Inside a New York ‘smokeasy’ as the city gets ready for legal weed

Richard Hall visits an underground cannabis club as it prepares for legalisation

The Astor Club is invite only and you won’t find it on any map (Richard Hall / The Independent )

There is no sign on the door of the Astor Club. There is nothing at all to distinguish it from the drab buildings that surround it on this downtown Manhattan street. A ring of a doorbell gets you into an entrance hall and in front of a doorman, but even then there’s not much to see.

Go through enough doors, though, and the secret reveals itself. A dimly lit lounge creeps into view from behind a cloud of thick smoke. It is intimate, furnished with velvet sofas and curtains. A Banksy hangs from the exposed brick wall.

This is one of only a handful of cannabis smoking lounges operating in New York, or as the owners call it, a “smokeasy”. Much like its forebears in the prohibition era, this club operates underground and in secret. The guest list is selective.

“People get here by referral. We get their information and we go through a verification process just to make sure that they’re safe and we don’t need to worry about them,” says Matt, as he rolls up a blunt, seated alongside his co-owners Josh and Ben. All three of them ask for only their first names to be used due to the legal uncertainties around their business.

“We have an incredibly diverse crowd; everyone from retired school teachers to famous rappers. We really hit the gamut of life,” Matt adds.

It’s some time after 4pm and the evening crowd is beginning to arrive. Some come here right after work and settle down for the evening, while others treat it like a night out. It’s a haunt of fashion designers, athletes and weed connoisseurs from across the country. In the past month, one of those famous rappers came by and had a listening party for their new material. The owners never know when it’s going to be a busy night and there are no strict opening hours. It is fittingly laid-back.

The Astor Club was opened in January 2020 by Ben, who later took on the others as partners. Ben was a business owner who went on to work for an organisation that advocated for cannabis legalisation. Josh was a musician and a chef, and Matt operated a weed delivery service. Ben says he was inspired by the coffee shops of Amsterdam during his many visits there.

“I always think about the guy from Starbucks who spoke about a third place. You’ve got your home, you’ve got your work, and this is our third place,” he says.

“The people that come here aren’t really comfortable hanging out in bars with drunk people, right? They want to hang out. They want to unwind and relax. And this is the space for them.”

The club charges a membership fee for entrance and cannabis products are available on site. There are rolling papers, rolling tables and bags of weed scattered around the place. There’s also a bar area with offerings on display – the best weed and resin money can buy, so the owners claim. They won’t disclose how many members they have, but say it is in the hundreds.

When the Astor Club first opened, the legality of operations like this was “pretty sketchy”, in Ben’s words, but things changed in March this year when New York legalised recreational cannabis use and opened the way for the explosion of a billion-dollar industry.

Using the drug is now legal, and selling it will be as soon as regulations are agreed upon. People can store up to five pounds of cannabis at home and New Yorkers are legally allowed to smoke in public wherever tobacco use is legal. Recreational sales aren’t expected to be introduced until next year.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for our whole lives, really, for people to be able to consume the most benign plant in the world without going to jail. So it’s just such a pleasure to see the whole city, everyone selling,” Ben says.

Retired school teachers and famous rappers are among the clientele (Richard Hall / The Independent)

When alcohol prohibition ended on 5 December, 1933, parties erupted across the country and speakeasies came out from the basements. But there hasn’t been a similar coming-out party for weed in New York just yet, and little has changed at the Astor Club. While the regulations for the sale of cannabis are still being worked out, the owners here are trying to come to terms with what a “smokeasy” will look like after prohibition.

“There’s a certain type of person that wants to always do what’s a little bit outside the lines. It’s exciting there, it’s a little bit freer there. So, of course, when things become legal it loses a little bit of that mystique,” says Ben.

“But at the end of the day it’s gonna take a while for the stigma to be completely gone, right? There’s always gonna still be a part of society that looks down on it. It’s gonna be hard for us to totally shake it.

“And the illicit part might have been fun for some people, but it kept a lot of people away from it. A lot of people wanted to try it and didn’t. So at the end of the day, it all works out good.”

Outside this smoky room, the picture in New York for cannabis lovers has changed dramatically already. Back in 2017, there were some 28,239 misdemeanour marijuana arrests in New York state, according to a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Compare that to the period between April to October of 2021, when just 116 people statewide were arrested on a top-level misdemeanour or felony charge related to marijuana possession or sale in New York.

More than 100,000 people are expected to be able to get their records for marijuana crimes expunged under the new law. The law will also ensure that tax revenue from the sale of cannabis will go towards job creation in low-income and minority communities that were disproportionately affected by drug arrests.

“You could be walking down the street with a joint and eight undercover officers would pounce on you for the one joint and lock you up for the weekend,” says Josh. “Take the more liberal attitude around the country and then New York City all of a sudden going progressive, cannabis crimes are currently low on their radar.”

A Banksy hangs on the wall at the Astor Club (Richard Hall / The Independent)

There are other things that set the Astor Club apart, the owners say, which will ensure they are well-placed for a bigger market.

“Most of the other places are kind of more focused on: ‘We’re a dispensary and you can smoke here if you want.’ But we’re more focused on the lounge, the community and the flower,” says Matt. “We are a connoisseurs club. Other people have their lanes. We have the very best around, period. We make sure of that and we strive for that,” he adds.

There are still many uncertainties about how the next few years will play out, and the club isn’t quite ready to throw open its doors just yet.

“We’ve done well for the past two years by staying low and staying underground and for right now we’re happy there,” says Josh. “We’re slowly coming out of the shadows a little bit, and as we get regulations and as we get applications and things, we’ll be completely out of the shadows.”

Although the Astor Club maintains its speakeasy atmosphere for now, Ben admits that could change. “We gotta weigh things at the end of the day. Yeah, sure, we might lose a little bit of the mystique. It’ll feel a little bit different. It won’t have that same vibe, but you don’t have to worry about getting your kids taken away. The most important, crucial thing is people not going to jail for smoking this flower.”