Heidie McCall is a local artist, ceramicist and producer of the series “Patrishaa’s Workshop,” which she makes with her husband, Doug “D.A.” McCall, in Clark County.

The pair used to run a head shop in Vancouver from 1985-1995, called The Store.

Through their company, Factory West Studios, the pair is also hoping to launch something called High TV, aimed at stoner audiences.

“HIGHTV, my government service trademark definition is ‘your guide to an altered state of mind,'” McCall said. “The show is specifically designed for people that get high and watch TV – an American pass time to be sure. It is more cerebral not at all condescending and Doug’s scripts are funny.”

I asked her if she could share a few thoughts on the old days before marijuana legalization in Clark County and also if she could share a link to one of her episodes.

She kindly obliged. Check out what she had to say below. And if you have any fun tales of head shops past, feel free to share them in the comments section!

Cheers,
-SueVo (sue.vorenberg@columbian.com)

Has the head shop scene in Vancouver changed?
By Heidie McCall

Boy has it ever changed!

When I had “The Store,” and there are many that will remember us, if a customer said the word “bong” I had to ask them to leave, no kidding.

We couched the paraphernalia we sold as “novelty items of the ’80s.”

In the beginning we sold thrift items and I really liked that a lot, but it was camouflage too. A 3-foot by 2-foot glass case paid almost all the bills.

I am a virtual time capsule for those days. There was a lot of creativity that went into surviving those years no doubt.

As time moved forward and we gained more skill at making paraphernalia. We became master ceramists and our bongs (oops I mean novelty items) became sought after and collected.

To this day every once and awhile someone tells me they still have a piece of the old Factory West ceramics, that is a good day when that happens.

We finally wanted to do more diverse things and settled on a wholesale product, the BING, which we still produce and sell all over the country. We are making less and less of them though as we move into the art of video.

Here is a link to a full episode of “Patrishaa’s Workshop.” It’s one of my favorites because it truly is ridiculous.

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/88032447]