Scenes from WitchsFest 2026 on Astor Place

Photos by Stacie Joy 

WitchsFest USA returned to Astor Place today, marking its 15th anniversary with a day of rituals, workshops, vendors, music and community. 

Hosted by the NYC Wiccan Family Temple, the free festival celebrates contemporary Paganism and brings together practitioners and the curious alike. 

Here are a few scenes from the day...

WitchsFest returns to Astor Place TODAY

Photo from last year by Stacie Joy 

WitchsFest USA marks its 15th anniversary on Saturday with a daylong celebration of contemporary Paganism at Astor Place. 

The free event, hosted by the NYC Wiccan Family Temple, runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features 60 vendors, a dozen workshops, live performances, rituals, authors, artists and community organizations. Details here. 

Founded in 2011, WitchsFest brings together practitioners and organizations representing a wide range of Pagan and magickal traditions, including Wicca, Druidry, Hoodoo, ceremonial magic and folk practices.

As the chain stores turn on Astor Place

An EVG reader shared word that the Pret A Manger has closed on Astor Place...

This is the latest chain to throw in the town on the block between Lafayette and Broadway. The former Sweetgreen space remains vacant after the salad bowlery shuttered last summer.

A Hampton Chutney is at 2 Astor Place, a space that has seen some recent churn, including Felix Roasting Co. and Blue Bottle. 

Oh, and the high-profile Starbucks space is still vacant after a July 2024 shutter. 

While the Raising Cane's and Juice Generation seem to be doing well... there are plenty of vacanies in what is considered a high-traffic corridor. 

Anyway, not every chain is sticking around for the long haul here.

Today in ads for Chanel on Astor Place

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For everyone who asked about this shoot...

Police looking for 3 suspects in Sunday afternoon slashing on Astor Place

Police are looking for three men who they say robbed and slashed another man on Cooper Square at Eighth Street this past Sunday afternoon. 

The 24-year-old victim was standing on the southwest corner of Eighth Street at Cooper Square near Cooper Union when three men grabbed his iPhone from his hand, according to police and published reports. 

When he tried to retrieve the phone, the attackers punched him repeatedly and slashed his left hand.

EMTs treated the victim at the scene before taking him to a hospital, where he was reportedly in stable condition. 

The NYPD released this info about the suspects...

🚨WANTED FOR A ROBBERY: On Sunday, 8/24/2025 at Approx. 3:35 P.M., on the Southwest Corner of Cooper Square and East 8th St. in the Confines of the 9th Precinct, 3 unknown individuals slashed a 24-year-old male and forcibly removed his property. pic.twitter.com/PHdIl58f3X

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 25, 2025

Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or submit tips online. All calls are confidential. 

Top photo via Steven; second photo by William Klayer

A Spellbinding scene on Astor Place: At the 13th annual WitchsFest USA

Photos by Stacie Joy 

On Saturday, the 13th annual WitchsFest USA — A Pagan Street Faire — transformed Astor Place into a celebration of magic, community, and ancient traditions. 

Hosted by the NYC Wiccan Family Temple, the street faire drew together pagans, witches, druids, and seekers of all paths, inviting attendees to explore folklore. 

From ritual gatherings to eclectic vendor stalls, WitchsFest continues to cast its enchanting spell on NYC, reminding us of the joy in celebrating diverse spiritual traditions.

Comings and goings on Astor Place: Sweetgreen closes; NYU expands

That's all for the Sweetgreen on Astor Place. (H/T EVG reader Dan.) 

The fast-casual salad joint closed at 10 Astor Place between Broadway and Lafayette on Sunday after nine years in service. 

Sweetgreeners are instructed to visit the outpost on University Place and 12th Street. (There's also one of the Bowery at Third Street.) This is a surprise, as the location seemed busy and was in an area seemingly friendly to the fast-casualization trend. 

And now a few ICYMI items from around Astor Place (signage for these places has been up since the spring)... 

A Hampton Chutney is opening a few storefronts away, closer to Broadway... in a space that has seen a lot of turnover in recent years. No word has been announced on an opening date for the quick-serve brand selling Indian crêpes, aka dosas.

NYU has entered a long-term lease for 1.1 million square feet of space at 770 Broadway (the Wannamaker Building where Wegman's is). 

Plans call for the university to "consolidate faculty and research in a collaboration hub focused on battling diseases and saving lives," per a news release. (Thanks to the reader for the photo.)

And around the corner at 68 Cooper Square, Perfect Meat Bowl, a — you guessed it — build-your-own-meat-bowl concept with nine locations in Ontario, Canada, is in the works. This marks the first U.S. outpost.

This space was previously occupied by Gold Bao, which "closed for renovations" in June 2024, and The Alley, a bubble tea spot.

All the city's a stage: 'Much Ado About Nothing' pops up on Astor Place

The Public Theater brings "Much Ado About Nothing" to Astor Place starting today, marking the 15th anniversary of its Mobile Unit. 

The free, family-friendly production is a bilingual, 100-minute adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. 

The show is here through Saturday (with a 6:30 p.m. start time each day) before hitting other parts of NYC through June 29 as part of "Shakespeare for the City." 

Find more details at this link.

Tuesday's parting shot

The Village Alliance BID celebrated the unveiling of a new public artwork by Juliana Woods, a first-year student at The Cooper Union, during an event earlier today on Astor Place. 

You can find background here.

Photo courtesy of Village Alliance (Ryan Muir).

Saturday's opening shot

Outside the uptown 6 on Astor Place, the MTA dropped some salt, like at other subway entrances we saw this morning, ahead of the expected snowfall (1-2 inches) later this afternoon. 

The snow will turn to rain later tonight and into tomorrow, per the National Weather Service. 

Meanwhile, over at the downtown 6 yesterday... this report came in via the Citizen app...

Who's going to blame this on congestion pricing?

Before (and after) Starbucks on Astor Place

Here are a few quick follow-up items after our scoop about Starbucks closing on Astor Place (here and here) after nearly 30 years...

1. The Astor Place Starbucks opened on March 30, 1995, marking the brand's 11th outpost in NYC.

Before SB, the space outside the downtown 6 at Lafayette was home to the Astor Riviera Cafe. (Above photo via Yesterdays-Paper. There's a nighttime shot here.). 

The 24/7 Riviera was open from 1979 until 1994. 

In noting its closure in July 1994, The New York Times asked in its headline: "Out of the Shadows, a Less-Funky Future for Astor Place?" (Cooper Square Books had closed a month earlier at 13-25 Astor Place.) 

Jeremiah Moss discussed all this back in 2009.

2. Discussions about the SB closing prompted comments like, "I wish we had a diner again around here."

As a reminder, the diner-like Famous Cozy Soup 'n' Burger, which opened in 1972, is at the western end of Astor Place at 739 Broadway. 

3. Several people suggested the Blue Bottle Coffee at 2 Astor Place for SB alternatives. Well, BBC closed in late 2021... and Felix Roasting Co., which took over the space, closed earlier this summer. (The above photo is from a few weeks ago — there's now a for-rent sign in the window.) Felix has three other NYC locations still in service.

Scoop: After nearly 30 years, Starbucks is closing its Astor Place location

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Photos from yesterday

Updated 7/29: See the end of the post for a statement from Starbucks HQ. The SB sign has also been removed from the retail space. Photo here.

Updated: Through a spokesperson, ASG Equities, the landlord at 21 Astor, said that they offered Starbucks a lease extension at exactly the same rent:

“ASG is appreciative of Starbucks’ decades-long tenancy at 21 Astor.  We are sad they chose to leave, even as we offered a lease extension that would have allowed them to remain in their existing space at the exact same rent. This corner on top of the Astor Place subway has extensive glass frontage, tremendous signage, and incredible foot traffic. We are quite confident that this space will be of interest to a wide range of community-oriented retailers.”

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Starbucks on Astor Place will close its doors for good after service today, ending nearly 30 years here outside the entrance to the downtown 6 at Lafayette. (H/T to the tipster who first shared this development.)

According to management, "the landlords jacked up the rent so astronomically high that even corporate Starbucks couldn't pay it." The manager said that all employees were offered relocation options with other Starbucks. (We also contacted the Starbucks HQ in Seattle for comment.)

The manager went on to say that he would miss this location's regulars and being part of their day. 

As of yesterday, the Astor Place shop had already scrubbed the brand's NYC location map...

This outpost was the 11th Starbucks to open in the city. The spacious 4,000-square-foot SB debuted on March 30, 1995 — a year before the Kmart arrived across Eighth Street. Other key dates in this SB's history: it underwent a major renovation in 2018 ... and unionized in 2022.

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--Updated--

Starbucks closed its unionized location on North 7th Street location in Williamsburg on June 30, per Greenpointers.

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With its floor-to-ceiling windows lined with high stools, the outpost was popular for its ample people-watching opportunities ... as well as convenient public restrooms. (Before the 2018 renovations, a one-star Yelp review from here noted: "The bathrooms look like they run a cockfighting ring out of them.")

Despite this closure, Starbucks still has smaller outlets on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place, First Avenue at Third Street, and First Avenue at 13th Street (not to mention locations on Union Square and University Place). 

Once upon a time, there were two Starbucks on Astor Place (plus one at Broadway and Ninth Street that shuttered in 2019)... the one at 51 Astor Place closed in 2009 and was replaced by the New York Film Academy Café. That iteration of the address was demolished in 2011 to make way for the Death Star.

Updated 7/29

A statement from a spokesperson at Starbucks:

Effective July 29, 2024, our Lafayette & 8th St store, also known as Astor Place, in Manhattan will close permanently. We have engaged Workers United to collaborate on the next steps, including transfer options, for the 17 partners currently employed at this location.​

As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers. We do not take the decision to close stores lightly. Our relationship with our customers is deeply personal, and we are honored to have been on Astor Place. ​

We hope our customers will use the Starbucks Store Locator to find other nearby locations. 

The closest stores include​: 

• Broadway & Bond – 665 Broadway 

• ​NYU 4th & Washington Sq E – 45 West 4th St.

•​15th & 3rd – 145 3rd Ave.

D.A. Bragg announces indictment of suspect in random slashing on Astor Place

Top photo from June 6 via the Citizen app 

Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg yesterday announced the indictment of Steven Johnson, 35, in the random slashing of a man on Astor Place on June 6. Bragg said that Johnson is also accused of assaulting a restaurant employee with a tire chain on St Mark's Place the day before. 

The D.A.'s office stated that Johnson "is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, two counts of Assault in the First Degree, and one count of Assault in the Second Degree." 

According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, on June 5, 2024, at approximately 12:45 p.m. at 34 St. Mark's Place, Johnson was lying in front of and partially blocking the doorway of a restaurant entrance [there are two restaurants at the address — Birria LES and Anytime Street]. The restaurant employee recognized Johnson from a similar prior encounter, asked him to leave, and called 911. While the restaurant employee was on the phone with dispatchers, Johnson approached him from behind and struck him in the head with a metal bike chain, causing significant bleeding from a laceration that required stitches at Bellevue Hospital. 

The next day, on June 6, 2024, Johnson was removed from the Union Square subway station after sitting in the middle of the platform and blocking pedestrian traffic. Minutes later, at approximately 5:15 p.m., Johnson walked behind a man who was seated at a table in the Astor Place pedestrian plaza and slashed him with a sharp object from his right ear to his left shoulder.

Johnson fled to the subway station at East 14th Street and First Avenue while bystanders rendered aid to the victim, who was rushed to Bellevue Hospital. The victim underwent surgery and is facing permanent scarring.

Police arrested Johnson on June 8 at the subway station on East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue wearing the same clothing he had on during the alleged assaults.

"My thoughts are with the victims as they heal from their extensive injuries," said Bragg in a statement. "Those who harm and threaten the safety of New Yorkers will be held accountable."

Public records show that Johnson is due back in court on Aug. 12.

High spirits: At WitchsFest USA on Astor Place

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The annual The WitchsFest USA — A Pagan Street Faire took place yesterday on Astor Place between Broadway and Lafayette. 

As always, there were workshops, performers, and vendors, as well as a grand finale, the Summer Blessing Ritual. Here's a look.