaw-dropping and educational exhibits send attendees through a maze of weed's fascinating, complicated history. And it just so happens to contain a massive amount of Instagram-worthy moments.
The Weedmaps Museum of Weed is more than a roller coaster of highs and lows full of installations, artifacts, recreations, and interactive displays that show weed history to be filled with both beautiful and brutal moments in awe-inspiring displays that are irresistible to social media.
Celebrities such as Vanessa Hudgens, Ashlee Simpson, Irene Baldwin, Tyler Henry, Rachel McCord, Laganga Estranja, and Tommy Chong visited the Weedmaps Museum of Weed and snapped photos throughout the exhibit's opening night.
Here are 10 of the most Instagram-worthy moments from the Weedmaps Museum of Weed.
'Flowers Are Not A Crime' Mural
The largest art installation, that dissects the 30,000-square-foot Weedmaps Museum of Weed in half, comes in the form of a colorful art-deco wall. The “Flowers Are Not a Crime” mural pull you towards it with its sheer magnitude and message.
The Entrance
The anticipation as you wait to enter the space is also a great photo op. The colorful entrance to the first exhibit is intended to feel like a tunnel that takes you back in time to pre-prohibition with the colored lights representing the subsequent eras. The multicolored light is fitting for the varied, emotional trip you're about to take.
'Reefer Madness' Funhouse
The mirrors distort and strobes flash to confuse the eye as you enter the “Age of Madness” exhibit. “Reefer Madness” propaganda is blasted on every wall; equally as campy and kitschy as it was dangerous and damaging.
Time your selfies wisely: The light is moody and constantly shifting, much like the public's perception of cannabis during this period.
Slime Time with 'Counterculture Revolution'
Walk through the door of a real Volkswagen bus (in Weedmaps Teal, of course) into a purple, green, and pink psychedelic womb. The“Counterculture Revolution” exhibit is made for the social media moment.
The whirl of colors, chaos, and warmth all pull the eye into a weed leaf center, framed by protest signs repeating actual messages and slogans from the 1960s and 1970s activist movements.
'Just Say No'
The jarring, black-and-white visuals inside of the “Just Say No” exhibit are as dizzying and disorienting as the campaign itself. The walls yell “No Hope With Dope,” “Marijuana Kills” in a text that overwhelms and leads your eye to the center.
Its size and repetitive impact are felt when you continue, turning around to a series of floating TVs playing an endless loop of “Just Say No” and “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” propaganda.
'90s Throwback
Enter the beaded door into a '90s dorm room come to life in this exhibit, the first room within “Dose of Compassion.” The bedroom is equipped with “Half Baked,” “Up In Smoke,” and “Dazed and Confused” movie posters, a bright blue translucent iMac computer, a wall of colorful bongs, and even a towel shoved under the door. Ah, the good ol' days. It's a beautiful representation of all the ways cannabis moved from counterculture to popular culture during this decade.
'Dose of Compassion' and the San Francisco Buyers Club
This real-life replica of the first dispensary in the United States, the San Francisco Buyers Club, is nothing short of surreal. Rainbow flags, signs that read “Yes on 215” (for Proposition 215, the California medical marijuana initiative when passed in 1996 became the first of its kind in the U.S.) and “Dennis Peron for Governor” line the walls.
The recreated space is dripping with strings of delicate origami swans, a golden coffee table, chess game, ashtrays filled with half-smoked joints, ornate wall art, and all of the small details transport you to its exact moment in time. Even the actual prices of the dispensary's menu from its first year are on the wall. The joints are glued down. Don't ask us how we know, but...
'Behind Closed Doors' and 'Entrapment'
Powerful quotes hit like a punch to the gut on the black walls of the “Behind Closed Doors” exhibit. Understanding the magnitude of Nixon's harmful discourse on marijuana, the creepy moment leads to what is sure to be the most triggering for attendees at the museum, and rightfully so. The “Entrapment” exhibit might scare your Instagram followers, so give them a trigger warning if you're feeling generous.
Visually Pleasing Knowledge
Cannabis information that you can reach out and grab, the virtual reality experiences found in the final exhibit, “The Plant Lab”, give attendees the opportunity to touch history itself. You can control the visualizations of the entourage effect, hover your hand over the years of legalization progression, and even smell the aroma of terpenes on the terp wall. Boomerang gold.
Staircase to Weed Heaven
The grassy seat is a gentle reprieve from the cathartic intensity of the museum journey. The veritable high and lows of the history of cannabis is an emotional roller coaster that attendees walk through the entire visit, and its message is blasted on the staircase. Make sure you see the view that awaits you on the top.
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General Admission and VIP Tickets for the Weedmaps Museum of Weed are available at themuseumofweed.com.
Feature image: Take selfies in a shock of psychedelic colors and patterns in the “Counterculture Revolution” exhibit in the Weedmaps Museum of Weed in Hollywood, California. (Gina Coleman/Weedmaps)
