It is generally not considered newsworthy here at SFist when some Pacific Heights socialites throw an exceedingly fancy-ass cocktail party attended by Willie Brown and his sometimes "lady friend" Sonya Molodetskaya, Dede Wilsey’s son Todd Traina and his wife Katie, Robin Williams’ son Zak, renowned industrial designer Yves Béhar, and a score of other stratospherically well-off venture capitalists and “social entrepreneurs.” But when the guests are huffing marijuana vape pens and throwing down THC edibles because it’s a cannabis brand launch party, that tends to capture our interest a little more.
We see in Sunday’s Chronicle that luxury, high-end cannabis brand Beboe threw a fancy Pacific Heights launch party, apparently celebrating the introduction of their product line to San Francisco dispensaries. Beboe, who produce $60 vape pens and $25 edible pastilles, has already been dubbed “the Hermès of Marijuana” by the New York Times and their LA launch party earlier this year counted Orlando Bloom and Sharon Stone as attendees.
Shorty after the publication of Sunday’s Chronicle writeup, the SFist Tip Line started receiving rumors that the event actually took place at Todd and Katie Traina’s mansion. Personally, I have never been inside the place, but we can surmise that this rumor is probably true.
The Chronicle’s article comes with a 16-photo slideshow, and many of the images show a pretty distinctive painting of a tiger swimming in water in the background. This 2016 Mansion Global profile of the Traina residence shows the exact same tiger painting (Image 4 in the slideshow) as well as matching sofas and furniture, indicating with pretty strong certainty that this pot party was indeed thrown at the Trainas’ Pac Heights home.
#Cannabis cotillion: Luxury cannabis brand Beboe debuts in SF. via @CarolyneZinkohttps://t.co/NXLdenAEIg pic.twitter.com/iTg7fP4d75
— SFChronicle (@sfchronicle) July 8, 2017
Not that there’s anything wrong with that! The passage of Prop. 64 makes consumption of marijuana products legal for anyone in California over the age of 21. (You only need the Medical ID card to buy cannabis at retail dispensaries.) The event was thrown at a private residence, so hooking up guests with a little free smoke is also completely legal, as long as the guests are 21 or older. While the Chronicle article describes Zak Williams as the “host,” Williams is reportedly an investor in Beboe, but the event seems to have also been hosted in the Trainas' mansion. Frankly, that just makes me like those two more.
Despite the recurrence of scandal in the House of Wilsey, it would be good for the fledgling cannabis industry to have the Trainas as friends. Todd Traina’s brother Trevor threw a $2,700-minimum donation fundraiser for Jeb Bush during the last election cycle, so the family surely has powerful Republican friends. With attorney general Jeff Sessions on a warpath to eliminate legal marijuana, the recreational marijuana racket might need some powerful Republican allies to help the industry avoid the weed whackers of the current GOP power players who don't want California to be so free with the weed.
Related: Socialites Trevor And Alexis Traina Sued By Former Maid Over Fall