The Barber Who Moonlights As a Salumi Master
Barber Dominic Pellegrino cures his own soppressata — "the best you can't buy," according to the write-up.
Since 1947
The United Nations
The United Nations
of Haircutters
Astor Place is among the most iconic barber shops in America and a New York institution. Since 1947, it has at various times set trends that went on to influence taste and style around the world. It has nevertheless always remained authentically New York and true to its position in the downtown firmament that drives so much in the life of our city. The walls are cluttered with celebrity clients dating back to the 80s and extending to influencers of today.
Our prices remain low and accessible to all. That's why we represent so much of what's great about New York. Astor not only played a seminal role in the cultural evolution of urban style—from punk to hip-hop—it also contributed to the city's coequal ethos by attracting politicians, professional athletes, artists, celebrities, NYU students and working class New Yorkers—who all get treated the same.
We offer low prices, history, the most diverse immigrant workforce New York has to offer—and by far the best barbers and hairstylists in the country.
“The United Nations of Haircutters.” — Mike Saviello, on running this shop for decades
Mike is a Rutgers business grad who can do math in his head faster than a game-show contestant — and, off the clock, a painter and sculptor whose work has shown in Chelsea and New Jersey galleries, profiled by The Times of London.
The shop was family-run by the Vezza family for decades. When the pandemic nearly closed it for good in 2020, a group of loyal customers — led by financier Jonathan Trichter, with Jefrey Pollock, Howard Wolfson, and Jeff Gural — stepped in to save it. It made the front page of the Daily News. The chairs never stopped turning.
