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Any fellow Americans here know anything about the magic castle? It's about and hour and a half away from me so I might take a trip up to see some performances later this year. Just wanted to know if anyone has gone or knows anything about it. (it is the World Famous Hollywood Magic Castle after all, or at least thats what their website says)

donkeylord wrote:Any fellow Americans here know anything about the magic castle? It's about and hour and a half away from me so I might take a trip up to see some performances later this year. Just wanted to know if anyone has gone or knows anything about it. (it is the World Famous Hollywood Magic Castle after all, or at least thats what their website says)

Well, you only get in IF another member "sponsors" you in for the visit. There is a cover charge (per person) + REQUIRED meal... so a typical couple would be looking a about $100.00 + for the one night.

It is a PRIVATE club and membership costs have sky-rocketed since Bill Larsen's passing some years ago.

It's a wonderful place, I more or less lived there for about eight years back in the early 80s... many fond memories as well as heart-breaks.

eep. seems very exclusive, plus it's really far away from me... doubt i'll get a chance to go visit or something

I was amiss to point out that if you are from outside the greater Los Angeles area (it may be all of California, I'm not certain) but want to visit, your membership card to IBM, SAM or the Magic Circle will get you in but I do believe you still need to do the dinner thing and door charge.

Things have changed a lot since the days I hung out in that wonderful old Mansion.

I figure I have to make a pilgrimage to it at some point. Hope its sooner than later.

The Magic Castle is a cool place for Magic! It has several Showrooms, a Restuarant and quite a few Bars. It's an old Victorian looking buliding... which adds to the mystique of the Club. Enjoy your visit!

Mark Williams wrote:The Magic Castle is a cool place for Magic! It has several Showrooms, a Restuarant and quite a few Bars. It's an old Victorian looking buliding... which adds to the mystique of the Club. Enjoy your visit!

It's not a Victorian "Looking" building, it is an old Victorian Mansion that belonged to the Long family back in the early 1900s. When the last of them passed on the house went vacant for a while then, with the advent of WWII and the famous Hollywood Cantine USO club down by the Chinese theater, the old house became a new kind of "house". It once again went vacant for nearly a decade after the war which was when the Larsen Brothers started looking at it and discussing their father's dream -- to create a private club for magic enthusiasts (more to the point, the old Lloyd Thayer house was just getting too small and the neighbors didn't care for the added traffic along the narrow streets on"show nights" at the (now new) Larsen place.

My memory serving me right, the first phase of the Castle opened for business in 1962, making it the only physical facility on earth to house two of the oldest professions known to man, both dealing with tricks... of a sort.

Craig Browning wrote:My memory serving me right, the first phase of the Castle opened for business in 1962, making it the only physical facility on earth to house two of the oldest professions known to man, both dealing with tricks... of a sort.

That's funny! without getting too "smutty", I guess back "then" only your money "vanished"...

For some reason, I had a perception it was a kind of "museum" open to the public... (I've not been there). For those here from the US, you'll know what I mean when I say "magic's answer to Baseball's Cooperstown". That was my perception anyway. So if I understand correctly then, it's a somewhat "members only" situation?

B0bbY_CaT wrote:

Craig Browning wrote:My memory serving me right, the first phase of the Castle opened for business in 1962, making it the only physical facility on earth to house two of the oldest professions known to man, both dealing with tricks... of a sort.

That's funny! without getting too "smutty", I guess back "then" only your money "vanished"...

For some reason, I had a perception it was a kind of "museum" open to the public... (I've not been there). For those here from the US, you'll know what I mean when I say "magic's answer to Baseball's Cooperstown". That was my perception anyway. So if I understand correctly then, it's a somewhat "members only" situation?

There are a few antiquities in the building, ironically though, most have nothing to do with magic and more to do with Hollywood history. For an example the new "Green Room" area beneath the Palace of Mystery (this was actually a parking garage when I was hanging out there) has a wonderful white & mirrored bar... it is the bar set from the movie "Hello Dolly"... there is a beautiful white & red Victorian Barber's chair... the one that Clark Gable sat in for his shave in the film "Gone With the Wind".

Milt Larsen, the only surviving part of the Castle's founding family team I believe, is a curiosity and antiques collector a.k.a. professional pack rat. When he owned the Variety Arts Center in downtown L.A. it also seemed a Museum of sorts... the entire building being used for more than one "period" film but most notedly, THE STING II with Jackie Gleason. I bring this up because one of the rooms there had one of Minnesota Fat's actual pool tables and cues along with several other such items belonging to Paul Newman, Jimmy Durante, Ed Wynn, Fatty Arbuckle, and W.C. Fields... much of which (as I understand) has been moved to the Castle or as some jokingly refer to it "Milt's Nightclub Warehouse"

There are other points of Hollywood trivia sewn into the facility as well... it is, for an example, larger on the inside than it is on the outside... it's a strange truth about the facility... several bars, walls, etc. were made from the original gymnasium flooring of the Hollywood High School and that unique rich dark paneling that is found surrounding the Palace of Mystery, upon close inspection, might still have door knobs and room numbers in that it is made up of the doors taken from the old Hollywood Hotel prior to its destruction.

When it comes to "Magic Museums" the best known in the Hollywood area would probably be the IBM site that is filled primarily with replicas of noted props like the Thurston Sawing. There are a handful of unique private collections, John Gaughan have a fascinating array of both, Automatons and of all things Ball & Vase units. He's also be set aside as the chief preservationist of some of the more sophisticated and rare illusion systems that various magic legends had built into their own homes of private performance areas... if John is in the mood to do so, the rising card he presents in his little show room, will drive you absolutely bonkers

No, THE MUSEUM(s) when it comes to magic, can only be found in two legit spots on earth; the Robert Houdin Museum in Paris, where you will find many of the original Thurston and Dante pieces including the Saw and Sawing Cabinet originally used by Howard, his brother Harry, Will Rock, then my mentor Kirk Kirkham and of course, your's truly...

If you have the chance to visit this wonderful facility I would highly recommend it!

Then you have the Copperfield Collection which is exceptionally massive as well as impressive. David has done what Kirkham and I wanted to do with these classic props years ago but couldn't get enough backing for making it happen. The irony being that we sold off 18 of the prime pieces to the aforementioned facility about a year before the big "Let's Collect Magic" boom took off. The inventory we offered originally to Copperfield for $150,000.00 seemed to triple in value over night and has been doing a fair job of moving skyward ever since. But then it's no longer seen as clunky old magic tricks, it's nostalgic art and idiots with tons of money seem willing to pay for it... far more than they would have just a few month prior to the start of this trend, which was partly sparked off by Copperfield's purchase of one small private collection in around 87-88.

The next great collection/museum is in Cincinnati, Ohio and belongs to collector Ken Klosterman. Though Copperfield has purchased many of Ken's more amazing pieces, this private collection remains one of the greatest encounters one could ask for, when it comes to a physical tour through magic history.

There are other collections but few as noteworthy or massive as the one's mentioned here.

Yes, I do believe there was a time that Bill Larsen more than Milt, wanted to create a museum area. I recall talking to him about the Thurston, Dante & Blackstone props and the vision Chuck and I had for making a museum and how it would be appropriate for such a thing to have a direct affiliation to the Castle but it was just too huge a project... we'd not only have to deal with the layout of a massive display but it would also involve the construction of a multi-level building that would serve as a bi-level parking lot and museum type facility... a very expensive proposition that would cause the Castle to have no parking at all during the construction period e.g. it never happened... but plans of this sort were drawn up, at least as I've been told.

Bottom line is, the Castle is an amazing place to visit and have loads of fun in. If you are a serious student & researcher you will have access (as a member) to the largest privately own library on the over-all field of magic, on earth... before the new library came into being I spent many, many long hours in that room pouring over those books for several years. It was my "college education" when you get right down to it.

Hope these insights answer some of your questions