Magic Castle LA

I'm not sure what I can and can't tell you about the secrets from the castle. 

But I'll give you a hint to the amazement of this place.

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The Magic Castle is the Home of the Academy of Magical Arts. It is an exclusive club for Magicians and magic enthusiasts only, I compare it to a golf country club, where you have apply for membership, pay fees to get admission to the grounds. The Magic Castle is just like that very exclusive, you have to apply for membership, audition and get approval. In order to get in with out membership you must get a guest card from a member, you will be turned away at the door with out the card. I happen to know a member, lucky me, my member said he's heard of super famous people getting turned away at the door.

So once you get your guest card, and you dress to fit the dress code: Dress to impress. On the website there are many rules about how that looks. You show up at the Castle, drop your car with the valet, and then head in to check in.  In the front lobby you can get to the gift shop with out having a guest card, but you will get no further. We checked in at the front desk, and then headed to our first magical experience.  In order to get into the castle you have to know the magic words that move the bookcase, to reveal the hidden door and corridor.

The Castle started as a private residence, and was added on to over the years. The charm of this home/ mansion has not been lost, entering the castle is like entering a different dimension. It has been open since 1963, however it feels like you're transported to a timeless, magical place.

This image is borrowed from: itricks.com

I started looking around, there is so much to see I'm sure I missed tons, there is about 4 different staircase, about 5 different bars, a formal dining room, 4 performance rooms, plus many many many nooks for impromptu tricks and performances, and a seance room.

I'm sure I got some of those numbers wrong, this place is HUGE and confusing! I know there was 3 stories, but it was so maze like it was easy to get turned around. To access some areas you had to go up a certain stairwell, then go down specific hallways to then descend other specific stairwells and ramps for specific rooms, and then sometimes you'd have to know which bookcase to speak to, or which panel shifted to reveal a room.

There was so many things to look at in each room too. Some rooms had ghosts, some had relics from tricks of long-a-go, and some where down right beyond description.

One room, I won't go into great description about but I do want to talk about is the Seance Room. It was filled with Harry Houdini's personal items. A person can't normally get into this room, since it's typically booked by parties for seances, but we met a "medium" who let us into the room when the private party was over. We sat at the table with him, learning all about the items in the room and hearing stories about Harry Houdini, and the seances Harry used to conduct. After an hour or so we'd learned so much, and the magic of Harry was brought to life with every word spoken about him.

We appreciated getting to see that room so much. At the end of the night, we realized we'd been in the castle for over 8 hours, though it'd passed in a flash. The evening was so magical even my friend, the member, said he couldn't believe the night I'd had.  He said he'd been a member for years and hadn't seen, or heard some of the things I was getting to experience.  Mia's only response was:

 "This is Taco's Adventures and that's how it goes. People are amazing, they connect, and bless us in ways we can't believe either.

 I am amazed at how generous people are and I appreciate the experiences I have gotten while traveling with Taco."