New Copper Penny Owners Seek to Open a Marijuana Dispensary in Lents

It's across the street from the recently shuttered East Portland nightclub.

By Aaron Mesh

The New Copper Penny is gone. But the family that ran the East Portland nightclub for four decades is planning to sell another libation in Lents: cannabis.

The Tzantarmas family, longtime proprietors of the New Copper Penny, have applied to open a marijuana dispensary at the corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road.

The application was filed with the city's Office of Neighborhood Involvement by John Tzantarmas, the son of longtime New Copper Penny owner Saki Tzantarmas.

"We recently owned another un-related business located in the same area for 43 years," Tzantarmas writes on the application, "so are familiar with the surrounding business owners."

The storefront that would hold the marijuana shop is across Southeast Foster Road from the site of the New Copper Penny, which the Tzantarmas family recently sold to a developer for an apartment complex, ending one battle in a decades-long war over urban renewal in Lents.

John Tzantarmas could not immediately be reached for comment.

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