From the outside, Zide Door is a simple, nondescript building in San Francisco with no signs or indications that it is a psychedelic church on the inside.
Once you get past the 24/7 security guard, you’re greeted by walls covered in trippy art and a faint smell of cannabis. At first glance, the spiritual center does not look like a typical church with pews and an altar, but rather an art gallery.
However, Zide Door will close its San Francisco location at the end of this year due to alleged “harassment by the city’s planning department,” the church’s pastor Dave Hodges said at a news conference Wednesday.
Hodges said officials from the city’s Planning Department have unfairly targeted the San Francisco site with mandates for structural updates to the building, which would cost the church a six-figure sum to repair.
“One of the biggest things we’re dealing with right now has to do with windows breaking all the time,” says Hodges. “We have a board on that now, but the city says this is unacceptable and the only solution is for us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix the problem. This is a problem that many small businesses in San Francisco have and we’re just another victim of what’s going on.”
Alise Maripuu/Bay City News
Members of Zide Door follow a faith called the Church of Ambrosia, which believes that entheogenic plants, or psychoactive substances such as psilocybin mushrooms and DMT, can be used to “access the divine,” Hodges said.
“We are the largest entheogenic church in the world. We now have 120,000 members. We provide people with cannabis, mushrooms and DMT as a sacrament,” said Hodges. “We’re making sure there’s a safe way for people to access it and give them information to do it safely.”
Psychedelics are illegal in California. However, San Francisco has passed non-binding resolutions to decriminalize the drugs and make the possession or use of entheogens the lowest priority for local law enforcement.
In the 20 months since Zide Door has opened its doors in San Francisco, Hodges said it has experienced numerous conflicts with the planning department and the Department of Building Inspection surrounding obtaining permits and meeting building codes to operate in the building on Howard St. in the South of the Markt district.
Many of the mandated structural improvements, Hodges said, were not enforced or required before the church began occupying the space.
Zide Door is leasing the building from owner Tatiana Takaeva Shiff, who echoed the pastor’s belief that the Planning Department unfairly targeted the church.
“I have had every problem with the Planning Department since Zide Door came here,” she said in an interview.
The first problem was a “sliding glass door that led nowhere” on the second floor of the building.
Hodges complied, finding it an understandable problem to address. The church spent $100,000 to repair it, he said.
“We agreed that this was a problem for the building. It was just something that someone had to fix at some point,” said Hodges. “It was an expensive solution.”
Alise Maripuu/Bay City News
But then more and more problems emerged. The latest involved covering the ground floor windows, which have been repeatedly shattered by vandals.
“They say we need ‘inset’ shutters or security screens to put over the windows,” said Hodges. “We can’t afford it.”
Hodges believes the church is being unfairly targeted by the Planning Department and the Building Inspection Department.
“Our biggest concern is that even if we could pay for the ‘interrupted’ shutters, they would come up with another problem afterwards,” he said.
Daniel Sider, the chief of staff of the Planning Department, said in an interview that the church began operating without obtaining the required permits.
“This establishment was opened without obtaining the necessary permits,” Sider said. “City agencies have been working with Pastor Hodges’ representatives since this spring to help legalize them.”
Hodges doesn’t have a clear answer as to why he thinks the city would target Zide Door.
“There are a lot of people who for some reason don’t like the idea of people using mushrooms as part of a religion, and that could be it. I really can’t tell you what’s going through someone else’s mind, he said.
Zide Church also has a location in Oakland, a city that Hodges said was much easier to work with.
“For the most part, Oakland has been a lot nicer to us,” he said. “Except we were raided by the Oakland Police Department in August 2020.”
The church’s original location in Oakland was raided amid allegations that it was operating a cannabis dispensary.
With Zide Door closing in San Francisco, it will continue to operate in Oakland. Hodges is open to returning to San Francisco if changes can be made in the Planning Department and Building Inspection Department under new Mayor Daniel Lurie.
“I really hope the mayor can make some changes,” Hodges said. “It’s just a matter of how long it will last. We’re not in a position where we can wait months and months for it to be the same. So I really hope he will make a difference.”
