Naquada

The Magic Castle, Hollywood, is the private clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts, a very special organization devoted to the advancement of the ancient art of magic. It’s purpose is to encourage and promote public interest in the art of magic with particular emphasis on preserving its history as an art form, entertainment medium, and hobby.

The Magic Castle began its life as a private home built in 1908 by banker and real estate magnate Rollin B. Lane. Mr. Lane owned much of what is now Hollywood, dreaming of turning his land into orange groves, farms and ranches. Severe drought brought his dreams to an abrupt end and orange blossoms never filled the valley.

The Lane family moved away in the 1940s, and the mansion was divided into a multi-family home, then became a home for the elderly, and was finally transformed into a maze of small apartments. By 1960, the fate of the Mansion was uncertain. Then Milt Larsen met the owner, Thomas O. Glover.

Milt was a writer on the NBC TV show Truth or Consequences. His office was on the ninth floor of a Hollywood office building that overlooked the Lane mansion. Milt’s late father, William W. Larsen, Sr., was a renonwed magician and had long dreamed of building an elegant private club for magicians.

In September of 1961, Milt and a crew of eternally generous friends and volunteers began the extraordinary task of returning this run-down apartment building to its glorious past. After months of scraping and sanding, the rich Victorian elegance began to resurface, and at 5 p.m. on January 2, 1963 The Magic Castle opened its doors.

To gain access to the inner secrets of the Castle you need to whisper the password to the Owl, after which and a short pause the bookcase will slide aside to reveal a dark, low-ceilinged corridor, beyond which is a chintzy bar area where a nude portrait of a boy hang over a piano. Irma, the pianist has been dead for over 72 years, but ask her nicely, and she’ll play any tune are ask for from beyond her ghostly grave.

The Castles recent past though has been more and more uncertain as times gone on, the entire ten-acre Magic Castle site is now again up for sale. The sale has been on and off the table for as long as I can remember, rumors of deals and negotiations flying around the magical fraternity. It now seems though again, according to speculation, that the 11 descendants of the landowner who bought the place for $150,000 in 1948 are said to be considering offers of $70 million. Naturally, apparently promises have been made to preserve the existing structures on the site, including the Castle, but I have a horrible feeling they will go the same way as so much of LA’s instantly disposable history.