Silverlake, CA. Ha! 2009
The way Veeektor remembers it, we shared a joint on the dance floor the night we first met at a birthday party for the west coast editor of InStyle. My girlfriend at the time was also an editor at the magazine. (That's where we'd met.) Veeektor's girlfriend was her assistant. He'd moved to L.A. from his home in Belgium, a veteran of the Israeli Special Forces hoping to make it as an actor in Hollywood. Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—Veeektor peaked as a semi-regular extra on The Shield for a season and had a couple daughters with the girlfriend who went on to become an InStyle editor—and, eventually, his ex-wife. After owning and running a string of DVD and candy stores in various Southern California malls, Veeektor and his business partner opened up what would become an iconic medical marijuana dispensary on Sunset Blvd. in Silverlake. (Just ask the former patients/customers/devotees.) I was Sunset Junction Organic Medicine's first employee and I watched the place grow from a "holy-shit-does-anyone-know-we're-open?" operation into a thriving culture of cannabis healing and good vibes. One of my favorite jobs ever for many reasons. A few months before Veeektor opened the dispensary in 2009, we took a couple road trips to San Quentin for a project I was/am working on. Our camera guy/cinematographer/mad genius was a kid I'd met met during my road tripping days in '03. A few years later, this same kid would help deliver Veeekter to the front row of Hollywood. Or at least Sundance. At least, so far. (Yes, that's him in the "produced by" credits.) I've got nothing but faith in the guy. Victor the Aspiring Actor Turned Dispensary Owner is now Victor the Producer. He's a husband again, too. To a good woman. He even looks good in that not-so-new gray hair he's sporting. Just don't remind him that he looks older than me.