Stepping into the Witch’s Cottage, North Hollywood’s latest mystical hangout, feels a bit like following a trail of breadcrumbs in a fairy tale. Inside, lamps shaped like pointy black hats hang above a counter serving bubbling witch’s brew coffee. In one corner of the café, there’s a parking spot exclusively for broomsticks; upstairs in the games room, a smoke-breathing dragon perches over a medieval-style fireplace. It’s as if a friend has invited you to join her outrageously cool coven, which just so happens to be meeting on the stage set of Wicked.

Which is all part of the magical masterplan, says co-owner and self-proclaimed witch Celina Lee Surniak. “The idea was: if you found a witch’s cottage in a forest, went inside and had tea and scones, how would it feel?” she says, dressed in a floor-length gothic gown, a witch’s hat pulled over a tumble of dark curls. “It’s about finding that wise woman in the woods. People really come here to discover something about themselves,” she adds, of the two-floor café, restaurant, bar, and event space which opened in February 2026 inside a former bank.

I’ve come to Los Angeles in search of my own wise woman in the woods, in a city that has become something of a hotspot for modern magic. Witches have long been part of Tinseltown lore, although more often as green-skinned caricatures cackling manically over cauldrons on the big screen.

Step beyond the backlots, however, and this open-minded Californian city is home to a happening occult scene. Shops such as The Crooked Path and The Green Man are chock-a-block with spell kits and crystals, while also offering workshops and tarot readings. The city also hosts a constellation of cosmic pop-ups, including Witchy Ways Market and Magic Market, where attendees often don their finest witchy looks, in billowing midnight capes and with lashings of black eyeliner.

It’s not just in Los Angeles that witchcraft is having a moment. A quick scroll through social media shows the hashtag #witchcore, an aesthetic inspired by the mystical and macabre, has generated more than 166 million views. Fashion has embraced the idea too, with Rodarte conjuring up ethereal dresses with spiderweb detailing, and Ann Demeulemeester offering high-priestess silhouettes in inky black chiffon, both for fall 2026. Cinema is also getting in on the act with the release of Practical Magic 2, due to hit screens in September 2026, once again starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock.

While calling yourself a witch may once have risked a summons to the gallows, today manifestation journals, intention-setting rituals, and witchcore aesthetics are as mainstream as yoga studios and daily horoscopes.

As a challenge to patriarchal norms, witchcraft feels particularly resonant right now, says Lee Surniak, who works as a stuntwoman and intimacy coordinator by day. “There’s an attack on feminine energy at the moment, with laws being overturned regarding our bodies and our right to choose,” she says, above the sounds of jaunty medieval flute music piping through the speakers. She leads me through the wondrous Dungeons & Dragons-style bar upstairs, complete with a clanking suit of armor and a hush-hush doorway concealed as a bookcase.

“People are tired of oppression. There’s a feeling that if those in power won’t help us, we’ll help ourselves. It’s about rising up and uplifting each other,” she says. And for those who don’t identify as witches, the space remains open to all. This woman and queer-owned business positions itself as an inclusive gathering place, whether you’re actively seeking a coven or simply here for an enchanting slice of chocolate cake.

Or pull up a chair at the bar for a moonlit elixir, inspired by lunar rituals and served with a dash of lavender honey and a pinch of glitter. The restaurant, set beneath higgledy-piggledy carved trees and cascading flowers, serves wickedly good devilled dragon’s eggs and steaming bowls of Bayou witch stew. Live performances and group classes in tea blending, sword dancing, and candle and broom making are also in the pipeline.

Dressing up is, of course, optional but gleefully embraced. “We have people come here for dinner in full Lord of the Rings regalia. There was a group of friends dressed as fairies with big wings, shedding glitter everywhere. It was amazing!” laughs Lee Surniak, who consults tarot cards when making business decisions.

Her business partner, Danielle Ozymandias, says the response has been overwhelming. “In other cities, people are still whispering behind their hands about being a witch. But here, we’re everywhere,” she says. “This is a city where people dream big, so there’s a feeling that you can do anything.”

That spirit of openness extends beyond the metaphysical. Los Angeles has long been synonymous with wellness culture, from green juice bars to alternative approaches to health. It feels only natural, then, that this bewitching realm would find common ground with the world of fitness and self-care.

My next stop is Lake Hollywood Park, where I’m meeting Tristyn Rhoades, better known as Tristyn the Good Witch. With the Hollywood Sign luminescent in the background, the medium and yoga instructor arrives looking every inch the modern-day goddess, crowned in a shimmering gold celestial halo. As the founder of Good Witch L.A., Rhoades has married the occult with her yoga practice, leading a devoted community interested in movement and magic.

“My ancestors were witches and healers, but you don’t have to be born into witchcraft to pick up on energy. Everyone has intuition, it’s just about learning to trust your gut,” Rhoades tells me as we settle beneath a jacaranda tree exploding with violet blossoms. She unrolls a yoga mat and asks me to lie down. “I started incorporating witchcraft into my yoga practice, doing things like cleansing my mat and setting intentions to release fear.”

The changes she experienced, she says, were seismic enough to reshape her career. Today, she hosts new moon yoga circles, cannabis-friendly yoga retreats, and a clothing-optional escape out in the Californian desert, all built around the idea that spiritual and physical wellbeing are inseparable.

“L.A. is really fertile ground for witchcraft,” she says, wafting a bundle of hand-rolled sage over my body to clear out negative energy. “There are so many witchy wellness, mystical, and haunted events happening here, especially in Hollywood, Long Beach, and Venice Beach. There was recently a market in Long Beach with about 150 witch vendors. It was packed and shows that this is an ever-growing thing.”

The craft has even crept into the city's nightlife. “I’ve set up rooms at DJ events where I bring my smudge sticks and candles, and do tarot readings,” she says. In La La Land, even a night out can double as a spiritual consultation.

In a scene that feels distinctly Los Angeles, Rhoades balances my chakras using a swinging pendulum, while tourists nearby snap photos beneath the Hollywood Sign. As we close the session, Rhoades reflects on how attitudes towards witches have evolved. “When I started, witchcraft was seen as this dark thing,” she says, eyelashes thick with electric blue mascara. “But it’s a beautiful thing that brings women together. When we come together to sing and dance, we’re so powerful.”

A few moments later, the spell is broken by a couple angling for the perfect shot. Yet that collision of the mystical and the mainstream feels entirely fitting. In a city built on reinvention, Los Angeles’s witches are no longer lurking in the shadows. These days, they’re gathering in fantastical cafés, reading tarot at DJ sets, and practicing rituals beneath the Hollywood Sign.