The first person in line at the Central District's first legal recreational pot store was Ryan Elbrecht, 35, who moved to Seattle from Florida a week ago. The second person in line was Alex Mello, 22, from San Juan Island. The third person was Kay Hendon, the woman above, who declined to give her age but said she's lived in the Central District for 52 years.

Asked about the changing neighborhood, she said, "It has grown a lot and I'm glad to see what's coming about in this vicinity instead of farther north or south." She was referring to other state-licensed marijuana stores; the only other recreational store in Seattle is way down in SODO. "We have ours now and I appreciate it."

How does she feel about a white business owner opening up shop in a historically black neighborhood? "It doesn't bother me. I'm not a prejudiced person. I'm not like that. I accept every individual as they are."

I mentioned how 23rd and Union seemed cursed for years, and she agreed, "It was. It was." Did she think the curse would stay? "I don't think so." Then she pointed out at 23rd Avenue and said, "This is 23rd, so when I walk down the street, I think of 23rd Psalms." (Psalms 23 is the one that starts, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures...")

Just before doors opened I asked her what she planned on buying, and she said, "Some kush." And then she held out her hands, with huge green-painted fingernails, and said, "For the arthritis," and laughed.

The guy in a Che Guevara t-shirt right behind her, 30-year-old Jason Cole, has been living in the Central District for 11 years. Asked what he made of Uncle Ike's, he said, "I'm so excited about it. It's going to bring a lot of income to the neighborhood, along with people."

Study after study has shown that more white folks smoke weed than black folks, even though black folks are arrested for it far more often. For what it's worth, there were 20 people in line when I got to Uncle Ike's a few minutes before they noon, and 17 of them were white.

The guy from Florida, at the very start of the line, who's lived in Seattle a week and got in line at 9:30 pm last night, said, "You could not come from a farther town than I came from. And you could not come to a cooler city." Asked to elaborate on what he liked about Seattle, he said, "The music and the view and everything. It's a good place. It's a good place to restart. I mean, shit, look at the sky. This place is beautiful." Then he went inside and bought a gram of Snoop's Dream for $26.