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Magic Castle, Los Angeles: Where the magic happens..

Magic Castle, Los Angeles: Where the magic happens..

Any evening that begins by whispering the words “open sesame” to a golden owl with blinking red eyes to open a secret passageway through a faux bookcase is bound to be memorable.

High on a hill, the Magic Castle is a private club for members of Academy of Magical Arts that, over the years, has counted Cary Grant, Mae West, Ryan Gosling and Johnny Depp as visitors and members. Neil Patrick Harris was recently the president.

This is not any private club, it’s an ornately decorated Victorian mansion with a Disney-like turret just steps away from Hollywood Boulevard. Inside is the mysterious world of magic. Secret doors and hidden panels lead to the 13 different performance stages where elaborate illusions are performed. For a tourist, the Magic Castle is surprisingly easy to get in to, though a coat and tie or formal frock are obligatory.

If you don’t know who Milt Larsen is upon entering, there is no doubt you will by the end of the night. His portrait is everywhere. The 85-year-old leased the mansion back in 1961 and scavenged film sets (including the bar from the movie Hello Dolly, and a Johnny Carson Tonight Show backdrop) to deck it out.Read more.. (Photo: http://www.wikipedia.com )

http://www.bombalatimes.com.au/story/3878668/magic-castle-los-angeles-where-the-magic-happens/#slide=1

Irene Larsen, Co-Founder of the Magic Castle, Has Passed Away

Irene Larsen, Co-Founder of the Magic Castle, Has Passed Away

Magic Castle co-founder Irene Larsen passed away this morning at her home near Hancock Park. Irene was treasured by generations of magicians and entertainers who came to know her through the Magic Castle and the Academy of Magical Arts. She was the very first member of the club built by her, her late husband Bill, and brother-in-law Milt in 1963. The trio transformed a dilapidated old mansion in Hollywood into an elegant restaurant, theater, and international center for the performance of magic that is more popular today than ever before. Irene and Bill (and later their daughter Erika) edited Genii: The Conjurers Magazine for many years, spreading interest in the art form around the globe.

I was so privileged to call Irene a friend. She was so affectionate, kind, and curious that every guest in her home became a member of the vast family she accumulated over the years. A constant stream of well wishers and entertainers visited her magnificent estate Brookledge turning it into a private clubhouse for the variety arts. Musicians, actors, and all manner of creative types (check out Puddles Pity Party, pictured) found a community there that spawned collaborations and friendships that could not have existed without her larger than life personality. For the past several years, her daughter Erika made these visits into glorious productions with her Brookledge Follies shows and Irene always sat in the front row.

Irene spent years creating a lush garden dreamscape (complete with a gnome forest!) around the historic-cultural monument, which sits on both sides of a natural brook. The animals that Irene loved and protected made themselves at home there and the ones she didn’t personally adopt she advocated for through non-profits like Last Chance for Animals, which the family asks friends to support in lieu of flowers. Irene’s daughter Erika is currently serving as president of the Magic Castle, and Irene’s granddaughter Liberty is the 4th generation of the family to perform at the club. Princess Irene leaves an extraordinary gap in the creative world of Los Angeles and I will miss her very much.

http://www.lamag.com/askchris/irene-larsen-co-founder-of-the-magic-castle-has-passed-away/

Sleight of Hand – Storytelling and impossible objects..

Sleight of Hand – Storytelling and impossible objects..

My Amtrak train ride was a trick. I avoided the smog swaddling cloth of the Pacific Coast highway, yet I stood before a vessel reminiscent of “James and the Giant Peach,” a tin can with the label peeled off. A gust of wind lifted my scarf and covered my eyes for a moment, giving me an uncanny sense of foreboding: I saw my name in a sea of fine print, invisible in the back corner of a bankrupt San Diego newspaper, a statistic of an Amtrak train crash. The next gust of Santa Ana winds would send the last paper copy into the sewer. As we boarded the train, not a single passenger on the platform had lifted their eyes from their cell phones.

There were no assigned seats. I must have looked terrified because a woman moved her giant handbag and beckoned me to take its place. My eyes darted between the woman and a man at a four-top in a top hat, shuffling cards like they were floating. He wore a lion ring on his right hand. When he looked up at me, I was met with cloudy blue eyes and tufts of blonde hair that were coming out from under his top hat.

“You can sit here if you’d like.” He placed the cards in a neat pile. “But I’m not playing with a full deck.”

Eric Stevens, magician, author and speaker introduced himself and said he was on his way to Los Angeles to visit The Magic Castle—a private clubhouse for magicians. He promptly delved into a card trick that seemed impossible. (As Stevens later explained, “If it were impossible, I couldn’t do it.”) Read more..

http://ciphermagazine.com/blog/?p=4226

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak took a Segway to a magic club in LA

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak took a Segway to a magic club in LA

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak took a Segway to a magic club in LA to meet with Seth Rogen..

Admit it: You wish you had been there.

Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, and Seth Rogen, the man who plays Woz in the upcoming film “Steve Jobs,” hung out together at The Magic Castle, a membership club for magicians in Los Angeles.

Danny Boyle, the director of “Steve Jobs,” shared the tidbit during a Q&A with Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the film, following a screening of it in New York City on Monday night. Read more..

http://www.techinsider.io/wozniak-and-rogen-went-to-magic-castle-2015-10