Surviving L.A. - Takes Magic

We had a magical evening recently and Walt would be disappointed to know it had nothing to do with Disney. We were lucky enough to score an invitation to the Magic Castle, the private club for magicians.

Hogwarts it is not, but it has a magical allure all its own. The house in Hollywood was built in 1909, and in the 1960s was bought by "Truth or Consequences" writer Milt Larsen. Milt's father, William, had been a magician and had dreamed of having a private club for magicians. In honor of his father, Milt turned the castle into just that.
http://www.magiccastle.com/about/index.cfm

Once a month, aspiring magicians can have a 15-minute audition to prove they have the gift. Admission to the club is an internationally recognized achievement, and membership has its privileges, such as access to a library of books on magic in the basement of the castle. I'm curious if it includes an edition of a "History of Hogwarts." There are also regular classes taught at the club, though Dumbledor was no where in sight. But perhaps the greatest benefit for the young illusionist is the opportunity to perform in one of the theaters, bars, parlours or dark corners available in the maze of the castle.

For those of us who's slight of hand couldn't trick the Vega dog, we must wait for an invitation to come from someone who is a member or in some way affiliated with the club. Friends of ours were lucky enough to secure an invitation, and they were kind enough to, in turn, invite us to join them.

Admittedly, we initially had no idea what we were getting into. We just knew it wasn't something you could just decide to do on any random Saturday night, so we jumped at the opportunity. Of course, Richard and I are both magic junkies, (ask him sometime about being eyeball to shoelace with David Copperfield) so that spurred our interest as well. But the evening was almost over before it began as Richard perused their website and saw that the evening came with a dress code - coat and tie for men. Better for the magicians to hide things on unsuspecting audience members, but nearly a deal-killer for dear Richard.

We arrived at 5:00 p.m. and were treated by a club Knight to a lovely tour of the castle, which proved extremely valuable later. The place is a maze and it would be easy to miss a lot of the nooks that contain magicians. (They are also quick to point out the locations of all the bars, indicating the alcohol makes many of the magicians better. It did not however, help improve the jokes, which must be taught in a special class...because many of the magicians we saw had the same canned material in attempts to make lady audience members giggle about the size of their wands....) The house is filled with fabulous memorabilia that, as the guide was quick to point out, would be an incredible loss if anything were to ever destroy the castle. We could visit 6 times and probably not see everything in the house.

We sat for dinner at 6. The magic is not in the food. But apparently if you know the magic words, you can have Merlin deliver your birthday cake.

We finished dinner at 7:30 and headed for the first show. At 7:45 we heckled a poor young man who was doing his first-ever night trying to impress people at the club. (He was a good sport.) We had tickets for the 8:30 p.m. main show. By 1:00 a.m., we still had not seen every magician in the place.

In addition to the main show on a main stage, there were several smaller theaters (some allowing only 20 people) with 2 magicians doing multiple 15-minute shows each evening. We saw at least 5 other magicians sitting in random spots around the castle, and we know we missed more. The skill levels ran the gamut (you could tell by how much light the magician worked in!) but everyone provided some level of entertainment.

The setting, aside from being a gorgeous castle, is an excellent venue for those of us who love to watch magicians closely. We both participated in many of the tricks (pick a card, show it to the audience), and Richard even got to inspect the knots of a lovely, large-busted escape artist. It was such a burden, I know.

Richard, with all of his charms, tried to cast a spell on one magician and may just conjure another invitation to return. I'm trying to figure out the magic words to get him to take me again. (The best of which would probably be: "they changed the dress code.")

So we're surviving L.A. - by putting a little magic in our lives.