I visited Culture House’s new Greenpoint location during its opening week, and it’s immediately clear that this is not your average dispensary. Set inside a resplendent neoclassical bank building, it’s a sprawling space with big plans to live up to its name as a hub for culture and community.
The Location
Culture House Greenpoint is a statement of a location. Housed in the former Greenpoint Savings Bank, the space carries a sense of history the moment you walk up to the building. Five years into New York’s legalization, with a dispensary seemingly every few blocks, truly unique spaces are starting to separate themselves, and Culture House Greenpoint sits near the top of that list.
Built in 1906 in the neoclassical style, the building is fronted by four three-story Doric columns and set back two impressive steps from the street (the building is also fully elevator accessible).
As you step inside, it’s impossible not to pause and take in the scale of the soaring stained-glass dome overhead. The main floor feels like a landmark, with office rooms still bearing Victorian-era wood-paneled wainscoting.
Downstairs, the vault level is another stop-you-in-your-tracks moment. With the feel somewhere between a movie set and an escape room, the building’s original function is impossible to ignore. Behind a set of 2-inch-thick, floor-to-ceiling steel bars sits the original bank vault, complete with a massive multiton vault door and chamber.
Opening weekend, set with a dab bar, live tattooing and a DJ, the speakeasy energy is undeniable. As a born-and-raised New Yorker, there’s often a sense of malaise that comes with seeing buildings from a bygone era of craftsmanship turned into chain pharmaceutical drugstores. It’s refreshing to see how Culture House has embraced the space’s grandeur with its dispensary.
The Vibe
Culture House has big plans to live up to its full name. With programming ranging from run clubs and yoga to movie nights and cooking lessons, they are leaning hard into the “House” side of their identity, building culture in the absence of formal consumption spaces.
General manager Jesus Benitez pointed to programming as their key differentiator. With a coffee bar on the ground level and plenty of space to work with, the team is building toward a culture-first model and reasons to come in beyond a transaction.
The Products
Culture House’s massive menu gives you more than enough reason to stop by or order delivery across northern Brooklyn. The sheer size of the bank hall not only gives their team space to stock nearly every brand I’ve encountered in the New York market, but it also gives room to show them off.
When digging into the flower selection, I found all of my favorite craft growers, including cultivars I had not seen in some of the smaller Manhattan shops.
The Staff
While the Greenpoint location might be new, the team benefits from the foundation built at Culture House’s Manhattan flagship dispensary. Benitez joined Culture House at the Herald Square location, and marketing manager Samíris Feliz darts between the two.
With a proven training system in place, Culture House’s half dozen checkout points keep traffic moving so you won’t be stuck waiting in line.
Speaking about their approach at Greenpoint, Feliz emphasized that “Greenpoint is community-driven. People want to take their time, discover and connect. So we lean more into creating a space that feels like part of the neighborhood, not just somewhere you shop.”
