From Subway Staircases to High-End Art
Before the paper flowers by Livia Cetti greet you at the entrance, before the floor-to-ceiling mural pulls you through a visual journey from seed to sale, Howard Rondinone and Greg Moss were just two kids from Kingsbridge climbing subway staircases and dreaming bigger than the Bronx could hold. Cetti, the same artist who creates installations for Gucci and Tiffany, sets the tone for what’s inside.
“We lived on those trains,” recalls Moss, co-founder of Nuna Harvest in Mount Vernon. “Hopping turnstiles was a rite of passage.” For Rondinone, those same trains served another purpose: moving product across the city as a third-generation legacy operator learning the game from his father. Now, four decades later, those parallel tracks have converged into something neither teenager could have imagined: a dispensary that feels more like a gallery opening than a retail transaction.
The Wizard of Oz in Full Color
“When you walk through those doors, it’s like the Wizard of Oz turning to color,” explains Rondinone, whose graffiti background inspired the dispensary’s bold aesthetic. The concept? Cover the whole place like a subway car: top to bottom. The Hall of Fame gallery features 24 pop art portraits of musicians tied to cannabis culture, each piece created by Rondinone himself in a single hour during a 24-hour creative marathon. “Stream of consciousness,” he says. “No changes, no edits. It is what it is.”
Quality Control with a Personal Touch
The name “Nuna,” meaning “land” in Native American and Inuit languages, reflects their philosophy: cannabis done right, by the people, for the people. And Rondinone takes that personally. Every flower that enters the building gets smoked. “If I can’t finish it, something’s wrong with it,” he says matter-of-factly. When pre-rolls arrive, he tears them open, dumps the contents on a tray, and rolls his own joint to test. Sales reps who start squirming after two hits already know the verdict.
The Destination Factor
You can go to Barnes & Noble to get a record, or you go to Tower Records for an experience.
What sets Nuna Harvest apart in an increasingly crowded market isn’t just the aesthetic flex. It’s the destination factor. Moss frames it perfectly: “You can go to Barnes & Noble to get a record, or you go to Tower Records for an experience.” Under General Manager Sherri McGee’s direction, the dispensary hosts everything from High Yoga sessions to comedy, trivia, and live music nights. Recent highlights include a pre-Hanukkah celebration featuring Matisyahu and sponsorship deals with The Capitol Theatre, where they’ve sponsored shows including Matisyahu and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s December two-night run, and Rucker Park’s legendary streetball tournament.
A Partnership Built on Brotherhood
The partnership works because Rondinone and Moss complement each other like a perfectly balanced hybrid. “Greg is super refined, and I’m not,” Rondinone admits. “I think outside the box, Greg brings me in. Yin and yang.” Their bond, forged at age 12, runs deeper than business. “Once I friend you, we’re in like family,” Rondinone says. “This isn’t business trust; this is blood brothers.”
With locations 2 and 3 already in stealth mode, Nuna Harvest is positioning itself to become a regional force. But Rondinone keeps perspective: “We’re in the center of the universe. If you’re gonna be number one, this is the city.”
For two kids who grew up tagging trains and dreaming of something more, Nuna Harvest represents the ultimate piece: not just on a subway car, but on New York’s cannabis legacy itself.
Nuna Harvest
696 Locust Street, Mount Vernon, NY 10552
Open daily until 10pm | Delivery until 11pm
nunaharvest.com | @nunaharvest
