From the Corner to the Counter: Vladimir Bautista on Building Happy Munkey, Legalizing the Legacy Market & Keeping Dyckman Real

What does it take to go from selling weed on the corner of 139th and Broadway — dodging arrests, feeding your family, and building a street-level business empire — to running what Forbes called 'the Studio 54 of Cannabis' and opening a legal dispensary on Dyckman Street in the exact location where Dyckman Electronics stood for forty years?

For Vladimir Bautista, co-founder of Happy Munkey, the answer is equal parts hustle, healing, heart, and community — and in this episode, he holds nothing back.

Led Black and Octavio Blanco sit down with Vladimir for an hour-long conversation that takes us from the Dominican Bronx of the 1980s to the Forbes pages to the Dyckman Projects senior center, where Vlad once gave a presentation in Spanish on CBD to an audience of elders who used to think cannabis was the devil. The story of Happy Munkey — from a monthly gathering at 38th Street, to a seven-days-a-week cultural institution, to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience, to the Museum of Sex on Fifth Avenue, to two dispensaries in Dyckman and Brooklyn — is the story of what happens when legacy market expertise, deep community roots, and sheer refusal to quit come together at exactly the right historical moment.

Vladimir speaks with rare candor about imposter syndrome in the legal market, the $35,000-a-month green tax on his Dyckman lease, driving cash to the IRS, competing with unregulated corner spots, going personally to every informal weed operator in the neighborhood before opening and asking for their blessing — and getting it. He talks about speaking at Yale, Columbia, and the biggest cannabis conference in Las Vegas, standing next to corporate executives on stage with a GED, and representing not just himself but the 40,000 people still sitting in federal prison for cannabis while companies go public on the NYSE.

He also gets personal — about his single mother, growing up in one of the most cocaine-saturated blocks in Harlem, finding his lane at 16 years old, and the healing work he's doing now as an 'urban hippie' who hugs trees and goes grounding in the park as his therapy.

This episode is a love letter to Uptown, to the legacy market, to everyone who got arrested for a dime bag, and to the next generation of Vladimir Ramones already in the wings. And it ends with three words that should be the Uptown motto: Choose. Happy.

00:00  Cold Open  —  Vladimir on overcoming imposter syndrome and owning who you are — we're the experts

01:19  Welcome + Subscribe Call to Action  —  Led and Octavio open the show, Knicks energy, and the importance of amplifying Uptown voices

02:09  OG Ananobi Day is Official  —  Led announces it's officially OG Ananobi Day, declared by the Borough President — not making it up

02:39  Introducing Vladimir Bautista / Happy Munkey  —  Led on Happy Munkey's decade-long impact on the cannabis landscape of New York City

03:04  Vladimir on the Energy of This Summer  —  Knicks comeback, Uptown energy, and why you can never count this city out

03:39  10 Years of Happy Munkey  —  The origin story — from a gathering at 38th Street in 2017 to two dispensaries approaching the ten-year mark

05:06  Why This Matters More Than Money  —  Vladimir on what keeps him going: changing hearts and minds, employing people who look like him, inspiring the guy on the corner

07:04  The Dyckman Electronics Legacy  —  How Happy Munkey took over the exact location of the longest-standing electronics store in northern Manhattan — and kept the plaque

09:21  Vladimir's Origin Story — 139th and Broadway  —  Growing up in the Bronx with a single mother on welfare, finding his lane at 16, and why cannabis became his path away from worse things

12:04  Octavio Meets Vladimir  —  First impressions, stereotypes, and why Vlad's corazon — his heart for the community — was always present even on the corner

12:59  The Dominican Bronx of the 80s and 90s  —  A neighborhood he describes as the Dominican Bronx Tale — cocaine, circumstance, and 22 arrests later

16:00  22 Arrests and the War on Drugs  —  How a cannabis record blocked access to universities and jobs — and why the first people in the legal industry had to be the people who suffered

18:00  Building the Happy Munkey Movement  —  From monthly gatherings to seven days a week, Forbes naming it the Studio 54 of Cannabis, advocacy, Albany bus trips, COVID, and back again

24:00  The Van Gogh Experience + Museum of Sex  —  How Happy Munkey brought their energy into the biggest cultural institutions — and sold them out

27:00  The Decision to Go to Dyckman  —  Everyone said they were bugging — Dominicans don't have money, it's too dangerous, there are too many weed spots. They went anyway

35:08  Breaking the Stigma with Older Dominicans  —  The senior center presentation at the Dyckman Projects, the community board presentation, and the moment an older Dominican woman said 'Yo quiero la crema esa'

40:00  The Man on the Bike — 'Eso es del Diablo'  —  Vladimir's street-corner theology debate in Spanish — and why that dialogue is more important than the algorithm

41:36  The Brutal Realities of Legal Cannabis  —  1,000-foot rules, green tax, $35,000 a month rent, no write-offs, paying the IRS in vans full of cash, and competing with unregulated spots

46:51  Respect from the Street — Getting the Block's Blessing  —  How Vlad and Ramon personally visited every informal operator on Dyckman before opening and asked for their blessing — and got it

50:53  New York Has More Minority-Owned Dispensaries Than Every Other State Combined  —  Why New York's legal cannabis market — despite its flaws — is the best in the country for Black and brown entrepreneurs

53:05  40,000 People in Federal Prison for Weed — While Companies Go Public  —  The stat that left Octavio speechless

53:52  Speaking at Yale, Columbia and Vegas — Without a High School Diploma  —  What it means to stand on the biggest cannabis stages in the world as a subject matter expert who was never supposed to be there

55:47  Two Years on Dyckman: Key Business Takeaways  —  Watch your overhead, run lean, and — above all else — community beats SEO every single time

1:00:00  What's Next for Happy Munkey  —  Events coming to both Dyckman and Brooklyn: Lightfoot dancers, drummers, and bringing the 38th Street energy to the dispensaries

1:03:00  The Final Message: Men Lie, Women Lie, Energy Never Lies  —  Vladimir on his inner compass, the people places and things framework, and why access — not IQ — determines outcomes

1:06:55  Advice for the Next Generation  —  Find someone where you want to be. Shadow them. Ask. Be around the right people, places, and things. Never stop. Never lose your inner compass

1:09:17  Led's Reflection: The Ripples You Don't See  —  Led on almost ten years of watching Happy Munkey grow — and what it means for the next Vladimir Ramones already in the wings

1:10:14  Where to Find Happy Munkey  —  happymunkey.com | 151 Dyckman Street | 453 Fulton Street, Brooklyn (Albee Square / Fulton Mall)

1:11:30  Urban Hippie: Vladimir on Healing Through Nature  —  Grounding, tree hugging, hiking — and why nature is the therapy that's actually worked for him

1:13:03  Closing: Uptown Is the Last Neighborhood With Culture  —  Vladimir's final word — support each other, amplify these voices, keep the culture alive. Choose happy.

About Vladimir Bautista

Vladimir Bautista is the co-founder of Happy Munkey, widely regarded as New York City's most culturally significant cannabis brand. He grew up at 139th Street and Broadway in the Bronx in the 1980s and 90s, began selling cannabis at 16 years old, was arrested 22 times during the war on drugs era, and never stopped. In 2017, he and his partners — Ramon, Omar, Jay, and others — began hosting cannabis gatherings at 38th Street in Manhattan that grew from monthly events into a seven-days-a-week institution. Forbes dubbed them 'the Studio 54 of Cannabis.'

Vladimir and Happy Munkey were among the leading advocates for cannabis legalization in New York State, organizing buses to Albany, starting petitions against Governor Cuomo's exclusion of legacy market operators, and fighting to ensure that the communities most harmed by the war on drugs were first in line for the legal market. When the time came to open a licensed dispensary, Happy Munkey chose not Soho or Tribeca — where they already had a following — but Dyckman Street in Inwood, in the exact location where Dyckman Electronics had stood for forty years.

Vladimir has spoken about cannabis entrepreneurship and legacy market justice at Yale University, Columbia University, and at the largest cannabis conferences in the United States, the UK, Spain, and Mexico. He is a father, an ordained leader in his community, and — by his own description — an urban hippie who hugs trees and goes grounding as his primary form of therapy.

Website: happymunkey.com (Munkey with a U) | Instagram: @HappyMunkey | Locations: 151 Dyckman Street, NYC  |  453 Fulton Street, Downtown Brooklyn (Albee Square / Fulton Mall)

About Happy Munkey

Happy Munkey is a New York City cannabis brand, community hub, and cultural institution with two licensed dispensaries — one in Dyckman (Inwood) and one in Downtown Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. The brand was founded by Vladimir Bautista and his partners including Ramon, Omar, and Jay, all veterans of the pre-legalization legacy market who brought decades of expertise, deep community relationships, and a mission-driven commitment to social equity into the legal industry.

Happy Munkey operates without security guards at its Dyckman location, serves older Dominican residents seeking CBD for pain management, employs young people from the neighborhood, and remains embedded in the political and civic life of upper Manhattan. The dispensary sits in the former Dyckman Electronics location — a community institution for over forty years — and has preserved the original bench plaques as a tribute.

What makes Happy Munkey singular is not just its origins but its method: Vladimir and his partners personally visited every informal cannabis operator on Dyckman before opening and asked for their blessing. They got it.

Support Hyperlocal Media: Uptown Voices is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Support our mission here: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

Creators and Guests

Host

Led Black

Host

Octavio Blanco

What is Uptown Voices?

Uptown Voices tells the stories of unsung heroes who are transforming New York City's Uptown neighborhoods from Washington Heights to Inwood to Harlem to the South Bronx. Each episode profiles an individual or organization making a positive difference. These social entrepreneurs, artists, and community leaders are navigating critical issues of affordability, public safety, and mental health. Through conversations rooted in journalistic integrity and genuine community ties, this podcast challenges negative narratives and celebrates the true spirit of the vibrant neighborhoods thriving north of Central Park.

Each episode features extended interviews in which subjects tell their stories in their own words. The series examines the interconnected challenges facing Uptown communities—gentrification pressures, resource scarcity, systemic inequities—while simultaneously showcasing the creativity and collective power emerging in response. While uplifting the people shaping Uptown’s future, the podcast holds local elected officials accountable for the promises they make. During this pivotal time, Uptown Voices is creating a unique audiovisual archive.

Uptown Voices is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Make a tax-deductible contribution to our program here: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

Vladimir Bautista (00:00)
At the beginning, we had of a bit of imposter syndrome. So we felt like we're not the experts at the beginning, like, you know, John that has this title as an expert in here, 'cause they've been legit and all this stuff. And we were kind of like doing things in that fashion at the beginning because we had imposter syndrome and we felt like, well, we're just street guys and we don't know how to do things in this way, and maybe we should do it the way that other people do it. And

Whatever the people with the more titles and the more experience in the legal world. And that was a mistake. When we figured that that was the opposite, that's the way that our overhead was going up. That's the way that we were doing a bunch of unnecessary, ineffective things. And we looked at us, me, Omar, my former partners, Ramon, Jay, and all my we like, we're the experts. We've been selling weed for 30. These people don't know more than us. And we just honed.

And owned who we are and started operating things the way we know how we operate, like we used to operate blocks, like we used to operate 38th Street, everything went better.

Led Black (01:19)
What up, what up everyone? It's Led Black of the Uptown Voices Podcast, and we have a very elevated edition of Uptown Voices. But before we get to that, I want to make sure that I implore you to ⁓ subscribe to the channel, share it, tell your people about it. This is about getting getting the uptown voices that need to be heard, heard. Octavio, how you doing, my brother? You good?

Octavio Blanco (01:40)
I'm doing great. I'm so happy. ⁓ today is a great is gonna be a great episode. I'm I I just wanna say, you know, we're just coming off this Knicks win. and then by the time this by the time this airs, we're gonna be world champions. So yeah, I'm just I'm just really, really psyched. So yes, I I redouble your sentiments. Please, please, you know, subscribe. Doesn't cost you anything. and and it really helps us out. ⁓ let's get let's get all everybody that needs to to hear this.

Get them all subscribed.

Led Black (02:09)
And it's officially OG Ananobi Day in my hand today. That's official. So that's that's not me making that up. It's official. That's from the from the Borough president himself. But yo, Vladimir, we have let me f see, I'm too comfortable with with brothers, right? But I I gotta give you the proper, you know, introduction. Like I want I I wanna say that there's very few people that have had as such an impact as you and Ramon and Happy Munkey and a certain feel, right? And and Happy Munkey.

Octavio Blanco (02:13)
Yes, that's official. It's official.

Led Black (02:39)
In certain ways, in you know, it it it changed the game for cannabis, right? It existed it existed prior to legalization and now has become this other thing after legalization, right? Because it speaks of legacy, it speaks of authenticity, and just real deal, like from the bottom up, you know, ethos. So, my brother Vladimir Batista, how you doing, man?

Vladimir Bautista (03:04)
Just happy to be here. As Octavio said, you know what I mean? It's like ⁓ right now it's feeling like it's gonna be one of the best summers we've seen in a while. The energy's amazing in the city uptown, you know, after you know, the Knicks coming back from the biggest loss in history, you know, being down the biggest points in history. It's just ⁓ it's just like that, the ultimate epitome of that New York Uptown energy that you can never count us out.

We are always, you know, anything is possible even when the stats and the numbers are against us.

Led Black (03:39)
You know it's so funny you said that because that's how I feel about like like, you know, it took time to build this team, right? To get to where it's at, right? It was some losses, right? Some heartbreak, and now you're here. And it's interesting because with with Happy Munkey now to think about it, it's 10 years now. Right? Right. So, cause I can't I I started fucking, yeah. When when is it gonna be 10 years?

Vladimir Bautista (04:00)
Going on.

Next year, twenty twenty seven. So it's just like like we're halfway through twenty twenty six.

Led Black (04:07)
So you know what I'm saying? Like, that's amazing.

Yeah, man, that's amazing that this thing that started almost 10 years ago that went I've like for people that don't know, right? Happy Munkey now is basically two dispensaries, it two dispensaries, one in Dyckman and one in Brooklyn on Fulton, correct? And it's more than a it's more than a dispensary, it's a movement, it's a lifestyle, right? But before, when when it wasn't that, it was this.

unique thing that that that you had to be you you couldn't just go like you had to be in the know and I remember the person that I used to c that I used to my plug for weed right because now it's funny like people have you can go to dispensary and get weed like that's beautiful but when you've been through the struggle you know getting arrested for buying a fucking dime bag you know what I mean like you know get getting your mom caught catching you with weed like we we l we live in a golden era of of cannabis

And a lot of it, especially New York City, could it be attributed to Happy Munkey, man? How does it feel to have that kind of impact on something that means so much to New York City?

Vladimir Bautista (05:06)
It's kinda like what keeps me going every day, you know what mean? A a big part of it because you know, the truth is, as you said, right, Led ⁓ you know, been selling cannabis in New York for thirty years, almost since nineteen ninety eight. And ⁓ you know, what I used to do before was way more profitable when I was doing it illegally. But now, even though I have to deal with all the headaches of

you know, taxes, overhead and et cetera, and et cetera. A lot of hurdles have to go through. Every day when I know that we're changing hearts and minds out there because it's like it's so important for us to have these conversations with people like you because a good friend of mine told me one time, he said, Vlad, it's sad, but like, you know, nobody will really understand the impact and that you, Ramon, and your partners had until maybe you're long gone because it's too

It's too complex for people to realize at the moment. So, what do I mean by that? You just said, right, Led, like this started in a with a movement in 2017 with friends gathering at a location at 38th Street, inviting their friends. From there, it snowballed to, you know, having events once a month, then once a week, then seven days a week. 2019, Forbes called us the Studio 54 Cannabis. Then going from that to becoming advocates to

fight for legalization to make sure that all the people that got arrested, that got killed over weed, that got deported, did not get left out during this process from starting petitions against Cuomo to taking buses to Albany and then to get go from that, then COVID hit, then COVID was over, then we took it we took that same vibe and energy that you went to in thirty eighth and did the Van Gogh immersive experience.

One of the biggest collaborations with, you know, big establishments publicly like that, to go in and doing a museum of sex on Fifth Avenue and selling that out with a thousand people, then to the the the classic car club. And then when the time came, right, that because we all know we hear people from our black and brown and marginalized communities say, Well, yeah, I do this, I do this for my community, whatever, but when it's time when

You get something put in your hand, and they say you could take this paper and go anywhere, Soho, Tribeca, Times Square, anywhere. And you know already, like you said, we were already significant down there in that geographical area of downtown Manhattan, and saying, No, we're going the total opposite and going all the way to the top of Uptown to Dyckman to the Mecca of cannabis and people.

That look like us and all kinds of people said, We think that you're bugging. There's those people don't have money up there. It's too dangerous. There's too many wee spots. Dominicans don't like cannabis. And to go up against all of that and prove all of that wrong, where we're open seven days a week without security, where we have old Dominican folks coming to get CBD, where now

Octavio Blanco (07:58)
Yeah.

Vladimir Bautista (08:19)
We're inspiring the guy that's on the corner and says, damn Vlad and Ramon and Jay and Omar, they used to be on the corner and they did it. I can do it. To being able to employ people that look like us. So those things are kinda like the why and purpose to help me deal with the with the obstacles I have to deal with every day.

Octavio Blanco (08:38)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, go go go for it.

Led Black (08:38)
And hold on, Toby. Let me just continue this real quick because you

didn't just go to Dyckman, right? You went to where Dyckman Electronics was. Right. And Dyckman Electronics was a staple, an institution in our community, right? It was a pipeline of like goods from here to there. So it wasn't just anywhere on Dyckman. It was like it was and what I'm trying to get at is like this.

This this this thing that's that's you it's your hard work, but it's also like a bigger thing happening, right? Like for that to go there is is really historic and it just shows that like you know, it may it it it's it it's the the next generation of those people coming through with innovation and doing things. And I think that's really special. Can you talk about the location itself?

Vladimir Bautista (09:21)
You know what's funny you say that, ⁓ Led? That is so significant because everybody from Uptown knows that I don't think it was just a dike. Remember, I'm from Harlem from Ham from 139th and Broadway. That was the longest standing electronic store in northern Manhattan, period. That outlasted Radio Shack. It outlasted Nobody Beats the Wiz. It outlasted all of these bigger electronic franchises. And then for us to

For all the stars to us to get that location. That's why like we have there's some benches that came with their location and they have a plaque and they say Dyckman Electronics and we still have that plaque there because like that's us paying homage because we know that that location was there for like forty years and like it's like, you know, that was one generation of Dominicans and like we are the next one like carrying on the torch in this industry.

Led Black (10:16)
Love that.

Octavio Blanco (10:17)
That's great. I ⁓ you know, you and Led go way back, but this is kind of the first time that me and you are are meeting. But a friend of Led's is a friend of mine. So but I should say though, for me, like you're not the stereotype that I think of when I think of like somebody who would sell weed on the corner, you know, in your youth. so that that goes that

The reason I'm mentioning that is because, you know, I think a lot of people succumb to stereotypes. They succumb to either they succumb to the stereotype that's put on them because they don't fight back, or they or they succumb to the stereotype because there's so many people that are just pointing at them and saying, You're wrong, you're bad, you're the you're doing the wrong thing. So I want to hear about the

young Vladimir, you know, when he was on the corner and he was selling weed, because obviously you've got a good mind. You you got a good, you know, you've got a you've got an incredibly not just ⁓ business savvy, but community savvy. ⁓ and also kind. You know, you're a you're a kind person, which is from what I from what I see, you're you're somebody who likes to give back, who is really committed to giving back to the community. So

How does that like young man juggle that sort of, you know, I'm a I'm I'm selling weed on the street, so it's dangerous and I have to be careful. And you know, it's it's it's a it and I'm getting arrested, got arrested 22 times to maintaining that like heart, that corazon that's like, you know what, but one day it'll be okay. And now it's like more than okay. It's like,

an incredible thing that you've created.

Vladimir Bautista (12:04)
It's a good question, Octavio. And like you said, yeah, it's definitely an honor and a pleasure to meet you and to be here with you. Obviously, you know, you're here with Led, and and I really want to cut in before I answer and say that what you're both doing is really so imperative right now in this point in time in history in Uptown with all the transitions we're going, where it feels like ⁓ our neighborhood is kind of trying to be overtaken, our culture is trying to try to be erased for you guys to have this.

platform to amplify voices like mine and so many others is so important. So I just wanted to cut in and say that. But to answer your question is Octavio, is that like I said, I grew up in 139th in Broadway in the 80s and the 90s. You know, typical story about what a lot of us go through, you know, because sometimes you know ⁓ the environment we grow up on plays a role in in what happens, right? Because you know

Led Black (12:40)
Thank you, brother.

Octavio Blanco (12:40)
Thank you.

Vladimir Bautista (12:59)
People don't understand that nobody chooses certain routes because ⁓ just for fun is because of circumstances. So, you know, I w grew up with a single mother, mother was on drugs, coupons and welfare, you know, rough. I was the oldest boy in the house. And where I grew up at, I always tell people I relevance it, people that are not from our culture and our community, it was like the Dominican version of Bronx Tale, but it was just like

the Dominicans that had just came from DR. You know what I mean? And, you know, there it it was like it was like it was like Walmart or Costco for cocaine in my neighborhood where I was at. It was something that is unfathomable what was happening, right? So I just told you growing up in rough circumstances, and that's the only people that I see succeeding, right? I don't see doctors. I don't see lawyers. I don't see anybody that's

succeeding in any positive way pre internet, except for these people when I literally come outside my door, you know, every day there's a hundred people outside, right? And they're the ones doing well. And I first started where I was like an errand boy. Like I used to go by the McDonald's, go to the cleaners or whatever, and I would get paid for that. And that's how I started learning about things and making a couple of dollars to help my family. And then

You know, I started understanding more how things work. And then I started smoking at a really young age, like when I was like eleven, twelve years old. And ⁓ in my neighborhood it was never at that time like really known for the best cannabis. Like I said, I told you they were busy focused on these other substances that cannabis wasn't it. So we had to go to Washington Heights, we had to go to Dyckman, we had to go to

You know, 174, 163rd, etc., etc., all the time, right? So when I was 16 years old, I had the foresight to be like, let me see if maybe this can be my lane, because nobody seems interested in my neighborhood because it's like beneath them because they're making so much money, whatever else they're doing. And the irony of this story is right around the corner from where the dispensary is on Sherman, right there, between like Academy and Sherman right there.

I went to buy and I said, you what? I'm gonna buy an ounce of weed. And if it doesn't sell, I'll smoke it. And this could be my lane. And I believe that I'm only here with you right now because of that. Because that became my lane. And that stopped me from having to go deep into all the other lanes that were available. And I never had a jobs ever since. And I never stopped selling weed from that day. And that helped me take care of my family.

And take care of myself while you know not doing anything really bad to anybody in my community because I didn't have the science, I didn't have the knowledge, but I knew just from my observation, nobody was dying from this, nobody was robbing and stealing to get this and et cetera. So I always felt like I wasn't doing anything bad, even though the government didn't agree. And then but of course, like you said, the government didn't agree. So during that process I got arrested twenty two times, and you know, that's why

It was so important right now for us to fight to make sure that people like me and everybody else that got arrested and got targeted by the war on drugs and cannabis because it's just like what that did was now, you know, if I wanted to change my life to get into a good university, that wasn't gonna happen. If I needed to go and ⁓ get a job, that record was gonna be held against me. So all these things, right? So it just felt like it was only right that now

That the first people to get to be part of this industry were the people that suffered. Because, like I said, you know, the reason that you s you feel like that when I step on all these stages, I take it really serious because I know I'm not representing myself. Like I said, I know how many people died, how many people got deported, all these things that happened. So I really feel a lot of pressure on myself because I don't feel like I'm representing myself a happy Munkey I feel like I'm representing a whole history and a whole community that got.

massively targeted to the point that I did not realize until we started Happy Munkey how much so when we were hosting those events, Led, I would talk to somebody from a different demographic that was from Soho or somewhere else. And I was like, this was happening to us at an alarming rate. And they were like, well, they just told us to put it out. They that didn't happen over here. I was like, this was really just targeted to our areas and like everybody, even a nine to five person like led, like

Led Black (17:37)
Right, right.

Vladimir Bautista (17:44)
Everybody, there's nobody that was left unscathed during that that era uptown and all the marginalized communities, as far as like for consuming or selling, that you were not going to get arrested. So it's just like now to make sure that we can't change the past, but only the future, that we take this opportunity to to to you know to make sure that the future generation doesn't have to go through that and that we never let all those fallen soldiers and all those scars be forgotten.

Led Black (18:14)
You know, that's amazing, you know, that cannabis in a way saved your life, right? which is really interesting. But what I notice so much when you're talking about it is the reverence that you have for your community for cannabis, you know, for for the beneficial profit properties of it. But it's like, I wanna go back to

Just sometimes, you know, you live in a certain world, so you can't imagine the world before it. And like you said, like, you know, I wasn't I wasn't, you know, I was always everyone was a drug dealer in my neighborhood, right? So I was always around drug dealers, even though I wasn't selling myself, right? But but to smoke weed, right? First of all, you know, our parents, old school Dominicans, to my mother, there's no difference between Marihuana and Manteca, right? It's durantecato. You you you in turn te cato, you know what I'm saying? Like they was not cool. Like

Vladimir Bautista (18:59)
Mano droga.

Led Black (19:01)
For ⁓ ung anima, right? Like so, what's interesting about that, so you always have to be in the shadows because of your parents, but your parents are not gonna beat your ass. You gotta be in the shadows because of the cops. Because the cops will really put a hurting on you, right? So it's like, you know, you have to go away to smoke and to feel free. And and I I'm saying that because, you know, you guys change the game so thoroughly that I think it's almost hard to fathom, right? Because

Another another thing that that changed the game for me, right? Like before this, and I always had you before Happy Munkey, right? You know, you have to have your connect, your plug that got you, your smoke, right? But that shit was a hassle in itself, right? Because you were always chasing them, right? Or waiting for them, or going here, yo, take me here. And it becomes like, and especially when you become cool, it becomes a fucking ordeal, right? And you so you broke that linkage, right?

And then you also the freedom linkage, right? Like, so the way that I found out about about y'all, right? Was my my connect, who's a friend of Ramon's, said, yo, this is place. And but he didn't want to tell me too much and didn't want to lose me as a customer, right? So he was like, ⁓ it's really good, but it's expensive. And but he he he told me enough that I was very intrigued. Right? I was like, yo, for real? It's like a it's like a it's like a long Los Angeles style dispensary in New York, for real. That's wow.

And then Ramon one day out of nowhere, because I knew him through through his work with Tess, who who ⁓ who he's who he has a child with, we manage at the time. So he yo led, I have this thing, happy Munkey. I was like, word. So I remember the first time I went, Tabi, this shit was the craziest shit the first time I went, right? I went by myself, I had the address. It's on thirty eighth between eighth and ninth. But the address is not a it's not a real address. It's a it's a freight elevator. Like a working freight elevator with actual freight meat, like

Like packages of meat coming out and so I'm like, okay. I get in the elevator. I don't know what to expect. And then you get to this to the last floor, I think the sixth floor. And then there's this like this really just y from the beginning, you already could see hospitality. Like the door opens, hey, how you doing? What's your name? Okay. And you're let in. And then you get into a d an actual dispensary in New York City, right? And then what made it so crazy? You could cop, but again, cop like before when you used to buy

Yo, this is this strain, but you don't ever knew. Like this is the first time now you're getting verifiable strains in New York City, right? And then not only that, you got to cop whatever you wanted, and then you got to go into another room and smoke. Right. And that right there, for those of us that had to live in the shadows with with our love of marijuana. They had to be like, let me, you know, put smoke real quick, put it out. You know, this was the first time. It wasn't in LA, it was here that you felt freedom.

Right. That you like, yo, this is I could be chilling here, some good music, good people. You know, what made Happy Munkey Dope is you would meet all types of people. Like you would meet like all walks of life, you know, and and it created something that's so special. And and and I'm just trying to get at like that reverence, right? That that that thinking then that you guys, beyond cannabis, there was always like a a a deep sense of hospitality. And I'll say this and I'll I'll shut up. Octavio, I remember the date.

August 11th, 2018, these brothers did a boat ride. Right? It was $150, and then you got $150 worth of marijuana. So it was free. Right? And then we on that boat. It was the two days before my birthday. And ⁓ sicko mode from Drake comes on. First time I'm hearing it. And I'm like upstairs on the boat, blood mind blown, like I can't believe this is happening.

Octavio Blanco (22:21)
⁓ shit.

What

Led Black (22:42)
of what they that these guys have been able to do, right? So then I'm having a great time. ⁓ is true life was on the boat. Like it was just one of these things like I can't believe this is real. On yeah, it was crazy. So on that day, right, I'm like, okay, I'm about to leave. And then one of the security guards that worked for them was like, yo, Led, you leave and we're doing the after party at at the at the at at Happy Munkey. I said, yo, I was fucked up. I was like, I'm I'm going home. He like, yo, it wouldn't be the same without you. Right. But that means that that that's a mentality

Vladimir Bautista (22:51)
Yeah,

Led Black (23:12)
That you guys push from beginning, like what like you said, it's not just about it's a full spectrum movement. Can you talk about how you design something that is so that encompasses so many things? It brings so much layers. And again, you can tell out the reverence I have for y'all when I say it because it really and another last thing, I'm sorry. I'm telling you, I've had people that I've taken to Happy Munkey. They were my brother Eugene, he was like, Yo, Led, I love you. Like the first day I took, he kept telling you Led, I love you.

It was one of those things that were life-changing. Mike Diaz, Juan Bago, you know what I'm saying? Rachel Laloca, I took her for the first time. Vanessa Perez, who and and Ray Perez, who are my br my family, that took her for the first time. And they were all like, What did I just experience? This was one of the best experiences of my life. And last thing I'll say, I remember going to the cannabis cafe in LA after Happy Happy Munkey, and I was able to smoke there. And it felt good, but the first time I felt that feeling was was with y'all.

Tell me about how you create something so special.

Vladimir Bautista (24:11)
So the way you create something so special is that's why the one in LA didn't feel like that. Because this wasn't started in a way like this is gonna be this business model, and you know, these are the analytics and these are the forecasts, and these are projections, you know what I mean? Like a business is it was literally started. My partners, Jay and Omar, had that location there already. It was a request.

recording studio called Fight Club. You know, every rapper had rap there already. It was five thousand quick for they already had that there. We're all in the cannabis industry. They're my brothers for a long time. Ramon had gone to Amsterdam, seen that cafe vibe that you felt over there. And we just knew that 'cause we've been all in the cannabis industry so long that it was just time for something different. There was like a shift happening from what you said, Lev, from the being on the corner with the diamond the twenty and the

It just felt like that that that wasn't is hitting no more that people were looking for something more and things needed to evolve. So it was as simple as, you know, two of them are from the Bronx, Ramon's from Washington Heights, I'm from Harlem. Let's just call all our friends that we know personally and throw a party and invite them here. And we already are very resourceful. So the thing we saw before us was like vending, like

farmers market like where people would rent a space and they would have tables and like each person selling weed from a table. But like, you know, we're New Yorkers, we're from uptown, like we like to do fly stuff. So like that didn't register to us because we looked at it like a nightclub. Like we don't we don't want to go to like you know like a farmer's market. We want to go to somewhere fly where you could chill when you could get the stuff. So basically we were operating in that room where he just settled

As a dispensary before there was dispensaries, because you could ask them there was a bud tender there. And also at the time, the most you could probably get from one weed dealer was like two or three strains. We, I believe, were definitely one of the first ones, like in one place, to have twenty, thirty, forty strains, like Led said that you could pick from. That was kind of unheard of in twenty seventeen.

Octavio Blanco (26:29)
⁓ well.

Vladimir Bautista (26:30)
So that was one aspect to it. Then the other aspect was to it like, yeah, and then we wanna make it where like you could chill just like you would chill in a club downtown in the city, in a club uptown, like where you would be comfortable. And we just invited our friends and then we just saw like everybody felt like Led felt like it was life changing. It was like, we gotta keep doing this. And then their friends told their friends and they just remember we can't.

Promote on social media. We can't do flies. This is illegal. So it's all word of mouth. But now it's a fast forward to what Led said, like what that ended up turning into. So what that ended up turning into was like a social experiment in the melting pot of the world. Because of where the location was located at, you know how.

Octavio Blanco (27:02)
Yeah.

Vladimir Bautista (27:26)
New York's always big on geography. Like, you know, certain people don't go to certain neighborhoods, certain classes, et cetera, et cetera. This was like a neutral place, right? Hell's Kitchen by Times Square. Everybody kind of feels comfortable going there. That's nobody's real hood in this. You know, everybody from all the tracks feel comfortable there. So that was one, once again, like what you said about the Dyckman Electronic location, that location just worked that way. It just happened to be. And what happened, I learned Octavio, is that cannabis.

Is this scalpel that cuts through all the divisions in society, race, religion, class, etc.? And because everybody in the whole city and mostly in the world was going through what Led was going through, had to be hiding, had to worry about the cops, had to worry about what society said. Everybody, no matter whether you were from

Led Black (28:02)
Mm.

Vladimir Bautista (28:21)
Hollywood or the hood was had the same feeling, and this place was a sanctuary where everybody was equal in the sense that some guy from Wall Street sat next to Led. How you doing? I had a stressful day, I need a joint. Led's like, I had a stressful day, I need a joint. That is universal. And that helped us bring people that I believe.

under no other circumstance would be in the same room sharing anything together. From billionaires to politicians to doctors to lawyers to gangsters to every walk of life. Just like this is the place where there and then because of what what Led said, there was no hierarchy if you ex Led. You didn't know if the guy next to you was a billionaire or garbage man because it wasn't like, we're gonna

Isolate you over. There's no VIP. Like, yo, ⁓ your billionaire, you're gonna sit next to Le. Yo, Le, there's my boy Johnny, he's gonna sit next to you. Like, that means there was so it was just this place where ever the the the essence of humanity came out where everybody has this thing in common, and this is the only place they could really let their guard down and really enjoy it truly without worrying about anybody judging them or the police arrest them.

Octavio Blanco (29:44)
Yeah. ⁓ I think that's incredible. And it speaks to the passion that you have for for cannabis and it speaks to the love that that you're showing to to everybody and your and your world view of like, you know, who who should deserve to be sitting next to each other. I mean, it sounds like as long as you're down with this, you're welcome here.

you know, I want to talk a little bit about the name too, because

It's goes along that line. It's not exclusionary. It's ⁓ it's not like a tough guy thing, like, yo, I'm smoking a blunt you know, it's not that. It's it's happy Munkey. It's and I and I listen to your social media posts that you put out there and they're great. They they lift me up. I appreciate them. I think they're like I think that that that view, that world view that you bring is so so so healthy. So tell me a little bit about why did you go with happy Munkey? It could have been

Anything.

Vladimir Bautista (31:05)
Well, I have to give all that credit to my partner Ramon Reyes. That name all comes from him because ⁓ he is his spiritual animal was always like a monkey. Before having monkey, he has a monkey tattooed on his on his leg. So he already had the monkey spiritual thing going on. And what me and Ramon saw was because me and Ramon, even though we were in the legacy market in the streets, we always had like a different view of like we don't have to prove anything, we don't have to be

try to be extra tough, extra bully. We never were looking at things like that. And we just felt like at the time, all the New York brands and the brands in general, that's the energy they were exuding, like gorilla, gangster. And we were like, nah, that's not really what we about and what we want to represent. We want to make people happy. And it's just like he already had the Munkey. That was like your happy Munkey. And that's how that's how that that name came about.

Led Black (31:58)
So

Octavio Blanco (32:00)
That's a

that's a great that's a great that's a great story. And we've heard a lot of great stories like that.

Vladimir Bautista (32:03)
And to add to what you

gentlemen, we were just talking about right now, Led, if you really look at it and think about it, and I was just talking to somebody about it the other day. ⁓ actually yesterday, the reason we had to postpone the podcast was because I just went in front of the community board yesterday. We were up for renewal of the license every two years, we're to two years, and we just had to go in front of community board twelve.

Led Black (32:29)
gotcha.

Vladimir Bautista (32:33)
And ⁓ and ⁓ thank God, thanks to people like y'all supporting me, we got full approval.

Led Black (32:38)
Awesome. Good news.

Vladimir Bautista (32:41)
So it came up there, like what have we been doing for the community and et cetera. And the reason it's relevant to our conversation is because we've on a microcosm have converted everything that you just said about what happened down there to Dyckman in certain aspects. What do I mean? My lawyer, Jorge Vasquez, was on there. I mentioned a few things. He's like, like you said, I didn't mention it like impactful enough. So he interjected. You heard it? He was like, No, let's be real here.

Vladimir and his partners have a location that they could have opened in Soho and Tribeca and chose to bring something that looks like it belongs right there to Dyckman. And when you really think about it, he's bringing all sides together because I don't think there's another location uptown where the people from Seaman and the people from ⁓ Middle Village.

Octavio Blanco (33:17)
Okay.

Vladimir Bautista (33:37)
And the people from Dyckman Projects go to the same place consistently. And we've become that bridge because, like you said, we continue with that hospitality you mentioned, Led, that continues up there where both sides from all sides of Inwood and Washington Heights come there and feel welcomed and feel like they belong. So I just wanted to mention that.

Led Black (34:04)
And you you're so right. And and what's interesting is like

When when the place first opened, in my mind is like, how do you how do you keep the ethos what it was when it goes from the shadows, you know, to Main Street, right? To Dyckman Street of all places. But it did it, right? And it is not in a corny way. It's not like, you know, like sometimes some dispensaries look like so zen that it just kind of, what is this? I mean, is this like what is this wheatgrass? Like, what is this? So, but no, your your dispensary is still very much part of the culture, but it's also open and you're like when you go there, you're gonna see

Like you said, everyone, the community's there, right? And and one thing you and I have talked about goes back to the stigma that our community puts upon cannabis, especially the older folks. You know what I'm saying? Even Dominicans, even young Dominicans in DR, I think they t they tend to be anti-weed, but we've if we're Dominicans from here, young Dominicans love weed. But but tell me about that. How how has that that must be beautiful to see like those four those people that used to be anti-weed, like the older folks coming around? Give me an example of of what you've seen with that.

Vladimir Bautista (35:08)
So that and I knew and like that comes back to what Octavio said that I don't think many I would never say anybody because you can never say anybody, but I don't think many other people but us would have been able to pull off what we've been able to pull off there. Because to pull off what we pull off, you gotta be an army Swiss cultural knife. So what do I mean? You gotta be able to cater to the upper class folks. You gotta be able to cater to the people from the projects.

You gotta be able to understand that Uptown is its own community with its own politics and its own people. And then on top of all that, Led, you have to understand that the last time these older Dominican folks saw cannabis, they saw people getting killed, they saw people being arrested, they saw they looked they the whole time, like you said from the order here, they've been looked at it you like you smoke crack, like you smoke heroin, and you're battling all these stigmas.

But like you said, since we care from the gate, we came in prepared to tackle these challenges and to take away the stigma as part of the reason why we knew we're there. So what do I mean by that? What have what things have we done? I went very soon after opening. I did a presentation at the senior center at the Dyckman Projects, where I came with our top selling C B D brand owner, and I did and I went to them.

And in English and in Spanish, explain to them that this is better than a lot of the stuff they get in the pharmacy for their pain, et cetera. And then I went to the aging committee and community board 12 and also did a presentation there. And now, like you said, things like you said, that can't be measured, like you just said, led right to see older Dominican folks that.

Octavio Blanco (36:43)
That blows my mind. Wow.

Vladimir Bautista (37:02)
Do not speak English. Like yo quiero la crema esa. Yo quiero un trago de eso. Because, like you said, it's I said I said the whole Swiss Army thing because you have to have the language cultural competency. You have to have the mindset to be able to change that. You know what I mean? So I went in there and I said things like this.

Aunque esto trabaje or no, no I s ⁓ effecto secundario porque natural. I have the cultural consequence, not only in the language but in the cadence of how to explain it to them that makes sense. And now to see them like starting to accept it and bring in their friends, is like you said, is things that are breaking generational curses and generational stigmas on a level that like we will never know until much later.

Led Black (37:34)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (37:49)
Breaking generational curses. I love that. Because that's in that's exactly what you what what your work has been doing. It's breaking generational co curses. As we were discussing, you know, people like people like you, smart, young, energetic, you know, people who want to get ahead, your life was if you if you had if you had arrests

Led Black (37:49)
Not that.

Octavio Blanco (38:11)
You couldn't do that. You couldn't get to where you needed to go. So we were creating a a whole underclass and if not an underclass, at least we were creating a whole underground economy that wasn't that wasn't benefiting, you know, the community as much as it could have. Right. So so that's that's that's what's that's what's up. I I I also want to talk about it's

We're making it sound I don't want to make it sound like it was easy either. You know what I mean? Like I don't want to make it sound like opening the a cannabis dispensary on Dyckman Street was just like, yeah, we had a great idea and we found a great location and we opened it and boom, it was great. It's been it's bit it's been hard. I mean, you had the whole legalization thing kind of like stopped, and then all you had all of a sudden you had this like

Vladimir Bautista (38:49)
hardest thing I've ever done and I've done a lot of hard stuff.

Octavio Blanco (39:02)
illegal dispensaries that you are now like competing with, like all of a sudden you're like, hey, wait a minute. What's going on here? Like so talk about, talk about all that.

Vladimir Bautista (39:08)
You can't you can't you can't write

you can't write stuff off like a normal business. You can't write off employees, you can't write off all the things that a normal business can write off, you cannot write it off.

Octavio Blanco (39:21)
so I you know what I have a funny stor I have a funny story before I'm gonna I used to work at the IRS and for for dispensaries legal dispensaries to pay the IRS because it's federal, you can't really like the banks are kind of yeah I don't know if you can even have a bank account because federally speaking, it's a whole other

Vladimir Bautista (39:22)
Okay.

Man.

Nah, paranoid.

Octavio Blanco (39:50)
It's not federally legal, right? So literally you'll but you'll pay in tax though, right? And the way that I heard the way that I heard that they pay the tax is they there's a special place you load up a van with cash and you drive it to a special spot for the IRS. They didn't want to talk about where it was or or any of these places, because I guess there's a a few of them.

Vladimir Bautista (39:52)
Make it better.

Two eighty.

Octavio Blanco (40:15)
And you literally drive a van of cash to the IRS and that's how you deposit. And sorry, I don't mean to go off on that tangent, but that's just to exemplify the that there's the difficulties from the federal level, then there's the difficulties from the state, because it's like sort of like trying to figure out how to manage this thing. And now all of a sudden you have like all these like you know weed spots that aren't regulated and who knows what they're selling.

You know, I I remember when I was in college, I went to DC and a a good friend of mine, he ⁓ you know, he was ⁓ he he gave me some something to smoke. We were smoking together. And it it it r I mean I'm sensitive to it. I don't really smoke too much hardly at all anymore now. But I think that whatever he gave me, it wasn't legal and it might have been like tampered with. Like it might cause in DC there's like a there's a s there's a there's a special type of weed called the love boat.

And I tell you, when I tell you that I kind of like lost it for a few hours there, it was it was it was scary. So that's all to say, like what you're doing, you're providing a service, you're providing like a product that has been verified, you're you're doing it legally, but then your your challenges. So I wanna hear about some of the challenges because it's the hardest thing you've ever done and you keep doing it.

Vladimir Bautista (41:36)
Well, let's just start like with the beginning. The beginning is you have to find a property that is a thousand feet from another dispensary, five hundred feet from a church, two two hundred and fifty feet from a church and five hundred feet from a school. So that's step one.

Then you get past that. Then you have to make sure that the building doesn't have a mortgage, and if they do, they indemnify you from it. So if they get foreclosed, you don't get foreclosed with it. Then you have to outfit the place and build it up to the office of cannabis management standards for safety.

Then you're probably gonna get price gouged by the landlord and you're gonna pay something called green tax, which means like if somebody's paying something, you pay more. Like, for example, that location right there in Dyke, we're paying $35,000 a month. If somebody else was in a different business, will they be paying that much? I don't know, but that's what we're paying. So yeah, you get through all that, then what you said about, you know, all the tax situations, then you have to, you know.

Led Black (42:44)
Wow.

Vladimir Bautista (42:59)
hope that you're in a community you have support. Like we've been fortunate. Community board 12, we have a great relationship with them. You know, Assemblyman Manny de los Santos have a great relationship with Councilwoman Dela Rosa, have a great relationship with her. Always supported us. ⁓ Congressman Espaillat I think we're the only legal dispensary that he ever came to physically put it on his social media. So we've been fortunate with that, but what if you go

to a place where maybe those people aren't as supportive. Maybe things don't go as good for you, even though you went through all that stuff that I said, the community boards, the politicians, you know, you need it, they they play a role because when you're up for renewal and you need this or you need that. So it's a lot of factors.

And then the ultimate one on top of that, like I said, is the stigma. Like I gave you guys an example. ⁓ yeah, I I could talk in Spanish too, right? So is it okay? Mix it up. So ⁓ so ⁓ there was one time I was standing outside the store and guy comes in a bike next to me. He said, Yes, okay. I was like, I said primer dipensario legal del Alto Manhattan. He's like

Led Black (43:46)
That's fascinating.

Whatever you want, whatever whatever you want.

Octavio Blanco (43:57)
Yeah.

Vladimir Bautista (44:14)
Eso es lo peor que ha pasado por aquí. Es fue del diablo. I was like, ¿por qué tú dices eso? He's like, porque eso es del diablo, eso es droga. I was like, no, pero yo soy uno de los dueños. ¿Tú prefieres que yo esté para una esquina? O el que está trabajando ahí no esté pagando taxa. Mira, esos muchachos son de por aquí, que están trabajando ahí. En vez de estar en una esquina, ellos están pagando taxis ahí, están cobrando sueldo. No, que eso es el diablo. This way, it got incense.

He's like, I was like, yeah, you tengo una hija. He said, I was like, yo te voy a decir algo, senor. La hija me tiene 11 años. Ahora mismo no. Pero cuando ella tenga 21 años, para que ella sea alcohólica, yo prefiero que ella haga eso. And he was like, yo te respeto. He kept moving. The moral of the story is that instead of shunning somebody like that, that's an educational moment.

What I was able to help him understand, even not convert him, but give him a better understanding. And I think that that dialogue in this era right now is so important because I think one of the biggest issues we have in society, not just uptown, but everywhere, is that it's easy to go in your silo where everybody agrees with you and just you just all sing Kumaya and tell each other what you want to hear. But when you have somebody that doesn't believe what you believe, that doesn't see the things, to be able to have

a positive dialogue and hear them out and let them hear you out and that's so important right now because I feel like we're losing that because it's so easy to go in your little algorithm and just talk to the people that all agree with you.

Led Black (45:52)
That's that's fascinating. Another thing I, you know, that I find interesting is that you guys are also in the heart of the illegal market, right? So, so that to me is also interesting, right? Because, you know, I'm not gonna name names, right? I don't need to name names, but right right in that area, it's it's millions of dollars still probably in terms of in you know, in cannabis, right?

What what has been and also the you know, sometimes the street dudes like one thing one of the reasons I only buy from dispensaries now is because to me, black work is just too tainted now.

Right. Like it this tastes like strawberries and cherries. Like it shouldn't taste like strawberries and cherries. This just tastes like marijuana, you know, with with some, you know, hints and nuance of of fruit, not like a full blown like Starburst. You know what I mean? So I don't like buying from the street. But sometimes street people think they're like, that's not good weed in dispensary. So you got those people, but you also have the actual dealers themselves. What has been their like how have they come around? Have they come around?

Vladimir Bautista (46:51)
That is a great segue and a great question. And it all goes back to what I said earlier about. I guess I wouldn't say anybody because you can never say anybody, but I don't think there's many other people that could have done what we did in an open there. So you have to have a level of cultural and political and understanding of our community that you just can't learn anyway. It's not possible. But

As we just started saying, and you said Octavio, I've been in the industry for 30 years. Ramon's been in the industry for 25, 30 years. My other two partners have been there for 35 years. So we come from that. We were them. We were on corners. So before we open there, like you said, we don't have to say names, but we went personally to every owner because we know them of all those places and said, We're doing this. And we want you to know.

That we are open to anything that anybody else wants to do because we are representing all of y'all on that side. And they all said, You have our blessing. But who else but us has the cultural competency to do that? And for them to see it like that, because we are them on this side, because they know, like, it's not a lie, like on this podcast, like they know, like these guys really.

Led Black (47:57)
Hm.

Right.

Octavio Blanco (48:06)
Mm.

Led Black (48:06)
Facts.

Vladimir Bautista (48:16)
put in the blood, sweat, and tears and really did this, and it's better them than Chad or Brad or Karen. Cause there's always gonna be somebody. Because you know what? We can come back. It goes back to the tribalness. We can come back to the tribe and say, look, this is how we did it. You can do it too. You wanna have a product in the store, this is how you do it. I don't think somebody else from another culture in the community is going to do that. So again, just having

Led Black (48:23)
Right.

Right. No, you're right.

Octavio Blanco (48:25)
Yeah. It's gonna

be somebody.

Vladimir Bautista (48:46)
that cultural competency and that level of hospitality and respect and understanding for all these different sectors of the uptown society is just something that a person is just not gonna be able to read in the book of Google. It just comes from all the experience that me and my partners have had in life.

Octavio Blanco (49:06)
So you know, talking about being on the front lines, talking about being on the corners, you know, the state has done has it it's been shown as a like as a national model for prioritizing individuals who've directly been impacted by the war on drugs, which by the way, w we lost and we're still losing. somebody who was on the front lines

Do you feel that the state has actually fulfilled that promise? Has it really has it really done what it said it was going to be done that it was going to do? or are corporate or are corporations going to be swooping in? Like we were talking about you guys are from the your guys are from the culture, but there's going to be somebody else doing it, right? I think I just read that there was a company that just listed on the stock exchange like a couple days ago.

First time.

Vladimir Bautista (49:56)
Well, we all know that we have to separate things, right? And that's the other thing that me and my partners, you know, some people wanna live in the bubble of what I feel and what should be. But we also also have to remember that we live in a capitalistic systemic place that has a lot of deep rooted things that just can be unwound like that. So

course there's gonna be corporate of course this is the way that the system is set up capitalism in general but I've had the fortune because or one thing we haven't spoken about is that once I started understanding and the reason we were able to be prepared was because we already had the knowledge from the streets from the legacy market. What we haven't mentioned is that I and my partners started going to conferences, started hosting the

Octavio Blanco (50:52)
Mm.

Vladimir Bautista (50:53)
people that go to conferences, two other people that go to conferences, people that own those ⁓ public and trade companies, the people that own dispensaries all over the country, the people that own etc, etc. So before it was legal, we were already understanding what's happening in California, what's happening in Oregon, what's happening in Colorado, what's happening in Illinois. And I got into public speaking and I got to go and speak on all these stages. So I got an understanding of what's happening nationally.

In all these places. So to answer your question, has it been perfect? Absolutely. Because government is never perfect. And this is something so new. They're basically flying a plane while they're building it, they don't know what they're doing, but they're doing their best. But I have the purview of not just looking at it from New York. I know that compared to Massachusetts, Illinois

Florida, Colorado, et cetera, et cetera. If you combine all of the marginalized minority owned cannabis companies, there's still not more than New York. If you combine the whole country, because if you go to Illinois, it's one percent owned by black and brown people. You go to Mess, etc. You know what mean? So with all its flaws, still has flaws, it's way better than

Led Black (52:05)
Wow.

Vladimir Bautista (52:18)
anywhere else. And that's why we have the best industry because it's creating a real competitive industry where it's not just all controlled by corporate, it's not called all controlled by the culture either. It's everybody from both sides really has to really battle in competitive business, you know.

Octavio Blanco (52:37)
That's really good insight. I didn't realize that in New that New York State, if you if you add up every other state's minority dispensary ownership, that New York State has more than the whole country. That's that answers that question quite well because of course, like you said, nothing's perfect. The government certainly isn't perfect, but this is such a complicated deal. We were just talking about how it's still federally illegal. So, like, think about that. You know, you're flying the plane.

Vladimir Bautista (53:05)
I got I got I got a deeper one to add to that, Octavio. There are still forty thousand people in prison for weed right now because this is not federally legal. There's forty thousand people in federal jail for cannabis because it's not federally legal.

Octavio Blanco (53:05)
Well you know

That is a disgrace. That is an absolute disgrace.

Vladimir Bautista (53:24)
Wow,

companies are going public.

Octavio Blanco (53:28)
Yeah. While po companies are going public, that is a disgrace. Forty thousand people in America in federal prisons because of weed while companies are going public on I think it was NYSE, I think is where it went public.

I don't even know. I that that leaves me kind of speechless because it just shows the the world that we I mean, the world that we live in is not is is not perfect. There's it is great

Vladimir Bautista (53:52)
That's why that's why it's so

important, right? And that's what I we we didn't get into. Like I've spoken in Yale, I've spoken in c Yale University, Columbia University, I've spoken in every cannabis conference in America, UK, Spain, Mexico. I spoke in the biggest stage in the biggest conference in Vegas. And what do I mean by that? Where I just feel like it's so important because when I'm on stage, right, Octavio and Led, I'm next.

To the guy that went public. I'm next to the corporate guy. And these are one of these rare instances, not in cannabis, in all business, in all society, where I didn't graduate from high school. I've been arrested 22 times. But I'm more of a subject expert because you came from Wall Street. You came from CPG Coca-Cola. You're not an expert more than me on this right here. And you know, that's why it's it's so important.

When I go do that for me to come correct because like I said, I'm not representing myself. I'm representing myself, happy Munkey, but all the people I told you, all the people that are still in prison right now, and showing the world that we're not just a charity case, but we're smart business people with business acumen that were never given the opportunity or the access to run things like

Octavio Blanco (55:09)
Not it not only not given, but it was taken away from you.

Led Black (55:12)
Right. And you know, and talking about that business acumen, right? You know, you're gonna be at at in in September, right, two years on Dyckman, right? So that's that's amazing, right, for for any business, right? But for your business in your pla like, what are some of the takeaways that you think have sustained you

And and some of the things that are like, Okay, we could take this so much further, like this is so beautiful. W tell me some of those key insights and takeaways from these two years of of of being ⁓ in business in Dyckman and in Brooklyn.

Vladimir Bautista (55:47)
Big takeaways is are that you really have to really be on top of your overhead. You really have to really watch how you spend every penny because you're operating on thin margins. And you know, it's easy to go in the red so quickly if you're not really running a lean business because there's so much overhead and so much taxes. And the other one is that you know.

They w you, you know, at the beginning, you know, because it's like all psychological this stuff. So remember, right? I'll be vulnerable on here with y'all, right? Because I tell you all the good, but I gotta tell you some of the bad. At the beginning, well, remember, I never had a job. My partner's never had a job. We're coming from the literal underworld, from the legacy market to all these things that we're talking about now.

At the beginning, we had of a bit of imposter syndrome. So we felt like we're not the experts at the beginning, like, you know, John that has this title as an expert in here, 'cause they've been legit and all this stuff. And we were kind of like doing things in that fashion at the beginning because we had imposter syndrome and we felt like, well, we're just street guys and we don't know how to do things in this way, and maybe we should do it the way that other people do it. And

Whatever the people with the more titles and the more experience in the legal world. And that was a mistake. When we figured that that was the opposite, that's the way that our overhead was going up. That's the way that we were doing a bunch of unnecessary, ineffective things. And we looked at us, me, Omar, my former partners, Ramon, Jay, and all my we like, we're the experts. We've been selling weed for 30. These people don't know more than us. And we just honed.

And owned who we are and started operating things the way we know how we operate, like we used to operate blocks, like we used to operate 38th Street, everything went better. And most importantly, the you know, you'll you'll hear people like, you need this marketing internet thing, and you need that, and you need that. And what I've learned is what you need the most is community for.

people to feel like what you felt when you went in thirty eighth street, people need to feel that when they go to your dispensary. There is no no SEO company, no no nobody, no internet, no none of that is going to replace or be more powerful than that led. And that's the biggest thing I learned. You have to really treat people the way you like to be treated and you have to ingrain yourself in the community and

do things in a real way and that is gonna get you more business than all the geotag and all the the typical things that people think are gonna get you revenue in a legal dispensary.

Octavio Blanco (58:48)
Well, yeah. When I was when I was doing a little bit of research on you and sort of like how you operate, I I I did see an interview that you did where you mentioned that you don't have security, like a security guard in the in the dispensary. And I find that interesting. And so can you want to talk a little bit about about why that is? I mean, I think I think I know why it is. It's about you what you're saying but about community, but I feel like that's like something people feel safe in Happy Munkey.

despite there not being a security guard and maybe because there's not a security guard to make them feel like, something could pop off.

Vladimir Bautista (59:24)
That's a great, great question. So again, part of what they told us when we were going uptown, it's too dangerous. Those people, and I remember looking at them and saying, You see, that's part of the problem. So you those are those people, but those are our people. So we don't have any worry. You know why? Snipes doesn't need security. Footlocker doesn't need security. You know, all these major businesses, CVS, all these they hardly don't need security.

So why do we need security? If anything, that goes back and triggers what we spoke about before about like, now to go in and buy ⁓ Led, I gotta feel like I'm going through TSA. I'm going through this. You know what I mean? And it's just that's another aspect that we're helping de stigmatizing it because it's making it more normal.

Because you can go to any of these places that I mentioned without security. So this is just another one on Dyckman that can do the same thing. And it's just like the the psychology is that you need it, but in reality, you don't. You know, we have cameras, we have everything we need. That's just extra. And we feel like it'll do more harm than good and not help the guy that lives in the Dyckman projects and never been to a dispensary, walk in and be I'm not.

Going through this. I gotta but now, the latest dem the 'cause I'll be honest with you at the beginning, the the demographic that we had more was thirty-five and older blue collar and white collar people from all races, right? But now in the last few months, I've been seeing twenty one to thirty start to pop in. And 'cause like I said, like been there for a while, starting to be the stigmatized, and then they meet somebody like me. I'm like

I'm no different than you. I used to be on a corner. I was on coupons and like you, yeah, yeah, me. And just that is also helping everybody feel like that the retail version, that 38th thing, like this is not for like there is no VIP here. This is for everybody.

Led Black (1:01:36)
Yeah, you know, it's funny you say yeah, yeah, you know, it's interesting because like that puertas abiertas, you're right, like that's I've always felt like that with Happy Munkey, you know, that it was very welcoming, that that they were but it's also, you know, a little bit of a stretch for all of us. Cause I remember you used to have magicians in the old Happy Munkey, you know. You used to have like weed yoga, you know what I mean? Like you were creating things to bring people in the door.

Vladimir Bautista (1:01:37)
And I feel like the really part of that.

Led Black (1:02:03)
So w how are you doing that in in this? How how are you bringing the community in? I know you do the Knicks thing, right? Tell me about the ways that you're bringing the community into the store and helping them interact with the store.

Vladimir Bautista (1:02:16)
That is a a great segue. And yesterday was a great example of that. So you know, Octavio, every day since the Knicks been playing, we've been having watch parties there. So we put the screen out, we got a tent and we put like a green carpet out with chairs. Because you know, you can't smoke a side, you can smoke outside because it's legal to smoke cannabis and we can smoke cigarettes. And you know, they have all these watch parties up and down Dyckman. But for alcohol people, so there's some people that

don't drink and you know still want to watch the game. So now all these people were there watching the game and the ultimate part was just to give you guys the trauma and the stigma behind all the stuff that I've been through and we've been through. So we're there watching the game, boom boom, you know, everything's happening, coming back. Beautiful. Cop car stops in front of the store. So I tell this guy that's there with me, that works with me, giving out flies. I'm like

Going on with them, they all right. He's like, he just wants to talk to them. He's like, Yeah, I'm so what's up with them? He's like, No, they're just watching the game. But me, because of my trigger, because of my trauma, even though I'm paying a ton of taxes and paying their salary, I'm over here wondering why they're there, because I still have that drama. And they were just there watching the game because there's nowhere else they could watch the game. So they stood there and they were watching the game the whole time with us. So

Octavio Blanco (1:03:19)
Ha ha ha.

Led Black (1:03:20)
Ha ha ha.

Octavio Blanco (1:03:25)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:03:25)
Ha ha ha.

Octavio Blanco (1:03:33)
Yeah. Yeah, PTSD probably. Yeah.

Led Black (1:03:33)
Mm, that's deep.

Yeah.

That's

crazy.

Vladimir Bautista (1:03:41)
I'm just

Octavio Blanco (1:03:41)
Yeah.

Vladimir Bautista (1:03:41)
giving an example once again. How all these different demographics and we bring in community together. right now, today's the first day we're gonna be playing the World Cup events there. Every Sunday, we have ⁓ one of the LMP DJ, DJ Easy there, spinning vibes. We've hosted the Washington Heights Chamber of Commerce, as you know, Led. We have made it a community hub.

Any creative that wants to do anything that makes sense, we're gonna do it from all walks of life. On the twentieth, we have a pride party with an organization there. On the twenty fifth, we have an organization that's doing a fundraiser to raise money for bilingual children that want to go into theater. So like what you said, like ⁓ the retail version of this. The other day, ⁓ my boy ⁓ Wiz, the the kid Wiz, he's a he's a dancer, Dominican dancer.

Octavio Blanco (1:04:27)
Saw that, yeah.

Vladimir Bautista (1:04:38)
And he's like, I want to do a battle, a battle here with dancers or whatever. I'm like, let's do it. we've had 420 weekend, we had Black Rose put together a comedian lineup. We had comedians there. that Friday, we had ⁓ DJ Vansomwill and my nephew DJ Rico. They were streaming live there, and different artists were stopping by performing. On Sunday, Linda Ibar from LMP did a book reading there. So now

It went from a dispensary in a in a time and era with Led and Octavio where there are no spaces for our people, especially that look like that, to be able to do things in and now not only as a dispensary, but it's a dispensary that's open as a community hub for any creative and any organization that's doing something positive.

Octavio Blanco (1:05:29)
Yeah, a third a third a third space. That's that's so needed. That's so needed. Look, we're we've been talking for over an hour now and I I wanna respect your time. And I wanna ⁓ but I if you if you are okay with it, I wanna ask one last question. Unless you got other questions led.

Led Black (1:05:30)
Beautiful.

No, no, I'm go for it.

Vladimir Bautista (1:05:46)
Do it. Come

on. I I told you when I was telling us I'm open to everything. No host bar. Ask me anything.

Octavio Blanco (1:05:47)
Okay, so

No, this is you know, this is this has been great, by the way. I really appreciate your your openness and I really, you know, I really do personally respect what you're doing tremendously because not only as an entrepreneur, that's hard enough, but then you're also battling against like all kinds of obstacles because of the product that you're selling and you're doing it in a way that's you know, so positive. I really, really appreciate all that about you. So I'm so glad that that you're on here with us. But let's talk about this for you know, you came from your

From where you're started and now you're here. you know, you've been partnering, like you said, with Columbia, with with with with Yale and all these places. You've gone to speak at the on the biggest stages around around cannabis. So, but now let's talk to maybe a kid, right? You're talking about that there's youth coming in now. A kid growing up in Harlem or Washington Heights or the Bronx, who's watched your trajectory, right? For them, what is the most important piece of advice you can give them about?

Not just surviving the ground, but also building a legitimate legacy.

Vladimir Bautista (1:06:55)
The number one thing I could tell them is that the number one thing that I've seen consistent among myself and among others is that you should find they say that the closer you are to the sun, the more light you get. You should find somebody that is where you wanna be and ask them to just shadow them, be around them, see what it takes, see what they go through. Because at the end of the day

I'm a firm believer that we're all human beings. We all have the capability to do anything. We're just not given the access and information to do so. So I believe that the number one three things that help you a lot is the people, places, and things that you are at. And if you go and start getting around the people, places and things where you look to be at in the future, the higher odds you are of getting there because

Nobody's a from my experience, I've been from the block to the biggest hustlers to the billionaires. I don't think anybody's a rocket scientist or anybody's any different than any kid growing up. It just comes to having access to the information, being around good influences and never quitting, you know, and and making sure that you never lose your belief and your

Inner compass. You know, I'm a firm believer that men lie, women lie, energy and vibes never lie. We all have a inner compass. And in this era with so many distractions, it's easy to get caught in the herd mentality and let people take you in different directions. Never steer away from that inner compass and get around people that are where you want to be at and just ask them to intern you to teach you. You'd be surprised, like.

They're hardly for me to anybody else, people are always open for somebody that's hungry for knowledge. You just gotta ask, you know. And I think that's the biggest advice I could give them because like I said, that's the biggest difference that I see between any outcomes, everybody. I don't think anybody special or this whole IQ or whatever and you know, traditional education, I don't think that's necessarily the guaranteed indicator of how successful people are. I just believe it's just the people, places and things that they get to be around and information they get to access they get to access.

Led Black (1:09:17)
My brother, that that's again like it's amazing because I I I feel like I got lucky because I I was on to Happy Munkey really early on. Right. So it's like I've now I feel like now I've known you for for a decade as well, almost, you know. And to see the growth it's inspiring.

You know, and to see that like you don't even know the the ripples you're causing down the way. Like there's gonna be people that gonna be like, yo, Vladimir Ramon changed the game. And you know, the the next Vladimir Ramones are are already in way in the wings. so I wanna thank you for that. Thank you for being on the show. Like I got mad love for y'all, and you know that, you know what I mean? Because what you've done is so much bigger than y'all and and you've and and and and now it's you know, like to not give up, to have that perseverance is is beautiful. But I I want you to tell the people like where

Where what's the URL handles? What's the social handles? What's the address? Like where you know, what's the specials? What's the day I should go cop? Give me some of that information. And then any last words, brother.

Vladimir Bautista (1:10:14)
So all platforms you can go to our website happymonkey.com Munkey with a U. one address is one five one Dyckman, New York, New York. The other address, Downtown Brooklyn, four five three Fulton Street, Downtown Brooklyn, Alby Square, Fulton Mall. And ⁓ yeah, man, just stay tuned because right now we're really gonna start ramping up events.

in uptown and Brooklyn. So really look up for that. You know, ⁓ we're gonna have some Lightfoot dancers in Brooklyn. We're gonna have some drummers. Like you said, led that whole vibe and energy we had of the magicians and all that stuff. We're gonna bring that to the dispensaries because now we figured out one part which was like the operations part. Now it's time to bring more community and more events and more and more flavor to it.

And as far as like any last things that I want to say, what I want to say is that one thing that's been helping me a lot lately, and I mentioned it earlier, and I want to put it out there. This chapter I'm in in life, you know, ⁓ I'm doing a lot of healing and learning to love myself and make myself happy. And, you know, there's things, different things that do that for T people. Cannabis is one of them, different things. But one thing that's helped me a lot lately, and I want to put it out there because maybe it can help others, you know, some people with therapy or whatever.

For me, I've gotten into health and wellness and I have do a lot of nature stuff. Like I'm an urban hippie. I go grounding, I hug trees, I go hiking, and that for me has been the ultimate therapy for me to deal with all the trauma and all the things that I've been through more than almost anything I've done is like tapping in with nature. So that's helped me a lot. I know that.

It's difficult for us growing up in the concrete jungle to figure out what works for us. So I just want to put that out there because it's worked for me and hopefully it could work for some others too. Because like I said, everything there is not the same. Like everybody don't got access to a therapist to five hundred dollars an hour and all this stuff. But everybody has access to nature and it's helped me a lot and just want to put that out there.

Led Black (1:12:27)
My brother, thanks so much for being on the show. Sho send my love to all the all the rest of the family as well, man. We'll talk soon.

Octavio Blanco (1:12:33)
Thank you, thank you so so much.

Vladimir Bautista (1:12:34)
Remember

to y'all and all your listeners, thank you for doing this. Like I said, it goes the same for y'all. You know, you don't know Led and Octavio, like, especially you, Lad, like all the things that you've done for the community, all the things you continue to do. You've always been like a like a conduit and a bridge to keep and everybody together uptown to keep artists and businesses and people going and amplifying their voices.

Led Black (1:12:49)
Thank you, brother.

Vladimir Bautista (1:13:03)
Thank y'all for doing this. This is so important because, like I said, we're in an era where uptown, I need everybody to understand this. Uptown, Washington Heights, and Inwood is the last neighborhood. I saw a Caucasian person tell me yesterday, this is the last place left with culture in Manhattan. So I think people don't understand that. And we really need to highlight and support.

Led Black (1:13:05)
Thank you, brother.

Vladimir Bautista (1:13:31)
Support each other more than ever, because if not, we're gonna lose that. And thanks to people like y'all is gonna make it much harder for that to happen because we need these voices amplified and we need to be unified more than ever to keep the culture alive uptown. And for everybody out there, remember you're too blessed to be stressed. Things get greater later, you just gotta always choose happy.

Led Black (1:13:56)
Love that. Choose happy. Spread love is the uptown way. Thank you.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:57)
Love it.

Yes,

indeed. Thank you. Thank you.