BY CHELSEA ALEAGA, Staff Reporter

There are four, new, young and motivated owners of the hookah bar in town formally known as The Lounge. New owners , Daren Russell, Steven Thomas, Derek Cockrum and Tawnie Shockley, felt it necessary to rename the hookah bar to The House of Haze.

“These guys are dedicated, motivated and they have a team in place ready to go,” TJ McDonald, former owner of The Lounge, said.

McDonald and the new owners have a history; they all grew up together in Yakima. With a relationship already built it wasn’t hard for McDonald to pass on his business to the four entrepreneurs.

“The hookah bar kind of just fell into our lap,” Thomas said. “We were already talking about starting a head shop then we heard TJ was selling the place. It was like a double whammy of opening a head shop plus taking over the hookah bar.”

The new title, The House of Haze, gives people imagery of what they will be walking into: an environment to relax, hang out, and smoke. With a bigger head shop, new renovations, longer hours and bigger events planned, the new owners are ready to open up The House of Haze and get to work.

“College people want a place to kick it and relax,” Cockrum said. “The House of Haze is for people to unwind, chill and hangout with cool people.”

The House of Haze is opening its doors earlier in hopes of students doing their homework there instead of the stuffy library or crowded coffee shops.

“Having students come in, get on Wi-Fi, do their homework, while being able to smoke is what we want,” Thomas said. “Especially on Sundays because that’s when people want to chill.”

The new owners will be adding three brand new TVs, different brands of sheesha, more glass pieces, and making renovations to add more comfortable seating. The goal for these changes is to have their customers feel like they are at home while at the House of Haze.

“We want members of the House of Haze to feel as if they’re smoking in our house,” Russell said.

Becoming a member of The House of Haze gives members the right to go into the establishment and smoke tobacco, and for members 21 and over, smoke cannabis.

“We are one [of the few] places in the state of Washington that permits cannabis usage,” Thomas said.

With Washington State being the second state in the U.S. to legalize weed, the new crew feels Ellensburg is the perfect community to practice the new law since it is a college town.

“People are becoming to know that cannabis is more than just getting high,” Thomas said. “We are hoping the head shop lures in tobacco and cannabis smokers for awesome new merchandise we have coming in.”

The head shop is the public part of the facility called “The Shed”, where the owners hope to expand their business. They are stocking up on more brands of sheesha, glassware, and even vape pens.

The current hours for The Lounge are Wednesday to Saturday 7:00 p.m. through midnight. The new owners want to open The House of Haze earlier in the day at 4:00 p.m. and stay open until 4:00 a.m. on weekends for after bar hours which will attract people who aren’t ready to go to sleep. These late hours will give them a chance to smoke and relax after a long night of drinking.

Ellensburg is a college town with limited places to hang out. The House of Haze is the perfect place for locals and students alike to kick back, relax, and get hazy.