photo: a magician's white rabbit in a hat

Club Magic

What's the trick to getting into one of Los Angeles' most exclusive clubs?

The castle owns the handcuffs from which Houdini couldn't escape.

It's magic.

At the Magic Castle in Hollywood, it doesn't matter if you're a mogul or a movie star. If you can't do magic, you can't be a member.

That doesn't mean you can't gain entry-if you're staying at the Magic Castle Hotel or you're the guest of a member, you can mumble the words "Open Sesame" and a bookshelf will swing open onto this Hollywood hideaway. The castle -the brainchild of former "Truth or Consequences" writer Milt Larsen and his brother and sister-in-law -was founded in the 1960s and now houses the headquarters of the Academy of Magical Arts, Inc. (A similar club can be found in London).

Cary Grant and Orson Welles used to frequent the place, and today Jason Alexander, Drew Barrymore, Teri Hatcher and Lucy Liu are
all members.

What will you need to brush up your fifteen minute act? The Castle offers classes to both amateur illusionists and career magicians looking to sharpen their skills. Those who'd rather watch magic than do it can explore the multiple dining rooms, five performance spaces, and piano room, where an invisible ghost named Irma takes requests for songs.

There's also the Harry Houdini Séance Room, which houses the magic master's straightjacket as well as a collection of his handcuffs (the Castle owns the only pair from which he was never able to escape), and a table that can be used to hold a séance like the ones that Houdini and even Hugh Hefner and President Reagan held in order to channel the dead.

After all this, you might need a drink. Just make sure that when you hit the bar in the foyer, you don't plop yourself on the third seat from the left. It's a trick chair that lowers very slowly and will likely make all your pride magically disappear.

Posted on January 30, 2006